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The Song of the Cell: An Exploration of Medicine and the New Human
Goodreads Choice Award
Nominee for Best Nonfiction (2022)Winner of the 2023 PROSE Award for Excellence in Biological and Life Sciences and the 2023 Chautauqua Prize!
N amed a New York Times Notable Book and a Best Book of the Year by The Economist , Oprah Daily, BookPage, Book Riot, the New York Public Library, and more!
In The Song of the Cell , the extraordinary author of the Pulitzer Prize–winning The Emperor of All Maladies and the #1 New York Times bestseller The Gene “blends cutting-edge research, impeccable scholarship, intrepid reporting, and gorgeous prose into an encyclopedic study that reads like a literary page-turner” ( Oprah Daily ).
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.
Filled with writing so vivid, lucid, and suspenseful that complex science becomes thrilling, The Song of the Cell tells the story of how scientists discovered cells, began to understand them, and are now using that knowledge to create new humans. Told in six parts, and 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 on what it means to be human.
“In an account both lyrical and capacious, Mukherjee takes us through an evolution of human from the seventeenth-century discovery that humans are made up of cells to our cutting-edge technologies for manipulating and deploying cells for therapeutic purposes” ( The New Yorker).
N amed a New York Times Notable Book and a Best Book of the Year by The Economist , Oprah Daily, BookPage, Book Riot, the New York Public Library, and more!
In The Song of the Cell , the extraordinary author of the Pulitzer Prize–winning The Emperor of All Maladies and the #1 New York Times bestseller The Gene “blends cutting-edge research, impeccable scholarship, intrepid reporting, and gorgeous prose into an encyclopedic study that reads like a literary page-turner” ( Oprah Daily ).
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.
Filled with writing so vivid, lucid, and suspenseful that complex science becomes thrilling, The Song of the Cell tells the story of how scientists discovered cells, began to understand them, and are now using that knowledge to create new humans. Told in six parts, and 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 on what it means to be human.
“In an account both lyrical and capacious, Mukherjee takes us through an evolution of human from the seventeenth-century discovery that humans are made up of cells to our cutting-edge technologies for manipulating and deploying cells for therapeutic purposes” ( The New Yorker).
473 pages, Hardcover
First published October 25, 2022
About the author
Siddhartha Mukherjee
36 books5,305 followersSiddhartha Mukherjee (Bengali: সিদ্ধার্থ মুখার্জী) is a cancer physician and researcher. He is an assistant professor of medicine at Columbia University and a staff cancer physician at Columbia University Medical Center. A Rhodes scholar, he graduated from Stanford University, University of Oxford, Harvard Medical School. He has published articles in Nature, The New England Journal of Medicine, The New York Times, and The New Republic. He lives in New York with his wife and daughters.
His book The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer won the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction.
His book The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer won the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,323 reviews
September 17, 2022
There is one book that I measure all medical history books against and that is Emperor of All Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee, which details Dr Mukherjee’s experience as a oncologist against the background of the history of cancer. It won various awards, including a Pulitzer Prize (you can’t get too much better than that!)
Now, I am reading his fourth book, The Song of the Cell: An Exploration of Medicine and the New Human and I am just as enthralled with it as I was with his first book on cancer. Dr Mukherjee takes us through the discovery and description of the cell. I was familiar with most of the history, but I still found his lyrical descriptions to be captivating.
The whole book isn’t just a historical retrospective as he also discusses his (and his colleagues) experiments into cell physiology.
Dr Mukherjee is amazing storyteller. He takes complex subjects and explains them in such a way that even those who don’t have a scientific background will enjoy the ride. As I read the book, I recognized a description that I had read in another book I had reviewed, “Immune: A Journey into the Mysterious System That Keeps You Alive” by Philipp Dettmer; it turns out that Dr Mukherjee cited Dettmer’s book in his notes section. Since Dettmer’s book was one of the best I’d read this year, I was pleased to see it included.
The Song of the Cell: An Exploration of Medicine and the New Human is highly recommended for both the novice and expert in cellular biology. You won’t be disappointed.
[Thank you to NetGalley and the author for the advanced ebook copy in exchange for my honest and objective opinion which I have given here.]
Now, I am reading his fourth book, The Song of the Cell: An Exploration of Medicine and the New Human and I am just as enthralled with it as I was with his first book on cancer. Dr Mukherjee takes us through the discovery and description of the cell. I was familiar with most of the history, but I still found his lyrical descriptions to be captivating.
The whole book isn’t just a historical retrospective as he also discusses his (and his colleagues) experiments into cell physiology.
Dr Mukherjee is amazing storyteller. He takes complex subjects and explains them in such a way that even those who don’t have a scientific background will enjoy the ride. As I read the book, I recognized a description that I had read in another book I had reviewed, “Immune: A Journey into the Mysterious System That Keeps You Alive” by Philipp Dettmer; it turns out that Dr Mukherjee cited Dettmer’s book in his notes section. Since Dettmer’s book was one of the best I’d read this year, I was pleased to see it included.
The Song of the Cell: An Exploration of Medicine and the New Human is highly recommended for both the novice and expert in cellular biology. You won’t be disappointed.
[Thank you to NetGalley and the author for the advanced ebook copy in exchange for my honest and objective opinion which I have given here.]
November 20, 2022
I stop whatever else I'm doing when Siddhartha Mukherjee writes another book. These are the subjects I avoided in school, the hard ones. But in Mukherjee's elegant writing there is only fascination. Allow me to plunge right in.
We have these cells, ones I didn't know we had, that are first responders to injuries and infections: macrophages, monocytes, neutrophils. Here's how to tell about them:
Neutrophils live for just a few days after entering the circulation. But what dramatic days! Incited by an infection, the cells mature from the bone marrow and flood into blood vessels, hot for combat, their faces granulated, their nuclei dilated--a fleet of teenage soldiers deployed to battle. They have evolved special mechanisms to move quickly through tissues, squirming their way through blood vessels like contortionists. It is as if they are maniacally driven to reach sites of infection and inflammation--in part because they so keenly perceive the gradient of cytokines and chemokines released by injury. They are lean, energetic, mobile machines built for immune attack. Professional killers--guardian cells--on a mission.
Having painted an anthropomorphic picture, Mukherjee goes on to explain the challenge--and the possibility--of utilizing these cells as we'd want, to teach them to attack a specific site like, say, cancer cells. So we become complicit in a search for a cure.
Stuff:
-- Patients with certain neurodegenerative diseases--like Parkinson's--have a markedly lower risk of cancer. Why? Why? Why? And how can we use that?
-- In vitro fertilization (IVF) has advanced beyond its definitional purpose and can be used to screen for certain mutations. We knew that. But it can also serve as a venue for gene-editing. Ethical issues aside, the possibilities are endless. There is a company now working on gene-editing enzymes loaded inside liver cells that will permanently lower cholesterol levels--before a baby is born.
-- The discovery of the function of pancreatic cells began, inauspiciously, with a quarrel between two anatomists that ended in a murder. . . . One might think that Wirsung's assassination would send a chill through the field of pancreatic anatomy--I cannot think of another murder incited by a duct--but interest in the function of the pancreas was ignited.
-- It's always nice to have reminders about what evolution is . . . and isn't: A giraffe's long neck isn't the product of generations of its ancestors aspiring to stretch their necks to reach tall trees. It is the consequence of mutations, followed by natural selection . . .
-- There's a story that quantum physicist Wolfgang Pauli, as notoriously cantankerous as he was brilliant, supposedly read a student's paper and remarked that it was "so bad that it was not even wrong." Mukherjee repurposes that anecdote in an instance of his own stumblings.
Along the way, Mukherjee tells us about one brave woman, a seeming functionary in the Food and Drug Administration, who put an end to Thalidomide, a drug used to ease anxiety in pregnant women, and which also caused gross deformities in their babies.
And he teaches about AIDS, cancer, the coronavirus. Clinical depression, too, which the author suffers from.
Now, admittedly, there were times, reading this, where I felt I was getting stuck in the protoplasm. But mostly I was fascinated; and the author's use of case studies, or just his masterful use of language, always brought me out of the soup.
