Adventure 9: The Emperor of All Maladies, Siddhartha Mukherjee
“Cancer’s life is a recapitulation of the body’s life, its existence a pathological mirror of our own.” — Siddhartha Mukherjee, The Emperor of All Maladies
A mechanical engineer specializing in thermal system design in school, and a budding working professional in the sustainable building industry, I am as far removed from the field of medical science as the world is from achieving zero carbon emissions collectively. Medicine and biology have had a mental block on my mind since high school, and it has only worsened since. Naturally, I was a bit hesitant to read ‘The Emperor…’, and it being non-fiction didn’t help either. Add to it my jet-lag for the week after a 9 hour journey from Europe, not to mention trying to get in grips with the missed workload at office after my trip, reading this book, let alone finishing it in a week, seemed destined for failure.
How very wrong I was.
‘The Emperor…’ is non-fiction technically, but with all the suspense, drama, and poignance of fictional drama. In his own words, the author intends this as a biography of the cancer cell, from it’s early discovery and symptoms, to its methodical diagnosis, possible cures, past and ongoing battles, and a glimpse of what is in future. All this is presented as an adventure, with sufficient, but not too much attention given to the humans shaping it. The story chronicles the events which shaped the way cancer is perceived and treated to this day. For a book of 500 odd pages, this is oddly a well-fitting synopsis!
There are so many reasons to read this book, and for the sake of keeping this post at a readable length, I shall concentrate on the top few. First and foremost, I can only imagine the quality and time spent in research for this book. (As evidenced by a whopping 100 pages of notes, references and a glossary.) To have a timeline starting from the early 19th century (Imhotep’s discovery) to the current age, and to include such intricate details, including some heart warming and inspirational interviews, would surely have taken a lot of thought and effort. Just thinking about the background work to write this book made me appreciate the author’s patience, courage and tenacity a lot more! Equally important is his ‘storytelling’ ability, and I think it’s one of the key reasons which made the book readable for me. The writing style is easy on the mind, even if the subject matter isn’t. Who would’ve thought scientific discoveries and publications, as well as long drawn out legal battles, not to mention fundraising for cancer, could be turned into dramatic and interesting events. Mukherjee does all of this, and more! I found myself unable to put down the book for the episodes involving the Curies’ radiation experiments, Dana Farber’s fundraising efforts and the battle against tobacco. These are only a few among many other such passages.
“ In 2005, a man diagnosed with multiple myeloma asked me if he would be alive to watch his daughter graduate from high school in a few months. In 2009, bound to a wheelchair, he watched his daughter graduate from college. The wheelchair had nothing to do with his cancer. The man had fallen down while coaching his youngest son’s baseball team.” — Siddhartha Mukherjee, The Emperor of All Maladies
There is a certain elegance to the way Siddhartha Mukherjee writes, that makes ‘The Emperor…’ extremely readable, and enjoyable! Parallel discoveries are interspersed with inspiring interviews and smart and witty interjections on the what-ifs of scientific collaborations. You are exposed to the subtle shades of competition, ego, greed and also co-operation and benediction. The triumph and failures of science itself are subtly portrayed through the journey of the cancer cell. There’s the classic battle between ethics and progress on one side, and the tussle between survival and death on the other. Some of the lines are extremely quotable too, and I found myself wishing I had a pen and paper most times to jot them down! And yet, these are mere building blocks of a colossal information guide on the life of cancer. The presentation of the facts itself, despite the dramatization, is precise, clean and clinical(no pun intended).
Naturally, when so much is packed into a single book, there are certain passages when there is an information overload, and I found myself wishing I shouldn’t have read this in a week. However much the author tries to make some of the discoveries interesting, there are certain points where the overuse of scientific terms was a little too much for me. These are certainly very few though, and on thinking back, could have been due to my relative lack of any medical knowledge and the jet-lag factor. This is the only qualm I could think of in an otherwise epic narration of scientific progress.
Pulitzer prize, The Times’ 100 influential books of the last 100 years list, Guardian First Book Award: there is no reason why this book shouldn’t be a must-read for everyone, and especially for those looking to get started on medical science or non-fictional works. Siddhartha Mukherjee, for me, is the Tolkien of medical narration, and by far my best inspiration in deciding to carry on with more non-fictional medical books this year, and in general.
Who said survivors have the best tales. Sometimes, the saviors are the best storytellers of them all.
P.S. Don’t miss the interview with the author himself, at the end of the book, for some interesting insights on his motivation and the story of cancer! Also, lookout for the review of his other work, The Gene, on this series.
