Emperor of all maladies Essay - 8098 Words

Praise for The Emperor of All Maladies â€Å"A compulsively readable, surprisingly uplifting, and vivid tale. thrilling .† —o, t he oprah maga z in e â€Å"[An] essential piece of medical journalism.† —T im e â€Å"A meticulously researched, panoramic history . . . What makes Mukherjee’s narrative so remarkable is that he imbues decades of painstaking laboratory investigation with the suspense of a mystery novel and urgency of a thriller.† —The Boston Globe â€Å"riveting and powerful .† —San Fr a n c isco C hr on ic le â€Å"remarkable . . . The reader devours this fascinating book . . . Mukherjee is a clear and determined writer. . . . An unusually humble, insightful book.† —Los An ge le s T im e s â€Å"extraordinary . . . So often†¦show more content†¦In some nations, cancer will surpass heart disease to become the most common cause of death. Mukherjee_Emperor_i-588_PTR.indd 15 6/22/11 12:59 PM Author’s Note This book is a history of cancer. It is a chronicle of an ancient disease— once a clandestine, â€Å"whispered-about† illness—that has metamorphosed into a lethal shape-shifting entity imbued with such penetrating metaphorical, medical, scientific, and political potency that cancer is often described as the defining plague of our generation. This book is a â€Å"biography† in the truest sense of the word—an attempt to enter the mind of this immortal illness, to understand its personality, to demystify its behavior. But my ultimate aim is to raise a question beyond biography: Is cancer’s end conceivable in the future? Is it possible to eradicate this disease from our bodies and societies forever? Cancer is not one disease but many diseases. We call them all  ­ cancer† â€Å" because they share a fundamental feature: the abnormal growth of cells. And beyond the biological commonality, there are deep cultural and political themes that run through the various incarnations of cancer to justify a unifying narrative. It is not possible to consider the stories of every variant of cancer, but I have attempted to highlight the large themes that run through this 4,000-year history. The project, evidently vast,Show MoreRelatedThe Emperor Of All Maladies Essay1419 Words   |  6 PagesThe Emperor of All Maladies (A biography of cancer), written by Siddhartha Mukherjee Introduction â€Å"The Emperor of All Maladies† captured the whole essence of cancer. This book gave a very good narrative of the historical record of cancer, the scientists and important public figures who contributed to the fight against a disease that has so much caused despair, pain, disfiguring of the body and worst of all, death. Cancer is seen as the abnormal growth of cells. A normal cell becomes cancerous whenRead MoreCancer : The Emperor Of All Maladies1338 Words   |  6 Pagesâ€Å"Cancer: the Emperor of all Maladies† tells the story of humanity’s struggle to eradicate cancer, as well as the leaps and bounds we have taken in understanding the nature of the disease. Sadly the War on Cancer declared by Richard Nixon in 1971 is still ongoing, and although many new technologies, medicines and techniques have been introduced, there are still instances where we are wholly defenseless in our fight against an ancient illness. Cancer is not a foreign infectious disease, nor is thereRead MoreThe Roman Spectacle Of Ancient Society891 Words   |  4 Pagesthe Circus served as a welcomed diversion. Rome’s Emperors were not ignorant to the impact that racing had on the Roman populace all across the empire. Dio Chrysostom writing of partisans of Alexandria in the second century AD noted the passion racing invoked in its spectators: A people to whom one need only throw bread and give a spectacle of horses since they have no interest in anything else. When they enter a theatre or stadium they lose all consciousness of their former state and are notRead MoreOpioids And The Opioid Receptor Essay1526 Words   |  7 Pagesmedical literature during the pinnacle of the Reformation. The residents of India and Persia then began drinking and eating opium mixtures for recreational purposes. In 1830, the British reliance on the drug for leisure and medicinal uses reached an all time high as thousands of pounds of opium were imported from India and Turkey. In the early 1900s, the Saint James Society mounted a vigorous campaign to promote the heroin use in the attempt to eliminate morphine addiction. 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It is a malady instead. It is mere lust and greed.† Indra said, â€Å"Beauty is a symbol of the divine mystery. Hence, it overwhelms. God tries to test people s will through infatuation.† Gautama said, â€Å"Beauty could be the reason for the dissolution of illusion.† VashisthaRead MoreThe Dream Of Any Scientific Mind1467 Words   |  6 Pagesmove from the first site and spread to far off destinations. Since the event of cancer increments as people age, a large portion of the cases are analyzed in grown-ups, moderately aged or older. As reported by Carson-DeWitt, seventy-seven percent of all cancers were analyzed in individuals over 55 years old (â€Å"Cancer†,638). The likelihood of an American male growing up an intrusive malignancy in his lifetime is marginally under 1 in 2; for American females the likelihood is somewhat more than 1 in 3Read MoreThe Future Of Medicine Case Study915 Words   |  4 Pagesestablished regarding cures for noninfectious diseases. 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My book arrived one day after I had been told about this project—talk aboutRead MoreBabe Ruth. Biography1346 Words   |  6 Pagesmore than 1 million-plus players on 56,622 teams worldwide (Varni). This story is told in the case of Johnny Sylvester. He was a little boy who’s life seemed despaired of by the doctors unless something bizarre to shock the boy from a particular malady. The boy’s idol was Babe himself and his uncle ,wrote to him asking for his aid, knew that this was going to surprise the boy.. The very next day Babe arrived in the hospital with a bat, glove, and half a dozen signed baseballs. This was on the frequent