Americentric and extremely long

This book has a lot of valuable information and flows easily for the first half but it is so long and filled with small details one cannot help but lose interest in it after a while. And the flow of the book isn’t near as well. It jumps from one thing to the next in one chapter it is talking about 1950s the next chapter about 1980s and goes back to 1960s in the next (this is an example I don’t actually remember what each chapter talked about there are so many of them). The book is also very Americentric and talks very little about the rest of the world. It is not really a biography of cancer but a biography of cancer in the USA. If you are interested in the subject, though, go for it, I learned a lot from it.

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Very fascinating

Such a fascinating & sad story to listen to; I enjoyed the narrators voice as well. Highly recommend.

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One of the best popular science books I’ve listened to on here

It is so good. I’m a undergraduate biomed student who’s been studying a genetics module that included a number of lectures on cancer so I got this book to elevate / enhance my studying. I was so engaged by this book. Thought it was terrific.

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Well written, stimulating, inspiring, well narrated

Gives a really good history of the disease and accessible explanations of its causes and how and why various strategies work and fail. Well written with some wonderful quotes from poetry and works of literature. Occasionally some descriptions that are not for the faint hearted.

I saw another reviewer had said that the book was US centric. That is nonsense. Yes, the writer is US based and so are his patients but his stories cross the world.

I thought that the narration was very good.

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Painfully, deliberately honest

Mukherjee writes from the front lines of the war against cancer. He is clearly both passionate and knowledgeable about his subject, and is a great story teller, weaving patient tales in amongst his historic account of progress in understanding and tackling the disease.

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Excellent history of cancer and treatment

I expect many people will be attracted to this book if they, or someone in their family, is diagnosed with cancer. It’s a remarkable book by a very remarkable author. It tells the history of our understanding of cancer along with the evolution of treatments. Interspersed, yet only as general background, are snippets of stories of patients Dr Mukherjee had crossed paths with. This gives it a more human touch. Well worth a read.

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The Tragedy that touches us all

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Every one of us suffers from cancer at some time in our life: if we escape it ourselves, we have a close friend, or a family member, who goes through it.
Dr. Mukherjee explains what it is like to be a cancer specialist in modern medicine, and also takes us through an interesting history of the disease:- particularly its recent prominence and our limited success in dealing with it.
This is information which everyone will need at some stage. I would recommend the book to any friend, but especially those over 40.

What did you like best about this story?

Dr Mukherjee begins with thread of personal anecdote about his own medical specialisation, and what cancer 'means' to his patients.
He then develops an informative history of cancer research, and cancer treatments, but never loses sight of how every cancer is a private battle, and a personal tragedy.
Keeping non-fiction real this way is a rare skill, but a needed one.

What about Stephen Hoye’s performance did you like?

Stephen Hoye manages some very technical points and vocabulary very well (the book avoids specialist language as far as possible, but no further). Hoye's delivery of what is sometimes quite dense text manages to be slow enough to be clear, but brisk enough to stay riveting.
The topic could easily have been dry, and might have been disheartening. An excellent author and a skilled narrator keep the book interesting and surprisingly upbeat.

If you made a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

This is a topic that needs to be absorbed slowly and thoroughly, and at one's own pace.
I can't imagine it as the basis for a successful ninety minutes entertainment.

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1 person found this helpful

American in every single way

Hyperbole, persistent war-evoking language and drama. Typical for Americans I guess but excellent book nonetheless

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excellent

A must read for everyone who has an interest in understanding cancer. I thoroughly enjoyed it and will listen to it again.

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Enthralling, informative, powerful.

I would recommend to anyone hoping to learn anything about oncology, it's history and physiognomy, and to anyone who is interested in gaining a more personal insight into the effects of cancer.

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