An amazing book that details the history of cancer medicine.  Emperor is so well written I have developed an Honors College class around it.  Dr. Mukherjee is an oncologist.  The way he explains the development of chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and surgery leaves you with a sense that you genuinely understand the science.  He clearly is drawing on years of explaining this to his residents and patients.  Each new development is related with the story of patient experiences that will genuinely break your heart, the stories of children in particular.  The primary focus of much of the book is on the development of chemotherapy, from the early days of Dr. Sidney Farber to the combination therapy trials at the National Cancer Institute to the present day.  We also learn about cancer surgery, with a particular focus on the radical mastectomy.  And as a physicist, I was surprised by how well a physician explained radiation science.  Emperor is the gold standard of writing on the subject of cancer.  Many of the other books on this list even make reference to it.

The development of targeted therapies, and how sequencing the genome of tumors can lead to patient specific treatments, are mentioned only briefly.  Not mentioned are the newest developments in immunotherapy.  I have yet to read his follow up book, The Song of the Cell, so I am hoping he discusses these topics in greater depth there.

It's worth noting that this book was made into a three-part documentary by Ken Burns.  The documentary was quite well done, but the book is able to go into far more detail.

Main topics:  History, Chemotherapy, Surgery

Jessica Wapner's book The Philadelphia Chromosome focuses on how research into the genetic mutation that causes Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (CML) led to one of the most successful targeted therapies for cancer, Gleevec.  We learn about how biologists were able to stain and observe chromosomes, observe how part of one chromosome moved to another chromosome, the discovery of oncogenes and how that translocation led to an overactive kinase that phosphorylates tyrosine, and how researchers were able to develop a drug that inhibited the tyrosine kinase.  The fact that Wapner is able to make such complicated chemistry sound so elegantly simple is a testament to how well the book is written.  With even a little bit of science knowledge you should be able to follow along.

We learn of the development of the drug through clinical trials, which gives us an idea of how difficult it is to bring new cancer drugs to the market.  Less emphasized is that CML involves fewer mutations than many cancers and so was simpler to target.  And while an excellent discussion of oncogenes is central to the book, less is mentioned of tumor suppressor genes which play an important role in many cancers.  These issues have, incidentally, tempered the initial enthusiasm that many targeted therapies could be quickly brought to the clinic.

While more limited in scope than Mukherjee's Emperor of All Maladies, Wapner's The Philadelphia Chromosome is equally informative and just as worth reading.  I very highly recommend this book.

Main topics:  Chronic Myeloid Leukemia, Oncogenes, Targeted Therapy

Cancer scientists have learned that cancer is a genetic disease driven by two kinds of genes:  oncogenes that increase cell division and tumor suppressor genes that arrest cell division.  To borrow the common analogy, oncogenes are the accelerator and tumor suppressor genes are the brakes in cell division, and in cancer both of these types of genes aren't working the way they should.  In The Philadelphia Chromosome we learn about oncogenes.  Here, Sue Armstrong relates the story of how p53 was discovered, initially confused for an oncogene, and finally understood to be a tumor suppressor gene.  Defective p53 tumor suppressor genes are present in most cancers, making it one of the most widely studied genes in cancer research.

At a few points I thought lab methods were described just enough to let us know this is a difficult thing, technology is happening here; a little more explanation would have better served the reader.  We also learn how multiple labs arrived at similar conclusions, and how other researchers made unrecognized discoveries that might have led the scientific community to the right conclusions sooner; the difficulty for me is that this adds to the lab methods and techniques we must understand and the names of scientists we must remember.  That is, of course, how science works.  But, I found that The Philadelphia Chromosome draws a clearer line of discovery by focusing and elaborating on just the centrally important methods and key figures, which makes the science easier to understand.

These are minor critiques of an otherwise excellent book about the discovery of one of the most important genes in cancer research.  It is definitely worth reading.

Main topics:  Tumor Suppressor Genes

Robert Bazell was the chief health and science correspondent for NBC News and has a PhD in immunology.  In his book, Her 2, we learn about the development of Herceptin as a treatment for some specific breast cancers.  This is a non-chemo based therapy, though it is sometimes used with chemo or other treatments.  Again, I feel compelled to compare another book to The Philadelphia Chromosome.  In Wapner's book we were walked through the science behind CML and the development of Gleevec, with interesting stories of personalities and the pharmaceutical industry secondary to the science.  In Her 2 the narrative seems to be inverted, where the scientists and pharmaceutical industry are central to the story.