We have these cells, ones I didn't know we had, that are first responders to injuries and infections: macrophages, monocytes, neutrophils. Here's how to tell about them:
Neutrophils live for just a few days after entering the circulation. But what dramatic days! Incited by an infection, the cells mature from the bone marrow and flood into blood vessels, hot for combat, their faces granulated, their nuclei dilated--a fleet of teenage soldiers deployed to battle. They have evolved special mechanisms to move quickly through tissues, squirming their way through blood vessels like contortionists. It is as if they are maniacally driven to reach sites of infection and inflammation--in part because they so keenly perceive the gradient of cytokines and chemokines released by injury. They are lean, energetic, mobile machines built for immune attack. Professional killers--guardian cells--on a mission.
Having painted an anthropomorphic picture, Mukherjee goes on to explain the challenge--and the possibility--of utilizing these cells as we'd want, to teach them to attack a specific site like, say, cancer cells. So we become complicit in a search for a cure.
Stuff:
-- Patients with certain neurodegenerative diseases--like Parkinson's--have a markedly lower risk of cancer. Why? Why? Why? And how can we use that?
-- In vitro fertilization (IVF) has advanced beyond its definitional purpose and can be used to screen for certain mutations. We knew that. But it can also serve as a venue for gene-editing. Ethical issues aside, the possibilities are endless. There is a company now working on gene-editing enzymes loaded inside liver cells that will permanently lower cholesterol levels--before a baby is born.
-- The discovery of the function of pancreatic cells began, inauspiciously, with a quarrel between two anatomists that ended in a murder. . . . One might think that Wirsung's assassination would send a chill through the field of pancreatic anatomy--I cannot think of another murder incited by a duct--but interest in the function of the pancreas was ignited.
-- It's always nice to have reminders about what evolution is . . . and isn't: A giraffe's long neck isn't the product of generations of its ancestors aspiring to stretch their necks to reach tall trees. It is the consequence of mutations, followed by natural selection . . .
-- There's a story that quantum physicist Wolfgang Pauli, as notoriously cantankerous as he was brilliant, supposedly read a student's paper and remarked that it was "so bad that it was not even wrong." Mukherjee repurposes that anecdote in an instance of his own stumblings.
Along the way, Mukherjee tells us about one brave woman, a seeming functionary in the Food and Drug Administration, who put an end to Thalidomide, a drug used to ease anxiety in pregnant women, and which also caused gross deformities in their babies.
And he teaches about AIDS, cancer, the coronavirus. Clinical depression, too, which the author suffers from.
Now, admittedly, there were times, reading this, where I felt I was getting stuck in the protoplasm. But mostly I was fascinated; and the author's use of case studies, or just his masterful use of language, always brought me out of the soup.
April 2, 2023
The body is such a complex, well tuned system with all kind of safeguards and seemingly redundant, but key, systems inherently build in. The author brings this wonder to life, but takes on so much, I was often confused
We need the story of the cell to tell the story of life and of ourselves
A very rich book on a subject I knew little about.
While I was often fascinated, and the author interspersed his narrative with personal patient stories, some parts where quite hard to follow and I was not as impressed as with The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer.
New humans, full of adjusted cells
Dutch Antoni van Leeuwenhoek being one of the frontrunners to discover cells and their importance and germ theory being an exponent of cell theory. Siddhartha Mukherjee initially starts of The Song of the Cell: An Exploration of Medicine and the New Human in a chronological manner, wanting to convey the story of scientific discovery.
Cells are complex and capture a myriad of functions in themselves, from responding to genes, which carries the code, with the cell deciphers that code, to producing energy and having a porous membrane to be able to function.
ATP being the outcomes of the engines of cells, with two methods to generate energy. Cells having a command centre (nucleus), a stomach, a postal system and a storage of poison to use as defense. Membranes act as a double skin around cells.
After the basics are covered the author dives into innovations and cutting edge treatments the better understanding of the cell led to. For instance: 8 to 10 million kids being born by IVF worldwide.
Many things we understand in the general are much more complex than one imagine: that a human egg cells needing to ripen 28 hours before being receptive to fertilization was a large hurdle for developing IVF and even now more accurate measurements and AI analysis are being used to increase success rate of IVF implants from 33% to 93% in 2010.
From negative adjustments via embryo selection (filtering out, to get outcomes which are present in the embryos of a couple) to positive adjustments via gene editing, introducing or removing genes in embryos, it is a slippery slope if we can create superhuman cell adjustments.
Life not so much as becomes the author offers, but I would have liked a more in depth discussion on the ethics of human augmentation.
The story of the cell meanwhile is also the mystery of life: yeast cells for instance can be induced through only 60 artificial generations of evolution to congeal into a multicellular organism.
Overall, despite the fascinating topic, the structure of the book was a bit unclear to me. We jump through history and subjects
Personal anecdotes form a kind of red thread, but don't do enough for me to bind the overarching narrative together: I love looking at cells, like a gardener loves looking at plants
Maybe I am also not enough of a beta to understand everything, even if metaphors as The cell is a nexus and Blood is a network make the story more accessible..
The facts are very interesting, and show how far science has come in a relative short timespan:
- Red blood cells containing more than 90% of one protein, full of iron to bind oxygen
- 13 million units of blood being collected by the American Red Cross, helping in halving the deaths in field hospitals between WWI and WWII
- Platelets and proteins helping to clot blood
- A 1912 banker in Chicago being the first diagnosed heart attack
- Aspirin being an effective anti-clotting medicine, effective against heart attacks
- White blood cells fighting infections, as part of the innate immune system
- Chinese doctors already inoculating patients in 900 with smallpox
- T-Cells knowing both which are its organism’s cells and which of these cells are infected, is a wonder of evolution
- The “self” is what is not detected by the immune system, in physiological terms
- A heart beating 2 billion times on average during the life of a person
-Of the 100 earliest bone marrow transplantations only 17 survived, with the field being accelerated by the radiation effects of Hiroshima, and only from the 1980’s long term survival rates started to increase
- Discovery of insulin in Canada in the 1920’s leading to a Nobel Prize in only 2 years
We don’t even know what we don’t know
Also what we don't know and requires further investigation is equally large and interesting, captured in the long and winding route to scientific knowledge on the fundamentals of the being.
The brain, also build up by cells, is for instance a black box in many ways, with deep brain stimulation, via electrical stimulation of brain areas, sometimes having incredible effects on deep depression, like a brain pacemaker.
So much emergent qualities of cells we don’t understand, or of which we even don’t know we don’t know about.
The body is such a complex, well tuned system with all kind of safeguards and seemingly redundant, but key, systems inherently build in. Human tinkering and "optimisation" often goes wrong when we assume an organ has no function.
All in all we are becoming new humans, not in a freaky way but due to small advances in medical science and especially cell therapies, everyday.
The author is hopeful on the potential of new therapies, and based on the book I am too, with a profound sense of being thankful for all the scientist who devote themselves to moving the frontier of medical knowledge further.
We need the story of the cell to tell the story of life and of ourselves
A very rich book on a subject I knew little about.
While I was often fascinated, and the author interspersed his narrative with personal patient stories, some parts where quite hard to follow and I was not as impressed as with The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer.
New humans, full of adjusted cells
Dutch Antoni van Leeuwenhoek being one of the frontrunners to discover cells and their importance and germ theory being an exponent of cell theory. Siddhartha Mukherjee initially starts of The Song of the Cell: An Exploration of Medicine and the New Human in a chronological manner, wanting to convey the story of scientific discovery.
Cells are complex and capture a myriad of functions in themselves, from responding to genes, which carries the code, with the cell deciphers that code, to producing energy and having a porous membrane to be able to function.
ATP being the outcomes of the engines of cells, with two methods to generate energy. Cells having a command centre (nucleus), a stomach, a postal system and a storage of poison to use as defense. Membranes act as a double skin around cells.
After the basics are covered the author dives into innovations and cutting edge treatments the better understanding of the cell led to. For instance: 8 to 10 million kids being born by IVF worldwide.
Many things we understand in the general are much more complex than one imagine: that a human egg cells needing to ripen 28 hours before being receptive to fertilization was a large hurdle for developing IVF and even now more accurate measurements and AI analysis are being used to increase success rate of IVF implants from 33% to 93% in 2010.
From negative adjustments via embryo selection (filtering out, to get outcomes which are present in the embryos of a couple) to positive adjustments via gene editing, introducing or removing genes in embryos, it is a slippery slope if we can create superhuman cell adjustments.
Life not so much as becomes the author offers, but I would have liked a more in depth discussion on the ethics of human augmentation.
The story of the cell meanwhile is also the mystery of life: yeast cells for instance can be induced through only 60 artificial generations of evolution to congeal into a multicellular organism.
