The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer by Siddhartha Mukherjee is an investigation of the history and treatment of cancer. Mukherjee is an oncologist and uses personal anecdotes about his experiences with patients to aid in his explanation of cancer. By presenting cancer from a variety of angles, Mukherjee demonstrates how challenging the disease is and how difficult the battle to find a cure has been thus far.
The Emperor of All Maladies proves to be an excellent read. The history of cancer is explained with colorful language and a captivating voice that encourages the reader to turn the next page. Mukherjee’s incorporation of how the disease has critically shaped history makes the book even more fascinating. Mukherjee successfully translates complex scientific concepts into a language that is easy for anyone to understand. As someone who wants to enter the field of cancer research myself, I find this book to be extremely interesting and informative. I would strongly recommend it to all, especially those with even the slightest interest in science.
Reviewed by Matthew K.
Category Archives: Science
The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe (1979)
Taking place from 1947-1963, with a focus on the early 60’s during the Project Mercury missions in the Space Race, The Right Stuff follows seven soon-to-be astronauts as they go from the best fighter pilots in the country, to astronauts, and finally to American celebrities. This book is a nonfiction account of the pilots’ experiences as they go through the Project Mercury space mission, which explains the minutiae of astronaut life to the danger of the training and flying. Believed to be perfect by the rest of the world, the astronauts actually demonstrate lots of friction in their group. For instance, many of the pilots are reserved in nature, tending to shy away from journalists and are not happy whenever John Glenn, the “star,” speaks loud and proud to the media. Leading two lives, public and private, the seven pilots struggle to make it through the pressure of beating the Russians to space.
Tom Wolfe writes an excellent story that brilliantly gives an inside look at the lives of these legendary people. He managed to humanize the 7 men by showing his audience the thoughts, feelings, and emotions that the astronauts felt during their journey to stardom. Wolfe’s beautiful imagery describes the astronauts’ spaceflight and perfectly places the reader right in the capsule too. It was an incredibly fascinating read, chocked full of amazing history of NASA and the Space Race. I highly recommend this book to anyone with a love for great nonfiction storytelling and a fascination with space.
Reviewed by Andrew T.
The Girl in the Spider’s Web by David Lagercrantz (2016)
Continuing Stieg Larsson’s renowned Millennium series, David Lagercrantz brings back the girl with the dragon tattoo for another bout in the ring. Told from many perspectives, this new tale of intrigue, espionage and raw humanity pulls Lisbeth’s past out of the shadows again, and no secrets will stay buried. Working alongside journalist Mikael Blomkvist, Lisbeth fights against an international injustice that might just be the scoop of the century.
This book perfectly resurrects Larsson’s series with well-paced action and drama as well as integrated themes of feminism and independence. Although the focus of the novel is less about women’s rights and interests than its predecessors, the change of theme allows the story to progress in a new direction. Featuring a whole new storyline with an expanding cast of diverse and complex characters, Lagercrantz begins the new trilogy with the same skill and power as the originals. Although this book cannot stand alone from the others, the original series can be read without the new edition and still have no loose ends. Overall, this novel, with its quiet intensity, captures the ten-year hiatus without breaking its promise to revive Larsson’s legacy.
Reviewed by Keara B.
Fooled by Randomness by Nassim Nicholas Taleb (2004)
In the novel Fooled by Randomness, the reader follows Nassim Nicholas Taleb, a former hedge fund manager, now a statistician and professor, as he explains his experiences with the randomness of society and sheds a light on the poor misconception society bears upon those who are wealthy. In addition to this, Taleb explores the mathematics behind randomness and models possible outcomes using computational algorithms such as the Monte Carlo Engine.
Taleb’s novel is sheer brilliance, as he has not only succeeded at exposing the uncertainty many traders fail to acknowledge, but has also effectively proven this theory using a set of mathematical models. In his exploration of success, Taleb uses the characters Nero and John to represent different approaches to the world of finance. The development of each of these characters allows the reader to gain a solid understanding of how the immense success of many traders, such as John, is simply blind luck — and will inevitably lead them to “blow up.” Taleb uses simple and clear examples to prove his point, enabling readers of all categories to understand and enjoy this book. His unique writing style allows for a variety of salient ideas to connect effectively and clearly. Overall, Taleb’s introduction to the world of randomness is fascinating and remarkable.
Reviewed by Karan M.
The Mindful Athlete: Secrets to Pure Performance by George Mumford (2015)
The greatest basketball player of all time, Michael Jordan, has credited the author of this novel for developing his game to be the best player physically and mentally of all time. The Mindful Athlete: Secrets To Pure Performance (2015) was written by George Mumford, an experienced athlete and psychologist. Mumford writes about five main aspects of the mental game and breaks them down for an everyday athletes to apply to their performance. The five aspects were Mindfulness, Concentration, Insight, Right Effort, and Trust. Those 5 aspects of mindfulness are the key to take on a game of basketball. These aspects are not just those that can be applied to sports, as many of them are similar to Buddhist teachings and can be applied to everyday life as well. I personally really enjoyed this book because I was able to gain some new knowledge on the mental aspect of the game. It should now help me to develop as an everyday athlete and to give some tips to my fellow teammates and peers. I recommend this novel to my coach and teammates as it will benefit us all mentally and motivate us to succeed. Overall, this book is geared towards helping athletes work on the mental aspects of their lives on and off the court.
Reviewed by Emmanuel B.
Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely (2008)
We, at least most of us, have all been irrational customers who are often manipulated by today’s market. That is what Dr. Ariely’s nonfiction book Predictably Irrational proves to us. Published in 2008, the book gives insight into predictable behaviors when making certain economical decisions: we like to get the seemingly best option, say ten dollars for two books in contrast with the option of ten dollars for one, when in fact we don’t need that many books at all. Meanwhile, we are more willing to give up our time and energy to get something that isn’t worth it but has the label “FREE!” Furthermore, we often ignore the trade between something physical, like a gift, and something mental, like a better relationship with somebody.
One of the most notable parts of the book is that Dr. Ariely, despite his professional reputation, manages to use a very casual voice to describe and explain his theory from his numerous social experiments. His book not only successfully meets its goal of educating a wide range of readers but also keeps them interested at the same time. After reading the book, readers can actually learn how to be more mindful before rushing to make irrational decisions. If you are looking for a book that educates and entertains you at the same time, this is the one to choose.
Reviewed by Roger L.
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain (2012)
In Susan Cain’s book Quiet, she builds up a fortress for universal introverts by redefining the word “introversion” throughout her various and insightful research. Meanwhile, Cain also gives assorted perspectives on introversion in diverse cultures in order to prove that the existence of introversion in this world does matter. Overall, Cain successfully shatters the wall of people’s prejudices and misunderstandings on introversion, especially in Western Extroversion Ideal society nowadays.
The author undoubtedly examines and demonstrates the power of quietness by vividly presenting successful introverted leaders in different fields. Cain not only focuses on psychological differences between introverts and extroverts, but also examines their behaviors along with providing real-life cases. Furthermore, Cain exposes the fact that introverted people often tend to self-deceive and pretend to be extroverts; nevertheless, she uses humorous and concise language to softly and gradually tear off the suit of self-deceit and wear off the unnecessary worries to be oneself. As I consider myself as an absolute introvert, I felt myself being healed and gaining courage to be myself, at the mercy of the book and Susan Cain’s magic power of words.
Reviewed by Felix Q.