Sign in with FacebookAnna Balasi's Reviews > The Emperor of All Maladies
The Emperor of All Maladies
by Siddhartha Mukherjee
by Siddhartha Mukherjee
So far, I'm completely enthralled/moved/disturbed! I never realized that a book about the history of Cancer could keep me reading on. I'm not a doctor or a nurse, though I've had a close member of the family pass away from Cancer, and perhaps that's what keeps me going, since I've been morbidly fascinated and terrified of the disease since.
The chapters I've read have been so hard to get through (it has so far covered childhood Lukemia (lord, the tears!), mastectomies, surgery without anesthesia, disfigurement, tumors erupting from the bone and through the skin, surgeons with over-sized egos, and other such terrible things) but I'm still reading, and I'm still enthralled/moved/disturbed.
Cancer is a terrible, terrible disease, and this book captures the essence of how it has changed history, medicine, and our lives as we know it.
More to come...
On edit:
And so I finished this book about a month ago and I still couldn't wrap my head around how epic is is. There is a lot of information to get through, but I have learned more about cancer in the hours I've had with this book than I ever did in a lifetime--not even as I watched my own loved-one die of the disease. Cancer, the phantom, has now become cancer, the complex, amazing, all-consuming, aggressive, immortal, microscopic, biological, genetic disease. I don't understand everything about it, but it has become real and tangible--no longer the abstract "concept" that it once was to me. This book has, in fact, helped me quit smoking better than any fad psychobabble. I quit smoking half-way through the book. I had been smoking for over a decade, and while there was a two-year interval somewhere when I quit because I was pregnant and then because I wanted to take care of my child, I "relapsed" into my habits and my addiction. The entire time I *wasn't* smoking, I just wanted to smoke. Now it's different. Now all I can remember when I think about smoking is THE EMPEROR OF ALL MALADIES and how it moves me to understand in a split second why I don't want to smoke anymore. This book has truly made an impact on me.
The chapters I've read have been so hard to get through (it has so far covered childhood Lukemia (lord, the tears!), mastectomies, surgery without anesthesia, disfigurement, tumors erupting from the bone and through the skin, surgeons with over-sized egos, and other such terrible things) but I'm still reading, and I'm still enthralled/moved/disturbed.
Cancer is a terrible, terrible disease, and this book captures the essence of how it has changed history, medicine, and our lives as we know it.
More to come...
On edit:
And so I finished this book about a month ago and I still couldn't wrap my head around how epic is is. There is a lot of information to get through, but I have learned more about cancer in the hours I've had with this book than I ever did in a lifetime--not even as I watched my own loved-one die of the disease. Cancer, the phantom, has now become cancer, the complex, amazing, all-consuming, aggressive, immortal, microscopic, biological, genetic disease. I don't understand everything about it, but it has become real and tangible--no longer the abstract "concept" that it once was to me. This book has, in fact, helped me quit smoking better than any fad psychobabble. I quit smoking half-way through the book. I had been smoking for over a decade, and while there was a two-year interval somewhere when I quit because I was pregnant and then because I wanted to take care of my child, I "relapsed" into my habits and my addiction. The entire time I *wasn't* smoking, I just wanted to smoke. Now it's different. Now all I can remember when I think about smoking is THE EMPEROR OF ALL MALADIES and how it moves me to understand in a split second why I don't want to smoke anymore. This book has truly made an impact on me.
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Reading Progress
| 06/24/2010 | page 76 |
|
19.0% | |
| 01/25/2011 | page 191 |
|
48.0% | "Life's been busy but I'm back to reading this again. :P" |
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Susan
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Mar 01, 2011 03:23pm
I have been seeing this books for months. I have wanted to read it, but tell you the truth the book about Cancer is very intimidating. I am in the medical field, but it is still a awful disease. But things have changed since I was growing up. I just finished reading the story about Susan Komen, called Promise Me. It was a great book to read the history from the early 60's to now. How far we have come. I am sure the same with the book, Maladies. I heard this book is about the disease of Cancer since the beginning of time. I think it would be hard to read. But eventually I would like to read it since I love to read heavy medical research, and history. Keep reading and let us all know what you think. Would you recommend to read on Nook or a physical book? I have been thinking of buying for my nook, but not sure if it is a good idea. Thanks for your post.
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Would you recommend to read on Nook or a physical book?I think it would be fine either way, in print or electronic version.
Hi Anna, thank you for the answer. I decided on buying the physical book, instead of the ebook, to take notes. Especially, since I am a book blogger. I read about a 1/3 of the book. Lots of research. I had to give it a rest for awhile. I hope to get back to it soon. I just wonder if anyone has attempted to write a review. I am talking about us, bloggers that write our posts as a hobby. Just wondering.
Susan wrote: "Hi Anna, thank you for the answer. I decided on buying the physical book, instead of the ebook, to take notes. Especially, since I am a book blogger. I read about a 1/3 of the book. Lots of researc..."I couldn't get through it myself all in one sitting. I think there was a four month interval between my first picking it up and then finally taking it up again to finish it. It isn't that it's boring--not at all, at least for me, but for all it's readability, it wasn't the easiest material for me to digest, and I wanted to digest it all. I didn't want to miss a thing, so I too took a break. I still wonder if I had finished the book if I didn't have such a personal connection to the subject matter, though. I'll never know. :D