Overall, despite the fascinating topic, the structure of the book was a bit unclear to me. We jump through history and subjects
Personal anecdotes form a kind of red thread, but don't do enough for me to bind the overarching narrative together: I love looking at cells, like a gardener loves looking at plants
Maybe I am also not enough of a beta to understand everything, even if metaphors as The cell is a nexus and Blood is a network make the story more accessible..
The facts are very interesting, and show how far science has come in a relative short timespan:
- Red blood cells containing more than 90% of one protein, full of iron to bind oxygen
- 13 million units of blood being collected by the American Red Cross, helping in halving the deaths in field hospitals between WWI and WWII
- Platelets and proteins helping to clot blood
- A 1912 banker in Chicago being the first diagnosed heart attack
- Aspirin being an effective anti-clotting medicine, effective against heart attacks
- White blood cells fighting infections, as part of the innate immune system
- Chinese doctors already inoculating patients in 900 with smallpox
- T-Cells knowing both which are its organism’s cells and which of these cells are infected, is a wonder of evolution
- The “self” is what is not detected by the immune system, in physiological terms
- A heart beating 2 billion times on average during the life of a person
-Of the 100 earliest bone marrow transplantations only 17 survived, with the field being accelerated by the radiation effects of Hiroshima, and only from the 1980’s long term survival rates started to increase
- Discovery of insulin in Canada in the 1920’s leading to a Nobel Prize in only 2 years
We don’t even know what we don’t know
Also what we don't know and requires further investigation is equally large and interesting, captured in the long and winding route to scientific knowledge on the fundamentals of the being.
The brain, also build up by cells, is for instance a black box in many ways, with deep brain stimulation, via electrical stimulation of brain areas, sometimes having incredible effects on deep depression, like a brain pacemaker.
So much emergent qualities of cells we don’t understand, or of which we even don’t know we don’t know about.
The body is such a complex, well tuned system with all kind of safeguards and seemingly redundant, but key, systems inherently build in. Human tinkering and "optimisation" often goes wrong when we assume an organ has no function.
All in all we are becoming new humans, not in a freaky way but due to small advances in medical science and especially cell therapies, everyday.
The author is hopeful on the potential of new therapies, and based on the book I am too, with a profound sense of being thankful for all the scientist who devote themselves to moving the frontier of medical knowledge further.
December 7, 2022
While some of this book felt like a refresher biology course, a lot of it was fascinating. I particularly liked the parts about the history of vaccines and the discovery/applications of stem cells. The book covered a lot of territory and, although the author explained things clearly, his concept of cells didn’t quite gel for me in the end. Maybe because I zoned out in the parts of the book that dragged a bit. I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.
August 21, 2023
This is an interesting book about anatomy and biology. With facts from the history of research and our day's achievements.
It is a bit heavy with terminology in some places, but this isn't affecting the book so much.
Recommend it to everyone who wants to know more about our body and life around us.
It is a bit heavy with terminology in some places, but this isn't affecting the book so much.
Recommend it to everyone who wants to know more about our body and life around us.
October 16, 2023
Siddhartha Mukherjee is a (Pulitzer Prize) awarded oncologist on my virtual and actual book shelves. "The Song of the Cell: An Exploration of Medicine and the New Human" is the winner of the 2023 PROSE Award for Excellence in Biological and Life Sciences! First introduction was with his "Emperor of Maladies" and its legacy engenders any bookworm to ponder his other literary creations. Mukherjee (with words) "beams us in" to the 17th century to find a circus like menagerie in a droplet of water, and encourages one to gaze fixedly at its' contents---he titles animalcules---via a rudimentary microscope. How do plants make boxes around themselves. Hooke calls them cells (from Latin Cella).
"We are built out of cellular units. Our vulnerabilities are built out of the vulnerabilities of cells."
---Siddhartha Mukherjee M.D.
Mukherjee (Harvard Medical School) has us learning to reframe our common definition of the human body as a cellular ecosystem. For example pneumonia, lung cancer and kidney failure, arthritis are all indications of cellular abnormality---for which he believes can be ameliorated via therapeutic manipulations of cells. He makes humdrum and trite science come to life in this six part non-fiction pseudo thriller.
"We are built out of cellular units. Our vulnerabilities are built out of the vulnerabilities of cells."
---Siddhartha Mukherjee M.D.
Mukherjee (Harvard Medical School) has us learning to reframe our common definition of the human body as a cellular ecosystem. For example pneumonia, lung cancer and kidney failure, arthritis are all indications of cellular abnormality---for which he believes can be ameliorated via therapeutic manipulations of cells. He makes humdrum and trite science come to life in this six part non-fiction pseudo thriller.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 24, 2022
Preface this by saying: he’s an unbelievably good writer, and I savored his other two books.
But my God is this book boring. The bulk of the text is high school level cell biology just in narrative form (a subject that is irredeemably boring and best learned via illustrations). With each new framework or aspect of cells brought forth, we are tasked with going back in time to learn the history of such understanding and discovery. This was great in his previous books - The Gene, and Empire of all Maladies, where you felt like things were progressively coming together as part of broader arc. In Song of the Cell, there is no such pay off or cohesion present. Practically each organelle and each organ gets its own history. When there are 30 pages left in the book and you are forced to go back to the 18th century for about the 20th time to learn a name and a story that is at best mildly interesting, I found Muhkerjee was really just testing the limits of my willpower. Further, through the sheer repetitiousness of the stories, at the end I could remember scattered details but I actually couldn’t remember whose story goes with what discovery. But I also don’t care, because it’s really boring.
To reiterate: Mukherjee still has some of the most beautiful and cogent prose of any writer bar none, not just medical. There are often flashes of insight and philosophical digressions sprinkled in that remind you you are hearing the thoughts of a genius. Particularly on subjects where his lab does work, such as immunotherapy, or his apparent eidetic memory of poems and how he weaves them into the text. Still, I wouldn’t recommend this book to any friends because in addition to the laborious tour of history, the other major chunk of the book is really just a flowery high school textbook. I would ask the prospective reader if they knew that there is something in the cell called a mitochondria, and that it produces ATP through aerobic metabolism? That there is this thing called DNA, and it sits in the nucleus? If reading pages about these topics sounds novel and fun, then have at it.
Maybe it’s because I’ve read histories of medicine before and I work in medicine so none of it really felt all that new? I think if you don't have much knowledge of cell biology you might find this book interesting, because you’re certainly not going to crack a science textbook after high school. But if you have taken courses in medicine / bio you might find the pace slow, and the repetitiousness of the histories to be powerful anesthetics.
But my God is this book boring. The bulk of the text is high school level cell biology just in narrative form (a subject that is irredeemably boring and best learned via illustrations). With each new framework or aspect of cells brought forth, we are tasked with going back in time to learn the history of such understanding and discovery. This was great in his previous books - The Gene, and Empire of all Maladies, where you felt like things were progressively coming together as part of broader arc. In Song of the Cell, there is no such pay off or cohesion present. Practically each organelle and each organ gets its own history. When there are 30 pages left in the book and you are forced to go back to the 18th century for about the 20th time to learn a name and a story that is at best mildly interesting, I found Muhkerjee was really just testing the limits of my willpower. Further, through the sheer repetitiousness of the stories, at the end I could remember scattered details but I actually couldn’t remember whose story goes with what discovery. But I also don’t care, because it’s really boring.
To reiterate: Mukherjee still has some of the most beautiful and cogent prose of any writer bar none, not just medical. There are often flashes of insight and philosophical digressions sprinkled in that remind you you are hearing the thoughts of a genius. Particularly on subjects where his lab does work, such as immunotherapy, or his apparent eidetic memory of poems and how he weaves them into the text. Still, I wouldn’t recommend this book to any friends because in addition to the laborious tour of history, the other major chunk of the book is really just a flowery high school textbook. I would ask the prospective reader if they knew that there is something in the cell called a mitochondria, and that it produces ATP through aerobic metabolism? That there is this thing called DNA, and it sits in the nucleus? If reading pages about these topics sounds novel and fun, then have at it.
Maybe it’s because I’ve read histories of medicine before and I work in medicine so none of it really felt all that new? I think if you don't have much knowledge of cell biology you might find this book interesting, because you’re certainly not going to crack a science textbook after high school. But if you have taken courses in medicine / bio you might find the pace slow, and the repetitiousness of the histories to be powerful anesthetics.
