The Song of the Cell

Author: Siddhartha Mukherjee

“The Emperor of Maladies” was the first book that I read of Siddhartha Mukherjee’s and I was instantly a huge fan. It turns out that I was not alone in my appreciation and soon it won the Pulitzer Prize in 2011 for General Non-Fiction. He followed that up with “Gene”, a book on both the history and recent advances in genetics, and now we get a similar treatment to “The Cell”.  Siddhartha has a formula that works well for me. He chronicles the historical discoveries around the topic of interest and does so in a manner that makes for a very engaging read. With his in depth knowledge of the subject, he is also able to impart a lot of scientific insight in the process. 

The opening point in the book is the fact that while we have a huge variety of life forms on the planet, every single one of them is comprised of almost the same cellular building block. There are various organelles like the nucleus where the genetic material is stored and mitochondria that are the power the cells biochemical reactions. These are suspended in a semi-fluid substance called cytoplasm that is then surrounded by a semi-porous cell-membrace.  The amazing part is that at a cellular level, all animals, plants, and other living beings look the same.  In his very engaging style, Dr. Mukherjee describes the persons and events leading up to the discovery of all of these interesting cellular components.

That by itself makes for an interesting book, but he follows that up with a compelling theory of  how all the major diseases can be broken down into cellular malfunctions. In many ways treating our illness at a cellular level forces us to get to the root of the problem and hopefully stamp it out for good.  

In summary, Dr. Mukherjee has done it again. He has found a way to entertain and enlighten you. Along the way you get to marvel at the brilliant scientists on whose shoulders modern medicine stands on.