Name: SONG OF THE CELL
Rating: 4.444444444444445 (9 reviews)
ISBN: 9780670092727

SIDDHARTHA. MUKHERJEE

An Exploration of Medicine and the New Human

SONG OF THE CELL

Siddhartha Mukherjee

From the author of “The Emperor of All Maladies”, winner of the Pulitzer Prize, and The Gene, a #1 New York Times bestseller, comes his most spectacular book yet, an exploration of medicine and our radical new ability to manipulate cells. Rich with Mukherjee’s revelatory and exhilarating stories of scientists, doctors, and the patients whose lives may be saved by their work, “The Song of the Cell” is the third book in this extraordinary writer’s exploration of what it means to be human.

Mukherjee begins this magnificent story in the late 1600s, when a distinguished English polymath, Robert Hooke, and an eccentric Dutch cloth-merchant, Antonie van Leeuwenhoek looked down their handmade microscopes. What they saw introduced a radical concept that swept through biology and medicine, touching virtually every aspect of the two sciences, and altering both forever. It was the fact that complex living organisms are assemblages of tiny, self-contained, self-regulating units. Our organs, our physiology, our selves—hearts, blood, brains—are built from these compartments. Hooke christened them “cells”.

The discovery of cells—and the reframing of the human body as a cellular ecosystem—announced the birth of a new kind of medicine based on the therapeutic manipulations of cells. A hip fracture, a cardiac arrest, Alzheimer’s dementia, AIDS, pneumonia, lung cancer, kidney failure, arthritis, COVID pneumonia—all could be reconceived as the results of cells, or systems of cells, functioning abnormally. And all could be perceived as loci of cellular therapies.

In “The Song of the Cell”, Mukherjee tells the story of how scientists discovered cells, began to understand them, and are now using that knowledge to create new humans. He seduces you with writing so vivid, lucid, and suspenseful that complex science becomes thrilling. Told in six parts, laced with Mukherjee’s own experience as a researcher, a doctor, and a prolific reader, The Song of the Cell is both panoramic and intimate—a masterpiece.

The Song of the Cell

Princess Doe 

4.5/5 This is a well written book into the history of cell biology, how it transformed medicine, and where it’s going. It’s beautifully written, engaging. Dr. Mukherjee does an excellent job conveying technical information in an accessible way. It’s nice to go back to the basics to understand where you’re going. Why he did state this from The start, I wish the message was more clear. I kept thinking of “where are we heading”, but never got a clear answer. But I enjoyed the ride.

informative and engaging read about the different cellular dynamics

The book was extremely interesting initially but it got really hard to keep interested by the end. Overall a lot of it will stick with me but felt like a push to finish. 

Abigail Swallow

Keven Wang

When Sid releases a new book. You read it. Simple as that. He is a beautiful writer

SONG OF THE CELL An Exploration of Medicine and the New Human

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