September 14, 2022
“Song of the Cell” is a deeply researched insight into the world of cell biology. It starts with the high school model of a cell that we all know and recognize and then starts adding depth and breadth to that basic concept. The most astonishing portions of the book are the human stories behind the discoveries and inventions that have prolonged human life. It’s a surprisingly emotional and poetic read for a subject seemingly as dry as cell biology. I would highly recommend this book
September 15, 2023
i think my biology professors from college would be very surprised that i'm reading this given how much i hated their class.
this has felt like a big history lesson and biology lesson rolled into one and ,honestly, it was a bit too long and a bit too much for my little brain.
this has felt like a big history lesson and biology lesson rolled into one and ,honestly, it was a bit too long and a bit too much for my little brain.
April 9, 2023
Another amazing book by Siddhartha Mukjerjee, however this one didn't cast quite as bright a spell over me as The Emperor of All Maladies and some parts felt overly long. The book is laid out as follows: a Prelude: The Elementary Particles of Organisms, Introduction: We Shall Always Return to the Cell, followed by 6 parts:
Part One: Discovery, The Original Cell, The Visible Cell, The Universal Cell, The Pathogenic Cell.
Part 2: The Organized Cell, The Dividing Cell, The Tampered Cell, The Developing Cell.
Part 3: The Restless Cell, The Healing Cell, The Guardian Cell, The Defending Cell, The Discerning Cell, The Tolerant Cell.
Part 4: The Pandemic.
Part 5: The Citizen Cell, The Contemplating Cell, The Orchestrating Cell.
Part 6: The Renewing Cell, The Repairing Cell, The Selfish Cell, The Songs of the Cell.
Epilogue: Better Versions of Me
Favorite quote: "The Cell... is a nexus: a connection point between disciplines, methods, technologies, concepts, structures, and processes. Its importance to life, and to the life sciences and beyond, is because of this remarkable position as a nexus, because of the cells apparently inexhaustible potential to be found in such connective relationships." Maureen A. O'Malley, philosophy of microbiology, and Staffan Müller-Wille, science historian, 2010.
Part One: Discovery, The Original Cell, The Visible Cell, The Universal Cell, The Pathogenic Cell.
Part 2: The Organized Cell, The Dividing Cell, The Tampered Cell, The Developing Cell.
Part 3: The Restless Cell, The Healing Cell, The Guardian Cell, The Defending Cell, The Discerning Cell, The Tolerant Cell.
Part 4: The Pandemic.
Part 5: The Citizen Cell, The Contemplating Cell, The Orchestrating Cell.
Part 6: The Renewing Cell, The Repairing Cell, The Selfish Cell, The Songs of the Cell.
Epilogue: Better Versions of Me
Favorite quote: "The Cell... is a nexus: a connection point between disciplines, methods, technologies, concepts, structures, and processes. Its importance to life, and to the life sciences and beyond, is because of this remarkable position as a nexus, because of the cells apparently inexhaustible potential to be found in such connective relationships." Maureen A. O'Malley, philosophy of microbiology, and Staffan Müller-Wille, science historian, 2010.
August 7, 2023
Siddhartha Mukherjee, an oncologist and researcher, can just sit back and talk about biology and I will just absorb it. He is accessible, articulate, and humble describing the grand complexity of life. His The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer is still my favorite because it so eloquently covers such a complex field. But, all 3 of his biology books (Emperor, The Gene, and The Song of the Cell) overlap extensively in the Venn diagram of subject matter, but each one carries enough emphasis, material, and stories. And, he tells a good story.
The best, new fun fact for parties I learned from Song: Leeuwenhoek, after submitting his findings about the incredible things he saw through his microscope, wouldn't let anybody else see. He was just "Nope". Finally after years of pressure, he let 8 of his neighbors have a peek and vouch for his findings to the Royal Society.
The best, new fun fact for parties I learned from Song: Leeuwenhoek, after submitting his findings about the incredible things he saw through his microscope, wouldn't let anybody else see. He was just "Nope". Finally after years of pressure, he let 8 of his neighbors have a peek and vouch for his findings to the Royal Society.
January 2, 2024
This was one of the most informative books I’ve ever read in my life! Admittedly, sometimes there was SO much information that I got lost, but I always came back to it. I was astonished at the variety of topics covered in this deep dive into cell biology. Not only did he touch on the structure of a cell very in depth, but he also covered topics like gene editing, IVF & IUI journeys, cancer, rare genetic disorders, the pandemic & the effects of events like modern warfare on cell biology/overall health & SO much more. I was shocked! I have never learned so much from one book in my entire life. Siddhartha Muhkerjee has a way with words that keeps the reader engaged, but he is also able to deliver a significant amount of information at the same time. I felt like there were some minor lulls in the text, but only when there were a lot of acronyms being used to shorten the medical terminology. I thoroughly enjoyed this read & I encourage everyone to read any of his books. AMAZING scientific texts.
October 29, 2022
Mukherjee is a hematology focused oncologist, so this book can be a little sad from time to time, but there are so many advancements in the field that I didn't know about. The ongoing research on engineering artificial pancreas that can be implanted into diabetic people so they can produce their own insulin was one of the things I found most exciting.
While you don't need to have any medical knowledge background to read this book, knowing the basics of hematology and immunology going in will help (I can heartily recommend Immune). Mukherjee gives us both a historical background on the scientific understanding of cells within themselves and how they work together in an organ and the body as a whole, and his own findings as well as his colleagues. The ethical controversy around using stem cells, IVF, genetic editing and so on are also explored. Of course, a large part of this book is devoted to cancerous cells, cancer treatments and how the way cancerous cells behave have given us insight into the overall workings of healthy cells. There is still so much to know, but this book is quite comprehensive if this topic interests you. I'm looking forward to picking up another book by this author.
While you don't need to have any medical knowledge background to read this book, knowing the basics of hematology and immunology going in will help (I can heartily recommend Immune). Mukherjee gives us both a historical background on the scientific understanding of cells within themselves and how they work together in an organ and the body as a whole, and his own findings as well as his colleagues. The ethical controversy around using stem cells, IVF, genetic editing and so on are also explored. Of course, a large part of this book is devoted to cancerous cells, cancer treatments and how the way cancerous cells behave have given us insight into the overall workings of healthy cells. There is still so much to know, but this book is quite comprehensive if this topic interests you. I'm looking forward to picking up another book by this author.
August 10, 2023
A book about "cells" might seem limited in scope, but this book is about the "song of the cell." In other words it is about how cells of the human body work together (i.e. sing the same song). But sometimes the resulting music may be out of tune, and the body's health is impaired. Thus this book ends up addressing about every conceivable situation where medical intervention is needed. “A hip fracture, cardiac arrest, immunodeficiency, Alzheimer’s dementia, AIDS, pneumonia, lung cancer, kidney failure, arthritis — all could be reconceived as the results of cells, or systems of cells, functioning abnormally,” Mukherjee writes. “And all could be perceived as loci of cellular therapies.”
Human cell biology is thoroughly presented in this book along with some science history about how this knowledge came to be known together with some case histories of clinical treatments. The occasional case histories that are sighted in the book's narrative sometimes are accounts of amazing life saving results from using the latest knowledge and techniques. But there are also a number of case histories sighted that ended in failure and death but were ultimately lessons learned. Some of the clinical cases described are from the author's personal experience with patients, and in the section on mental health his account becomes quite personal by describing his own experience with depression.
The book is enhanced with many illustrations and photographs. “The Song of the Cell” is a lively, personal, detailed, often moving account of the cell in medical history and its promise in the present.
The author tries his best to make his descriptions of cell functions as easy to understand as possible. In doing so he frequently uses metaphors. The following excerpt is an example of the author's use of metaphor to describe how most proteins get to their correct locations within the cell.
Human cell biology is thoroughly presented in this book along with some science history about how this knowledge came to be known together with some case histories of clinical treatments. The occasional case histories that are sighted in the book's narrative sometimes are accounts of amazing life saving results from using the latest knowledge and techniques. But there are also a number of case histories sighted that ended in failure and death but were ultimately lessons learned. Some of the clinical cases described are from the author's personal experience with patients, and in the section on mental health his account becomes quite personal by describing his own experience with depression.
The book is enhanced with many illustrations and photographs. “The Song of the Cell” is a lively, personal, detailed, often moving account of the cell in medical history and its promise in the present.
The author tries his best to make his descriptions of cell functions as easy to understand as possible. In doing so he frequently uses metaphors. The following excerpt is an example of the author's use of metaphor to describe how most proteins get to their correct locations within the cell.