We do learn the science, but since Herceptin is an antibody therapy and the author has a graduate degree in immunology I was hoping to learn more.  Essentially, the book seemed like it could have been longer.  Again, however, this is a very minor critique of the book.  It is very informative, contains compelling narratives of patients, and is very well written.  It, too, is definitely worth reading.

Main topics:  Monoclonal Antibodies, Breast Cancer

The focus of the book is on the progress that has been made in treating cancer, and the central theme of the book is that the War on Cancer is winnable.  Unlike The Philadelphia Chromosome or p53, the science here is presented in broader outlines.  The author, Dr. DeVita, began his career as an oncologist working at the National Cancer Institute and treating patients at the National Institutes of Health.  He went on to serve in many high level positions, including ultimately Director of the NCI, and this book is his first hand history of the development of chemotherapy and cancer treatments.

The author's theme of a winnable War on Cancer is interesting to me.  It is not without reason, of course, that physicians and researchers direct patients toward palliative care and a certain level of acceptance.  And, statistically speaking, the physician who says the prognosis is bad is probably right.  But it is refreshing to hear an oncologist say that the standard of care is not good enough; someone who wants to do everything possible, and maybe even a few impossible things, to help.  Patients, their families, and caregivers will find this book a worthwhile read for that reason alone.

Main topics:  History, Chemotherapy

I found this book remarkable for several reasons.  First, Dr. Ross focuses on inherited cancer risk.  Most of the useful books on the subject of cancer instead focus on the cancers acquired throughout one's life, because that's how the great majority of cancers arise.  It was quite interesting to read about inherited risk factors like BRCA mutations.  This gives the reader the opportunity to learn about a too little discussed part of oncology, the field of genetic counseling.  Second, I was interested to read that Dr. Ross was on the faculty at the University of Michigan at the time she learned of her BRCA mutation.  This is a very well written book that helps the reader understand inherited risk and how to cope with it, so it certainly seems like a loss to our state that such a talented cancer researcher has since left Michigan.  Third, this book contains many interesting stories.  For example, being a physicist I have certainly heard about Professor Rosalind Franklin's role in the discovery of the double helix nature of DNA.  I was also aware of Dr. Franklin's premature death from ovarian cancer and how that prevented her from sharing the Nobel Prize.  But I never considered that Dr. Franklin's young age (37) could indicate an inherited mutation as a contributing factor in her cancer.

Finally, the perspective of this book is quite interesting.  Where other authors are taking us on a guided tour of cancer science, Dr. Ross reads like she's one of us in the tour group.  That's not easy to achieve in writing, or in teaching.  And it helps make the science more accessible.  This book is definitely worth a read.

Main topics:  Genetic Counseling, Inherited Risk

Graeber's book covers some of the key milestones in the development of immunotherapy for cancer:  anecdotal evidence that certain patients with infections had seen a remission in their cancers, better understanding of how the immune system works, and, finally, the development of checkpoint inhibitors and CAR T-Cell therapy.  I found this book to be a worthwhile read because it did provide some basic scientific understanding of how the immune system functions and how immunotherapies work.  Graeber does focus more on the history of the development of immunotherapy, so the reader does not learn as much about the science as, for example, The Philadelphia Chromosome taught us about small molecule inhibitors.  For the general audience, that will likely be a positive thing about this book.  But science majors will likely want to follow The Breakthrough with additional reading to learn more.

My criticisms of the book are very minor:  First, Graeber attempts to bookend the narrative by trying to be "hip", talking about specific patients in the music industry.  We could do without the profanity of one or two sentences and I don't need to know about the bands.  But this is only done very briefly in the first and last chapters, and so it is a minor criticism that others reading this book may not mind.  Second, Graeber does seem to use the term "cure" a lot.  One thing you learn in reading other resources about cancer is that it adapts and evolves, and almost every treatment so far developed eventually runs its course.  Immunotherapy certainly seems very promising, but it is probably too soon to call what has been developed so far a cure.

