The Emperor of All Maladies

We have all been affected by cancer, one way or another, and this book is an enlightening, calm and lucid chronicle of the immortal disease, written by a medical oncologist. Both a history of our battles against it - the victories and defeats - and the stories of patients Mukherjee has known, this is an eloquent, fascinating and informative look at a disease we may never defeat, but will try with all our human abilities to conquer. Lindy

'Mukherjee calls this great and beautiful book a biography, rather than a history, because he wants his reader to understand his subject not just as a disease, a scientific problem or a social condition, but as a character - an antagonist with a story to tell. His intensely vivid and precise descriptions of biological processes accumulate into a character, fully developed and eerily familiar. The notion of popular science doesn't come close to describing this achievement. It is literature.' Observer 'This is a riveting book...profound, eloquent and searching' John Carey, Sunday Times ' The Emperor of All Maladies is the book that many will have been waiting for. This elegantly written overview allows us to look a once whispered-about illness squarely in the eye.' Independent 'So beautifully written; this is literature, not popular science. The Emperor of Maladies empowers us, makes it clear that we really do know this enemy, and so brings us another step closer to victory.' Evening Standard 'Mukherjee never condescends, yet he manages to write lucidly and tellingly about complex experimental, technological and theoretical matters' Will Self, New Statesman