The whole process can be imagined as an elaborate postal system. It begins with the linguistic code of genes (RNA) that is translated to write the letter (the protein). The protein is written, or synthesized, by the cell’s letter writer (the ribosome), which then posts it to the mailbox (the pore by which the protein enters the ER). The pore routes it to the central posting station (the endoplasmic reticulum), which then sends the letter to the sorting system (the Golgi), and finally brings it to the delivery vehicle (the secretory granule). There are, in fact, even codes appended to proteins (stamps) that enable the cell to determine their ultimate destination. (p.86 of 473)In the following excerpt the author is self consciously reviewing his previous use of metaphors and then proceeding to suggest that the whole system of cells that make up a human body is a "cellular civilization."
Our metaphors have changed. Flip back a few pages, and we imagined the cell as a lone spaceship. Then, in the chapter “The Dividing Cell,” the cell was no longer single but became the progenitors of two cells, and then four. It was a founder, the originator of tissues, organs, bodies—fulfilling the dream of one cell becoming two and four. And then it transformed into a colony: the developing embryo, with cells settling and positioning themselves within the landscape of an organism.This following is an isolated comment that I found interesting. It was listed as one of many unsolved mysteries.
And blood? It is a conglomerate of organs, a system of systems. It has built training camps for its armies (lymph nodes), highways and alleys to move its cells (blood vessels). It has citadels and walls that are constantly being surveyed and repaired by its residents (neutrophils and platelets). It has invented a system of identification cards to recognize its citizens and eject intruders (T cells) and an army to guard itself from invaders (B cells). It has evolved language, organization, organization, memory, architecture, subcultures, and self-recognition. A new metaphor comes to mind. Perhaps we might think of it as a cellular civilization. (p.242 of 473)
Or why patients with certain neurodegenerative diseases—Parkinson’s among them—have a markedly lower risk of cancer. (p.363 of 473)
January 31, 2023
Any attempt on my part to summarize this book would only sell it short. This book is breathtaking in scope, in detail, and in thoughtfulness. Mukherjee is just plain one of the best science writers out there. Yes, it is highly detailed which can put some people off, but since I like deep-dives which also touch on numerous anicillary topics, this book is perfect. I read this for my non-fiction book club, and I'm excitedly anticipating the discussion we'll have.
January 24, 2023
The Song of the Cell is a book about cell biology as a science subject, its origin, history and development, with a focus on human cell biology and, along with it, medical science. I have read three books by the author. The first book, The Emperor of All Maladies, is an eye-opener. His second book, The Gene: An Intimate History, is also very good. This is the third book. I am not sure if it is me or the book itself: it feels familiar. Having said that, I do enjoy reading the chapters about immune cells, neurons, and cancer cells. It seems the author’s best subjects are still cancer and genes. A gene variation that makes you susceptible to covid? Indeed, gene therapy is also cell therapy. I am looking forward to reading the author’s update on using gene therapy to cure different kinds of cancers.
A (pending?) discovery I found intriguing: osteoarthritis is perhaps a disease of stem cell loss. The cells that are being worn out in the first stage are cartilage making stem cells, and they can no longer keep up with the genesis of cartilage.
A (pending?) discovery I found intriguing: osteoarthritis is perhaps a disease of stem cell loss. The cells that are being worn out in the first stage are cartilage making stem cells, and they can no longer keep up with the genesis of cartilage.
December 28, 2023
หนังสือวิทยาศาสตร์ที่สนุกที่สุดเล่มหนึ่งที่เคยอ่านในชีวิต เล่าเรื่องของ “เซลล์” ด้วยภาษาที่สวยงามแจ่มชัดแถมยังน่าตื่นเต้นเป็นระยะ ๆ ใครที่สงสัยว่าเรื่องที่ดูแห้งแล้งอย่าง “เซลล์” จะกลายเป็นหนังสืออ่านสนุกได้อย่างไร หรืออยากศึกษาวิธีเขียนหนังสือแนวสารคดี ควรต้องอ่าน Song of the Cell ด้วยประการทั้งปวง
ผู้เขียนไม่เพียงแต่ถ่ายทอดความพิศวงของหน่วยย่อยที่สุดของชีวิตในธรรมชาติให้เราเข้าใจและตื่นตาตื่นใจเท่านั้น แต่ทั้งเล่มยังอัดแน่นด้วยส่วนผสมที่ลงตัวมากระหว่าง ประวัติศาสตร์วิทยาศาสตร์ (เรื่องราวการค้นพบฟังก์ชั่นต่าง ๆ ของเซลล์โดยนักวิทยาศาสตร์) หลักและทฤษฎีชีววิทยา และเกร็ดสนุก ๆ เกี่ยวกับชีวิตของนักวิทยาศาสตร์ที่เกี่ยวข้อง เรื่องที่ส่วนตัวชอบมากคือ “ความผิดพลาด” ทั้งหลายที่กลายเป็นโชคดีเพราะนำไปสู่การค้นพบใหม่ ๆ และความเห็นต่างหรือขัดแย้งไม่ลงรอยกันระหว่างนักวิทยาศาสตร์ ซึ่งก็เป็นส่วนสำคัญที่ขาดไม่ได้ในการขับเคลื่อนวิทยาศาสตร์ไปข้างหน้า
Song of the Cell เจ๋งในทุกมิติ แต่สิ่งที่ทำให้รู้สึกทึ่งมากกับผู้เขียนก็คือ ความสามารถในการคัดสรรอุปมาอุปไมยและการเปรียบเปรยทั้งหลาย มาช่วยให้เราทำความเข้าใจกับการทำงานของสิ่งที่เข้าใจยากและไม่มีวันเห็นได้ด้วยตาเปล่า เราจะได้จินตนาการว่าตัวเองเป็นนักสำรวจตัวจิ๋วที่ว่ายวนเข้าไปสำรวจเซลล์และส่วนต่าง ๆ ของมัน รวมถึงสำรวจความผิดปกติของเซลล์ ระบบนิเวศและการค้นพบใหม่ ๆ ที่อัพเดทล่าสุด (เช่น proteinomics และ gene editing) ส่วนตัวชอบ Emperor of All Maladies หนังสือเล่มก่อนหน้านี้ของผู้เขียนคนเดียวกัน (ชนะรางวัลพูลิตเซอร์) ว่าด้วยโรคมะเร็งมากอยู่แล้ว (เขาเป็นหมอมะเร็ง) แต่ชอบ Song of the Cell มากกว่าอีก คิดว่าผู้เขียนบรรลุศาสตร์การเขียนไปอีกขั้น เป็นประสบการณ์การอ่านที่เปิดโลกและรื่นรมย��ที่สุดเล่มหนึ่งในรอบหลายปี จะรอคอยผลงานเล่มต่อไปของ Mukherjee ด้วยใจระทึก
ผู้เขียนไม่เพียงแต่ถ่ายทอดความพิศวงของหน่วยย่อยที่สุดของชีวิตในธรรมชาติให้เราเข้าใจและตื่นตาตื่นใจเท่านั้น แต่ทั้งเล่มยังอัดแน่นด้วยส่วนผสมที่ลงตัวมากระหว่าง ประวัติศาสตร์วิทยาศาสตร์ (เรื่องราวการค้นพบฟังก์ชั่นต่าง ๆ ของเซลล์โดยนักวิทยาศาสตร์) หลักและทฤษฎีชีววิทยา และเกร็ดสนุก ๆ เกี่ยวกับชีวิตของนักวิทยาศาสตร์ที่เกี่ยวข้อง เรื่องที่ส่วนตัวชอบมากคือ “ความผิดพลาด” ทั้งหลายที่กลายเป็นโชคดีเพราะนำไปสู่การค้นพบใหม่ ๆ และความเห็นต่างหรือขัดแย้งไม่ลงรอยกันระหว่างนักวิทยาศาสตร์ ซึ่งก็เป็นส่วนสำคัญที่ขาดไม่ได้ในการขับเคลื่อนวิทยาศาสตร์ไปข้างหน้า
Song of the Cell เจ๋งในทุกมิติ แต่สิ่งที่ทำให้รู้สึกทึ่งมากกับผู้เขียนก็คือ ความสามารถในการคัดสรรอุปมาอุปไมยและการเปรียบเปรยทั้งหลาย มาช่วยให้เราทำความเข้าใจกับการทำงานของสิ่งที่เข้าใจยากและไม่มีวันเห็นได้ด้วยตาเปล่า เราจะได้จินตนาการว่าตัวเองเป็นนักสำรวจตัวจิ๋วที่ว่ายวนเข้าไปสำรวจเซลล์และส่วนต่าง ๆ ของมัน รวมถึงสำรวจความผิดปกติของเซลล์ ระบบนิเวศและการค้นพบใหม่ ๆ ที่อัพเดทล่าสุด (เช่น proteinomics และ gene editing) ส่วนตัวชอบ Emperor of All Maladies หนังสือเล่มก่อนหน้านี้ของผู้เขียนคนเดียวกัน (ชนะรางวัลพูลิตเซอร์) ว่าด้วยโรคมะเร็งมากอยู่แล้ว (เขาเป็นหมอมะเร็ง) แต่ชอบ Song of the Cell มากกว่าอีก คิดว่าผู้เขียนบรรลุศาสตร์การเขียนไปอีกขั้น เป็นประสบการณ์การอ่านที่เปิดโลกและรื่นรมย��ที่สุดเล่มหนึ่งในรอบหลายปี จะรอคอยผลงานเล่มต่อไปของ Mukherjee ด้วยใจระทึก
August 13, 2022
Instructive, fascinating, and scrupulous without being overly pedantic, The Song of the Cell is Mukherjee at his best. In fact, it may be my new favorite work of his. I say that because of the way he manages to provide an intimate and detailed account of the cell as well as a wide-ranging emphasis on its evolving role in science and medicine. It truly is a remarkable lens of exploration and insight into what makes us human, into the emergent properties that are required to constitute life.