Main topics:  Immunotherapy, CAR T Cell Therapy, Checkpoint Inhibitors

After hearing an interview with the author on the Cancer Support Community's website, I was persuaded to look past the popular science-y title, and I found this book to be a terrific read.  (Be aware that there are other books with a similar name.)  Books like Emperor of All Maladies or The Philadelphia Chromosome talk about the history and science of cancer therapy.  Johnson's The Cancer Chronicles takes an even more broad view of cancer.  We learn in the first few chapters about cancer in dinosaurs and the anthropologic evidence for cancer in early human beings.  We learn that whales are large creatures in which cells are growing in huge numbers, and yet cancer among them is rare.  This comparative physiology approach is novel, and something I had not read much about before.  Actually, this came across as one of the interesting parts of the book and left me wanting to learn much more.  In other chapters, we learn how many of the same features of cancer growth are similar to embryo growth and wound healing.  Central to the book's thesis is how cancer cell growth uses normal cellular tools which are a part of our own genome.  Interwoven with the narrative is the story of the author's wife, Nancy, and her cancer diagnosis.  Caregivers and patients will recognize some of their own experiences in Nancy's story.

This book is just about the right length, but it presents a lot of information.  If you are unfamiliar with cancer terminology, it can seem like an extraordinary amount of information.  I found my reading was easier having read some of the other books on this list first.  And so, my only critique is that I recommend reading a little about cancer before reading this book.  Otherwise, I highly recommend this book.

Main topics:  Comparative Physiology, Mechanisms of Cancer Development

If you are ready to read a textbook on the biology of cancer, Robert Weinberg's intermediate level textbook should be your first choice.  The writing style of most biologists is obtuse and difficult.  Biology as a subject usually fails to grasp how important a storytelling narrative can be.  (Physicists like Carl Sagan and Neil deGrasse Tyson are successful science communicators for just that reason.)  So, I was pleasantly surprised by how readable Weinberg's textbook is.  We're told, for example, why a particular naming convention is used, and the thought processes of the researchers who made these discoveries.  It helps, of course, that Weinberg is one of the central figures of modern cancer biology and he likely had numerous conversations with many of these researchers.

I wanted to get an understanding of the theory of the biology of cancer, not the experimental lab methods.  So, the approach I took for my first read through was to ignore most of the dialog boxes, tables, and figures, and just focus on the primary text.

It is worth noting that many of the books on this reading list have used Weinberg's textbook as a primary source.  As a result, as I was reading this textbook I found myself making connections to those other books.  So, reading the other books on this list before Weinberg's may make this already well-written textbook somewhat more approachable.

Main topics:  Comprehensive review of cancer biology

When Blood Breaks Down focuses more on the treatment of patients than it does on the laboratory science behind those treatments.  Dr. Sekeres is an oncologist who specializes in leukemia, and here he presents three representative cases of treatment to help us understand the disease and patient experience.  Rather than specific individuals, he has chosen to make the patients and staff a compilation of real individuals, which helps preserve patient privacy.  Very infrequently, the actions or words of a compilation character can seem a little too convenient for the narrative, but otherwise it is very well written.  And unless I'm mistaken, Rachel (a member of Dr. Sekeres' team) moves on in her medical training, only to show up again later in treating a patient.  I was able to note a few errors in my copy of the book, where a word would be left out of a sentence.  It happened often enough to be noticeable and will, hopefully, be corrected in future printing.  In spite of these minor issues, I found the book to be very well written.

We also learn of Dr. Sekeres' experience in medical school and how he came to specialize in leukemia.  Told from the physicians perspective in this way, my sense is that anyone who ever considered attending medical school will find this a worthwhile read.

This is another book told from a physicians perspective, except that the physician is also the patient.  Dr. Kalanithi started his academic life by majoring in literature, which shows in his writing skill.  Later, he went into medicine and trained to become a neurosurgeon.  During his residency he was diagnosed with lung cancer.  The book is structured as half autobiography, half cancer experience.  Lung cancer has no cure or lasting treatment, so we know how the story is going to end.  The type of lung cancer Dr. Kalanithi had could be treated with a targeted therapy, so the treatment experience he describes may not look like that of most other lung cancer patients.

There is a fine line in cancer narratives, too frequently crossed, that considers cancer a gift of personal growth.  Cancer is not a gift and, while Dr. Kalanithi does use his background in literature to discuss how he came to terms with his diagnosis, this book does not cross that line.  The first half of the book reads as a letter to his daughter telling her about his life, so if you're reading this for the cancer narrative to help cope with treatment, I would say that once he's completed his undergraduate degree at Stanford you can skip ahead to Part II.

