The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer

What it's about

Siddhartha Mukherjee, an oncologist, set out to answer a patient's question: what exactly is she fighting? The result is a "biography" of cancer, from a description in an ancient Egyptian papyrus, through the brutal radical surgeries of the early 1900s, the first chemotherapy for childhood leukemia, the long fight against tobacco and the 1970s "war on cancer", to today's targeted drugs. Along the way he follows the doctors, patients and activists behind each breakthrough, and his own patients during his training.

Why it's worth reading

It turns a frightening subject into a thrilling story of brilliant, stubborn people, and it explains the science so clearly that you'll actually understand how cancer works. It won the Pulitzer Prize.

You'll love it if you liked

The Making of the Atomic Bomb, The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race or American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer

Good to know

It's long but broken into short sections, so it's easy to read in pieces. If cancer has touched your life, some chapters will be hard, and many readers say it also brought them understanding.