As the author himself relates, this book is a "sum of parts." Six in total. Beginning with single units and ending with the body's complex and interactive cellular ecosystem, Mukjherjee takes readers on a progressive journey. He tells the story of the cell, highlighting its complex music, if you will. He not only touches upon the physiology and pathology of the cell, but upon his general and personal history with it where he relates stories of patients whose lives have been touched by it in sickness - some of whom have been cured, others whom cannot be - as well as the medical quest that has been underway for the last century to use cells to help rebuild and repair humans.
I admit, I was worried about the lack of chronological structure early on. I feared I wouldn't be able to follow or that I'd get lost in the medical density of it all. That said, I'm pleased to say it worked better without it. Ended up being a stronger read because of it. I actually preferred the structure that was chosen because it allowed me to focus on the cell as a unit as well as extrapolate on it as a system of parts that work in tandem.
In this text, the author arranged things so as to help readers hear and understand how separate cellular components function while also showing how they build off each other to interact in comprehensive ways or systems (in our blood, in our organs, in our medical treatments, in our environment) to play one fluid song: initiating, cooperating, or malfunctioning in its bodily response. For the first time, I was able to see cells not only as the unit of life and physiology but also as the locus of disease.
There's so much to learn in these pages, so much still left for science to discover.
A remarkable and illuminating read. Just brilliant.
Special thanks to NetGalley and Scribner for the ARC in exchange for my review.
BOOK BLOG
As the author himself relates, this book is a "sum of parts." Six in total. Beginning with single units and ending with the body's complex and interactive cellular ecosystem, Mukjherjee takes readers on a progressive journey. He tells the story of the cell, highlighting its complex music, if you will. He not only touches upon the physiology and pathology of the cell, but upon his general and personal history with it where he relates stories of patients whose lives have been touched by it in sickness - some of whom have been cured, others whom cannot be - as well as the medical quest that has been underway for the last century to use cells to help rebuild and repair humans.
I admit, I was worried about the lack of chronological structure early on. I feared I wouldn't be able to follow or that I'd get lost in the medical density of it all. That said, I'm pleased to say it worked better without it. Ended up being a stronger read because of it. I actually preferred the structure that was chosen because it allowed me to focus on the cell as a unit as well as extrapolate on it as a system of parts that work in tandem.
In this text, the author arranged things so as to help readers hear and understand how separate cellular components function while also showing how they build off each other to interact in comprehensive ways or systems (in our blood, in our organs, in our medical treatments, in our environment) to play one fluid song: initiating, cooperating, or malfunctioning in its bodily response. For the first time, I was able to see cells not only as the unit of life and physiology but also as the locus of disease.
There's so much to learn in these pages, so much still left for science to discover.
A remarkable and illuminating read. Just brilliant.
Special thanks to NetGalley and Scribner for the ARC in exchange for my review.
BOOK BLOG
April 9, 2023
‘The Song of the Cell’ by Siddhartha Mukherjee is dense with history and science. By necessity, it must be read slowly. The effort is worth it!
I have copied the book blurb:
”Winner of the 2023 PROSE Award for Excellence in Biological and Life Sciences!
Named a New York Times Notable Book and a Best Book of the Year by The Economist , Oprah Daily, BookPage, Book Riot, the New York Public Library, and more!
In The Song of the Cell , the extraordinary author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Emperor of All Maladies and the #1 New York Times bestseller The Gene “blends cutting-edge research, impeccable scholarship, intrepid reporting, and gorgeous prose into an encyclopedic study that reads like a literary page-turner” ( Oprah Daily ).
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.
Filled with writing so vivid, lucid, and suspenseful that complex science becomes thrilling, The Song of the Cell tells the story of how scientists discovered cells, began to understand them, and are now using that knowledge to create new humans. Told in six parts, and 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 on what it means to be human.
“In an account both lyrical and capacious, Mukherjee takes us through an evolution of human from the seventeenth-century discovery that humans are made up of cells to our cutting-edge technologies for manipulating and deploying cells for therapeutic purposes” ( The New Yorker).”
The parts are:
-Discovery
-The One and the Many
-Blood
-Knowledge
-Organs
-Rebirth
There are Notes, Bibliography and Index sections, along with a picture section of the various scientists who discovered a vital part or function of the cell.
I suggest reading the book Immune: a Journey into the Mysterious System that Keeps You Alive as a complementary text because it includes a lot of drawings of the cell parts that Mukherjee describes in depth. Between reading these two books, I figured out my husband almost died from double pneumonia ten years ago because he has a fantastic immune system. He was a victim of a cytokine storm, I think. In the 45 years we’ve been married, he’s had maybe four colds until he began his 7th decade. He’s never been sick with any other diseases at all. When younger, if he got sick, he went to bed and slept. Six hours later he’d get up without any signs of the cold. However, since his fight with double pneumonia, he’s been coming down with a cold at least once a year. He is really sick for a week. Needless to say, he can’t believe he’s become mortal at last. However, he has NEVER had Covid.
I, on the other hand, catch every damn cold virus going around since I was a toddler. I’ve also had the measles - twice - chicken pox (and now mild cases of occasional attacks of shingles, despite two different jab series of shingle formulas), etc etc etc. They pull my vitality levels down mildly to moderately, and slowly go away, for weeks. My immune system seemingly behaves in a very sluggish, slow-witted manner. I’ve caught Covid twice, so far (I and my husband have been immunized, so I felt like I had a mild cold).
I don’t know if the quick or slow recovery times have anything to do with the differences in how he and I respond to viruses or bacterial disease, now that he has become susceptible. When he becomes sick with a cold, he is almost bedridden, utterly exhausted for two or three days. Then he becomes antsy and bored for a few more days, then he is fine. I resign myself to sniffling and coughing resentfully for weeks - weeks! - while I am shuffling slowly through my daily responsibilities. Why resentfully? Because he ALWAYS appears to get sick first now! Within hours of his feeling terrible suddenly, a multitude of symptoms burst out and he is down. Yes, alright, it might be I am sick first before him and I don’t know it. My immune system (and my body, frankly) is a slow-burn tortoise coming and going. For a couple of weeks I feel off, then symptoms slowly blossom (first, maybe a sore throat for a few days, I think maybe it’s allergies?, next maybe a slight cough- maybe asthma? -I never think maybe a cold). His body reacts to disease as if he were a roadrunner striking an unexpected wall that suddenly flattens him without any previous warning signs (his body is always busy busy busy anyway, he can’t sit through a movie). He appears to be the bad guy that brought the illness home. I’m ok with that.
I have copied the book blurb:
”Winner of the 2023 PROSE Award for Excellence in Biological and Life Sciences!
Named a New York Times Notable Book and a Best Book of the Year by The Economist , Oprah Daily, BookPage, Book Riot, the New York Public Library, and more!
In The Song of the Cell , the extraordinary author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Emperor of All Maladies and the #1 New York Times bestseller The Gene “blends cutting-edge research, impeccable scholarship, intrepid reporting, and gorgeous prose into an encyclopedic study that reads like a literary page-turner” ( Oprah Daily ).