This is not a book.  In 1990, Charles Schultz was persuaded to create a short special for Peanuts about cancer.  Specifically, Linus's friend Janice is diagnosed with leukemia and has to undergo chemotherapy.  We see Linus notice some bruises and Janice isn't feeling well, so she goes to the nurse.  Linus learns she won't be back in school for a while while she's in the hospital.  Linus gets quite upset that his friend has to go through this.  Some of the kids aren't so kind about it, and some misunderstand what cancer is.  Janice loses her hair and Linus stands up for her when she's teased.  Eventually, Janice's leukemia goes into remission.  It's a very sweet and heartbreaking episode of Peanuts, made all the more poignant because Charles Schulz would die from cancer about a decade later.

If you have children dealing with cancer, or if they know someone dealing with cancer, this is a special they should watch.  It is particularly helpful for younger children.  It's available for purchase, or you may find it with enough searching on the internet.  It's particularly distressing that it hasn't aired very much on TV since its original broadcast, since children and their friends deal with this every day.

What more can I say about The Fault in Our Stars that hasn't already been said?  The book and the movie are truly remarkable.  The author took great care to write a story that both adults and young adults can identify with, so don't overlook this book as just a young adult novel.  Readers will notice the turns of phrase for which the book is well known.  People are not usually this articulate in the face of cancer, of course.  But for some reason it seems to work with the story.  The plot would likely be the same if a different diagnosis was part of the story, which helps make the narrative more universal.

Obviously, I like the story quite a lot.  Also, it took me way too long to connect the title of An Imperial Affliction (the book within the book) to Emperor of All Maladies.  Well done, John Green.

This is the rare useful book that's also a good read.  Dr. Pantilat is a palliative care physician who explains options and resources available to patients and caregivers for a wide variety of conditions, such as cancer, Alzheimer's, heart disease, etc.  Palliative care is not the same thing as hospice care, although hospice is considered a form of palliative care.  Dr. Pantilat discusses management of pain, nausea, breathing difficulties, what insurance may cover, in home nursing, advanced care directives, etc.  The strength of the book is that the author has lost close family to cancer, so he's realistic in his explanations of palliative care.  It's logically organized, almost like a For Dummies book, and it has a lot of short patient stories from his clinical practice which makes it very readable.

Acceptance of serious illness or death is something that usually only happens on a very special episode of some TV show, and Pantilat is not trying to get the reader to accept death.  However, if you choose to read the book from beginning to end, as I did, it is clear that the author is drawing upon countless hand holding conversations with families to build, instead, confidence in the choices you will have to make.  I wish I had read this book sooner.  It's an invaluable resource for caregivers.

Dr. Holland's career at Memorial Sloan Kettering began at a time when counseling services were not a part of cancer treatment, with the patient told to just consider themselves fortunate to survive.  This book discusses how the patient considers decisions while still experiencing the shock of diagnosis; copes with issues like anticipatory nausea, pain management, or physical intimacy issues that result from treatment; survivor guilt; caregiver burnout; and grief support.  Chapters in the second half of the book are broken into sections for each of the common types of cancer.  Having read this book because it was recommended by the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, I found it to be a good companion to Dr. Pantilat's Life After the Diagnosis, although I think that Life After was a more useful caregiver and patient resource.

I heard a lot about this book, including features on CBS Sunday Morning and on NPR.  The author is a grief counselor who realized from personal experience how bad grief support actually is.  It starts out strong, becomes a little repetitive, but then picks up at the end.  We learn that the "Stages of Grief" model has been misinterpreted and overused, and most grief support counselors now have a more nuanced view.  The main strength of the book is that it's one of the few secular grief resources; although it's not so much a grief support book as it is a critique of the language of grief and loss, itself.  There is useful advice on finding a grief support counselor.  My only real critique is that her rare tendency to rank grief and loss can be terribly offensive.

The author discusses the experience of losing both of her parents, and in the process examines things done right and things not done right.  I found it to be a better read than It's OK, since it attempts to be a grief support book as well as giving practical advice about things like arranging funerals, etc.  Even though some of Baker's experiences are unique to Britain, the vast majority of what she describes will be relatable to anyone who has lost someone to cancer.  Perhaps the best thing I can say about The Adult Orphan Club is that I have read it more than once.  I very highly recommend this book to anyone caring for someone with terminal cancer or still grieving their loss.