At this SAL event at Town Hall, Dr. Mukherjee will let us inside the process of taking on the formidable role of being a Biographer of a Disease. The disease that has been the scourge of our species.
In the past 50 years, Americans have watched as various strategies in the “War on Cancer” have earned the attention of politicians, physicians, the media and, of course, the public. By the end of 2010, cancer is projected to become the leading cause of death worldwide. Cases of cancer doubled globally between 1975 and 2000, and will double again by 2020, nearly tripling by 2030. In America, one in two men and one in three women will get cancer during their lifetime; one in four will die.
Mukherjee’s, The Emperor of All Maladies could not be more timely nor essential reading, and Mukherjee writes with such clarity and verve that we feel enlightened, even uplifted, despite those grim figures.
From the first known reference to cancer on an ancient Egyptian scroll to the epic modern battles to conquer it, Mukherjee, a leading cancer physician and researcher, approaches this crucial subject with the passion and fixation of a biographer and the flourish of a novelist.
THE EMPEROR OF ALL MALADIES is a story that touches on the brilliance and tenacity that frequently make scientific history—and also on the serendipitous discoveries.
He has published articles in Nature, New England Journal of Medicine, Neuron, Journal of Clinical Investigation, The New York Times, and The New Republic.
He lives in New York with his wife and daughters.
Links:Reviewed in The New York Times by Charles McGrath
Reviewed in The New Yorker by Steve Shapin
A podcast interview and making the NYT’s Sunday Book Review Top 10 of 2010