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.
Filled with writing so vivid, lucid, and suspenseful that complex science becomes thrilling, The Song of the Cell tells the story of how scientists discovered cells, began to understand them, and are now using that knowledge to create new humans. Told in six parts, and 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 on what it means to be human.
“In an account both lyrical and capacious, Mukherjee takes us through an evolution of human from the seventeenth-century discovery that humans are made up of cells to our cutting-edge technologies for manipulating and deploying cells for therapeutic purposes” ( The New Yorker).”
The parts are:
-Discovery
-The One and the Many
-Blood
-Knowledge
-Organs
-Rebirth
There are Notes, Bibliography and Index sections, along with a picture section of the various scientists who discovered a vital part or function of the cell.
I suggest reading the book Immune: a Journey into the Mysterious System that Keeps You Alive as a complementary text because it includes a lot of drawings of the cell parts that Mukherjee describes in depth. Between reading these two books, I figured out my husband almost died from double pneumonia ten years ago because he has a fantastic immune system. He was a victim of a cytokine storm, I think. In the 45 years we’ve been married, he’s had maybe four colds until he began his 7th decade. He’s never been sick with any other diseases at all. When younger, if he got sick, he went to bed and slept. Six hours later he’d get up without any signs of the cold. However, since his fight with double pneumonia, he’s been coming down with a cold at least once a year. He is really sick for a week. Needless to say, he can’t believe he’s become mortal at last. However, he has NEVER had Covid.
I, on the other hand, catch every damn cold virus going around since I was a toddler. I’ve also had the measles - twice - chicken pox (and now mild cases of occasional attacks of shingles, despite two different jab series of shingle formulas), etc etc etc. They pull my vitality levels down mildly to moderately, and slowly go away, for weeks. My immune system seemingly behaves in a very sluggish, slow-witted manner. I’ve caught Covid twice, so far (I and my husband have been immunized, so I felt like I had a mild cold).
I don’t know if the quick or slow recovery times have anything to do with the differences in how he and I respond to viruses or bacterial disease, now that he has become susceptible. When he becomes sick with a cold, he is almost bedridden, utterly exhausted for two or three days. Then he becomes antsy and bored for a few more days, then he is fine. I resign myself to sniffling and coughing resentfully for weeks - weeks! - while I am shuffling slowly through my daily responsibilities. Why resentfully? Because he ALWAYS appears to get sick first now! Within hours of his feeling terrible suddenly, a multitude of symptoms burst out and he is down. Yes, alright, it might be I am sick first before him and I don’t know it. My immune system (and my body, frankly) is a slow-burn tortoise coming and going. For a couple of weeks I feel off, then symptoms slowly blossom (first, maybe a sore throat for a few days, I think maybe it’s allergies?, next maybe a slight cough- maybe asthma? -I never think maybe a cold). His body reacts to disease as if he were a roadrunner striking an unexpected wall that suddenly flattens him without any previous warning signs (his body is always busy busy busy anyway, he can’t sit through a movie). He appears to be the bad guy that brought the illness home. I’m ok with that.
January 1, 2023
One good thing about studying philosophy is you can understand the reason behind things. Otherwise I think I would be horrified at how history has treated animals in animal testing. That was my take home from this book lol.
No, there was a lot of great information (that mostly went right over my head), the biggest discoveries in cellular biology, the function of vital organs, blood cells, the horrors of cancerous cells.
I enjoyed the fact that the author talked a lot about ethics towards humans and the ethical implications of DNA sequencing, it was surprisingly short of any ethics towards animals but that would take a whole other book I suppose.
Also there was a chapter that was adamant about how high the standards should be for the FDA, it’s unrelated but I would add that the FDA should be allowed more control over nutritional “supplements”. All these neo-grifters have to put on their label is “not FDA approved” and they can basically do anything they want with these often fake products. Know your FDA policies people! lol.
Worth a read, but I would not read it cover to cover again.
No, there was a lot of great information (that mostly went right over my head), the biggest discoveries in cellular biology, the function of vital organs, blood cells, the horrors of cancerous cells.
I enjoyed the fact that the author talked a lot about ethics towards humans and the ethical implications of DNA sequencing, it was surprisingly short of any ethics towards animals but that would take a whole other book I suppose.
Also there was a chapter that was adamant about how high the standards should be for the FDA, it’s unrelated but I would add that the FDA should be allowed more control over nutritional “supplements”. All these neo-grifters have to put on their label is “not FDA approved” and they can basically do anything they want with these often fake products. Know your FDA policies people! lol.
Worth a read, but I would not read it cover to cover again.
May 10, 2023
The author takes us on an explanation of the importance of the cell. From its discovery to what it means to manipulate cells and make “new” humans, There is a section on immunotherapy against cancer and its inherent problems that I was unaware of. The author mixes history, science and facts with stories from his life as an oncologist. This is what gives his books particular strength and what truly captivates.
April 27, 2023
Full Review is at Holodoxa my Substack
The Song of the Cell by Siddhartha Mukherjee is one of the most highly anticipated non-fiction books of 2022. Mukherjee of Emperor of All Maladies success, is an assistant professor of hematology and oncology at Columbia University's Medical Center. Mukherjee's CV is astounding, featuring MD/DPhil credentials, 50+ research articles, a Rhodes Scholarship, a Pulitzer prize, and numerous other awards. It is unfathomable how Dr. Mukherjee keeps up with all his work on a day-to-day basis. This breakneck work-pace clearly weighs on him some as Mukherjee often appears fatigued and mildly disheveled in interview. Nonetheless he is always a model of lucid and intelligent communication. I have really enjoyed both his prior books, Emperor of All Maladies and The Gene, which are respectively histories of cancer and genetics. The Song of the Cell completes the trilogy of sorts, presenting an idiosyncratic, special topics history of cellular biology.
The Song of the Cell ambitiously recap the foundations of cellular life science. Mukherjee chooses to start with the invention of microscopy. The history of science is often a history of what questions technological advancement allows curious people to ask ("highbrow science was born from lowbrow tinkering"), but Mukherjee also makes a compelling case that the conceptual work of scientists was important to the field's advancement not just technology. The unifying and bold Mukherjee identifies and also uses to organizes his otherwise divided narrative is that cells are "the elementary particles of organisms." Two critical premises support this conceptual understanding of life. One, all living organisms are composed of one or more cells. Two, the cell is the basic unit of structure and organization in organisms. In other words, Mukherjee is saying "the life of an organism reposes in the life of a cell." He attributes these foundational concepts of cell biology to two German men, zoologist Theodor Schwann and Botanist Matthias Schleiden who derived it their work and the work of first-mover microscopists, Antonie van Leeuwenhoek and Robert Hooke.
From this central idea, a sexpartite of mini-histories spirals forth, touching on a wide range of topics: foundational discoveries in cell biology, cellular development and evolution, the blood as a complex organ of cells, the Covid-19 pandemic, organ systems, and regenerative medicine. The prose is lucid and vivid, moving readers quickly through the 500 page book. Mukherjee relies on fewer extended metaphors and verbal flourishes relative to his prior books, but this is an improvement. The thing that holds the work back is that it doesn't hold together well, especially when couched as a work of science history and communication. It is admittedly difficult to knit together cellular biology knowledge and related history into a single book. The field is inherently balkanized and intwined with other disciplines. There is also just too much content to cram into a single book without losing a lot of the audience. Mukherjee is still able to hit a lot of important moments but has to sacrifice a lot of depth, especially on the history and human side of the science. This is what added a value in his other books compared to just reading a textbook or research article, especially for a reader with a background in science (like myself).
The Song of the Cell is still an important work of popular science history. Mukherjee communicates complex science without oversimplification. He also shows discipline by not overhyping research findings or groundbreaking topics in the book. He is largely able to avoid many of the pitfalls of popular science writing. A lot of curious lay reader will really enjoy and benefit from reading The Song of the Cell.
February 12, 2024
This book is wondrous and will make you appreciate yourself and the complexity of the world. It’s engagingly written, fascinating, and makes you feel both challenged and energized by the gap between what we are and what we know about it. Recommended for anyone with even a vague and passing interest in science. Will read anything this guy writes.
July 4, 2023
Mukherjee is brilliant and I'm delighted that people like him are doing this kind of research, but I'm not entirely sure who the intended reader is for this book. For a total lay-reader like me, the vast majority of it sails over my head. (I like the case studies a lot, but they're a small percentage of the book.) The bulk is too technical for me to get much from. If it's intended for someone who's well-versed in cell biology, how much of this is new to them? (That's not a criticism, but a genuine question.)
January 29, 2023
Part science, part history, part autobiographical in scope, Mukherjee manages to cover single cell biology all the way through current immunotherapy. He doesn't talk down to the reader, nor does he simplify the science of cellular biology too much. He shows wary elation over progress that's been made in the field yet readily admits there's multitudes that isn't understood by researchers. Worthy of 10+ stars, I read one chapter a day to soak the words in.
April 26, 2023
I will likely forget about 90% of what I just learned, but Mukherjee's new book is never boring, even when we dive into the structures of cells. We get an overview of the up and down history of cell medicine, and a glimpse of its future potential. For those of you who are interested in learning about cell biology and the future of medicine, along with the hurdles we have yet to overcome, this one is for you. Mukherjee is far from a dry writer, and the promise of the future of medicine is uplifting. Low four stars.
September 2, 2023
Read for the Quarterfinals of the Booktube Prize. Review at end of May
January 31, 2023
Many reviewers of Siddhartha Mukherjee say that his writing is lyrical, poetic, and suspenseful and they are one hundred per cent correct. They are all those things, but to me (and probably many others) he makes the byzantine and perplexing nature of medicine and biology understandable to the average person.
I have sat in on many pre-med courses and was a faithful subscriber to "Scientific American" for over thirty years and yet I am lucky if I came away from the classes and the reading of the magazine understanding 25 per cent of what was discussed and I have probably retained one per cent of the material over the years.
Yet like his previous works, "The Emperor of All Maladies, and "The Gene" Mr. Mukherjee's latest non-fiction book, "The Song Of The Cell,"is another mesmerizing, beautifully written, intensely researched, personal, and totally understandable book on the history and the functions of human cells. Whereas blood is often considered the lifeline of a living and functioning human being, it is the cells in humans, and in almost all living creatures, that are the protector, educator, and in the end the undertaker.
Mr. Mukherjee's detailed analysis and functions of cells and the knowledge and the intense research into cells that is currently going on will very possibly lead to the future cures of diseases and viruses that have plagued humankind since the very beginning of time.
For anyone truly interested in medicine, biology, and the future treatments and survival of the human species, "The Song Of The Cell," is a must read, as are his two previous books.
I have sat in on many pre-med courses and was a faithful subscriber to "Scientific American" for over thirty years and yet I am lucky if I came away from the classes and the reading of the magazine understanding 25 per cent of what was discussed and I have probably retained one per cent of the material over the years.
Yet like his previous works, "The Emperor of All Maladies, and "The Gene" Mr. Mukherjee's latest non-fiction book, "The Song Of The Cell,"is another mesmerizing, beautifully written, intensely researched, personal, and totally understandable book on the history and the functions of human cells. Whereas blood is often considered the lifeline of a living and functioning human being, it is the cells in humans, and in almost all living creatures, that are the protector, educator, and in the end the undertaker.
Mr. Mukherjee's detailed analysis and functions of cells and the knowledge and the intense research into cells that is currently going on will very possibly lead to the future cures of diseases and viruses that have plagued humankind since the very beginning of time.
For anyone truly interested in medicine, biology, and the future treatments and survival of the human species, "The Song Of The Cell," is a must read, as are his two previous books.
April 7, 2023
I have read Mukherjee’s books since the glorious Emperor of All Maladies. He is so supremely intelligent, such a renaissance man combining history with good bits from Hindu religion and folk medicine, and writes so beautifully. What’s my 3-star beef? Partly the problem is me, and partly the author.
The problem with me – I really wanted and expected this book to be about the cell –mitochondria, golgi, membrane, cytoskeleton, nucleus – and it wasn’t. (And why should this best-selling and gifted author care what I think anyway?) Instead, the book was about whatever SM wanted to talk about – diabetes, stem cell transplant (a lot of that), brain cells – there was no plan, no progression. Perhaps I’m not the right audience? - most modern clinicians know this stuff… (The chapter on immunology was excellent and I enjoyed the bits on Virchow.)
The problem with the author? - I think SM has gotten away from himself -- or rather gotten too far into himself. He’s cozy with a lot of people, there’s a lot of name dropping: his friendly walks, his chummy chats with the famous at meetings where he is invited to give talks. His sympathetic memories of patients read as somehow self-aggrandizing. The chapter on bone/cartilage stem cells was under-explained, and even unnecessary except to let us know that he published an important paper in this area.
All the way through I couldn’t quite square SM’s strained analogy of a “song” with a cell – he works interconnected functions hard in the last chapter to fit the lovely title. I imagine him early morning looking at slides in the dark lab with no one there (a trope through the book) thinking – ah yes, flash, Song of the Cell, it’s all music and lighting.
My brother loved it, BTW and assigns it to his graduate students. So what do I know - this is, afterall - just my opinion.
I am interested to see what he gets up to next.
The problem with me – I really wanted and expected this book to be about the cell –mitochondria, golgi, membrane, cytoskeleton, nucleus – and it wasn’t. (And why should this best-selling and gifted author care what I think anyway?) Instead, the book was about whatever SM wanted to talk about – diabetes, stem cell transplant (a lot of that), brain cells – there was no plan, no progression. Perhaps I’m not the right audience? - most modern clinicians know this stuff… (The chapter on immunology was excellent and I enjoyed the bits on Virchow.)
The problem with the author? - I think SM has gotten away from himself -- or rather gotten too far into himself. He’s cozy with a lot of people, there’s a lot of name dropping: his friendly walks, his chummy chats with the famous at meetings where he is invited to give talks. His sympathetic memories of patients read as somehow self-aggrandizing. The chapter on bone/cartilage stem cells was under-explained, and even unnecessary except to let us know that he published an important paper in this area.
All the way through I couldn’t quite square SM’s strained analogy of a “song” with a cell – he works interconnected functions hard in the last chapter to fit the lovely title. I imagine him early morning looking at slides in the dark lab with no one there (a trope through the book) thinking – ah yes, flash, Song of the Cell, it’s all music and lighting.
My brother loved it, BTW and assigns it to his graduate students. So what do I know - this is, afterall - just my opinion.
I am interested to see what he gets up to next.
November 14, 2022
"Песента на клетката" на популярния автор, биолог и онколог Сидхарта Мукерджи е задължителна книга за всеки лекар. Рядко съм виждал толкова сложни научни идеи да бъдат обяснени с лекота като за широката публика. Историята на клетката от 17 век до днешни дни е разказана увлекателно, с разбираеми примери от ежедневието и многобройни препратки към други литературни произведения, събития и известни личности.
Всяка глава илюстрира фундаментално свойство на клетката - репродукция, автономност, метаболизъм в контекста на съвременните технологии - in vitro фертилизация, генна терапия, дълбока мозъчна стимулация, имунотерапия и какво ли още не. Наред с до болка познатите истории за Льовенхук, Дженър, Земелвайс и Листър читателите ще се запознаят и с не толкова известни нобелови лауреати като Робърт Едуардс (IVF), Фредерик Бантинг (откривател на инсулина), Джим Алисън и Тасуку Хонджо (чекпойнт инхибиране на ракови клетки), Такахаши Яманака (превръщане на фибробласт в стволова клетка). От книгата научих и че името на тимуса вероятно е произлязло от приликата му с листата на мащерката (thyme).
Прочетете "Песента на клетката", ако имате дори минимален интерес в сферите биология и медицина. Книгата не е кратка, но всяка страница си заслужава.
Всяка глава илюстрира фундаментално свойство на клетката - репродукция, автономност, метаболизъм в контекста на съвременните технологии - in vitro фертилизация, генна терапия, дълбока мозъчна стимулация, имунотерапия и какво ли още не. Наред с до болка познатите истории за Льовенхук, Дженър, Земелвайс и Листър читателите ще се запознаят и с не толкова известни нобелови лауреати като Робърт Едуардс (IVF), Фредерик Бантинг (откривател на инсулина), Джим Алисън и Тасуку Хонджо (чекпойнт инхибиране на ракови клетки), Такахаши Яманака (превръщане на фибробласт в стволова клетка). От книгата научих и че името на тимуса вероятно е произлязло от приликата му с листата на мащерката (thyme).
Прочетете "Песента на клетката", ако имате дори минимален интерес в сферите биология и медицина. Книгата не е кратка, но всяка страница си заслужава.
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