Virus X, Frank Ryan

This is a bit out of date now, in that there are emerging viruses it doesn’t touch on and scientific advances in studying them that it doesn’t include, but it’s still a fascinating glimpse into some of the emerging diseases of the last century or so, how the outbreaks were handled and what they mean. If you’re read David Quammen’s Spillover, it’s somewhat along the same lines, discussing many of the same diseases; it’s been a while since I read Spillover, so I found this a good refresher on the diseases mentioned and the early stages of their emergence.

If you find this whole subject a little stressful, this won’t exactly be reassuring; it does show that the world simply doesn’t have the infrastructure to deal with the kind of pandemics that are coming our way. We’ve been lucky so far — I’m honestly shocked there’s been nothing worse since this book was published.

Rating: 4/5

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The Philadelphia Chromosome, Jessica Wapner

If you’ve read The Emperor of All Maladies, you already know a little about the Philadelphia chromosome, but this book goes into more depth on it and focuses exclusively on this form of cancer, bringing in some case studies and describing the scientists and physicians who were intimately involved in the research and the long road to a treatment for the cancer caused by the Philadelphia chromosomal translocation. It’s a fascinating story and well written — actually oddly gripping, if you find research like this interesting. Like a lot of the best books describing research, it made me want to get out there and do some of my own, and maybe someday be as instrumental in saving lives as some of the scientists mentioned.

I was asked with The Emperor of All Maladies if I thought the book would be a stressful read for someone who is afraid of cancer. So the same report for The Philadelphia Chromosome: I think some of the treatments and symptoms described are pretty awful, as you’d expect, but it doesn’t tend to get deeply personal or emotional about them, and the cancer caused by this particular mutation is actually extremely treatable. You might even find it a good place to jump on with learning more about cancer to demystify and undemonise it a little for that reason.

Rating: 4/5

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Restless Creatures, Matt Wilkinson

The topic of this book — evolutionary biology from the point of view of the importance of locomotion — is fascinating, and I can’t actually point to anything about the writing or structure that bothers me. I just found that I didn’t enjoy it. Part of that is probably because I’m not interested in the physics, and though I think HOX genes are fascinating, I’m already aware of them and the homology in them between species.

I think some of the sections on the physics of motion genuinely dragged a little; if you’re into physics, it’s nothing new, and if you’re not, then it’s not exactly the most fascinating stuff. It’s an interesting topic, and Wilkinson writes pretty clearly, so that might be a personal thing.

Rating: 2/5

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How the Zebra Got Its Stripes, Léo Grasset, trans. Barbara Mellor

This book is admittedly slight: if you already know your evolutionary biology, then you’re not likely to learn anything from this in terms of the principles. However, if you’re not, these stories demonstrate the points well, and even if you do know the principles, you can learn some new facts. Which you may or may not find interesting, depending on how much you cringe at the description of how hyenas give birth!

It’s an entertaining read, and I was glad I picked it up, even though it didn’t exactly take me long to digest.

Rating: 3/5

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The Emperor of All Maladies, Siddhartha Mukherjee

The Emperor of All Maladies used to scare me. Just the idea of a whole book about cancer kinda gave me the heebie-jeebies. Generalised anxiety disorder and three grandparents dead of cancer will do that, I guess. Luckily, I’ve turned a corner and reading this just fascinated me — my only regret being that it isn’t quite up to date on the latest in cancer treatments, stuff which I know about from my medical transcription work that isn’t always even past the phase II trial stage yet. The way the doctors I transcribe talk about that… well, I’d love to know more.

Still, there’s a lot here: a history of what we’ve known about cancer from ancient history to the time of publication, with meticulous footnotes. It’s illustrated with some case studies, patients of Mukherjee’s, which help to contextualise the treatments mentioned or the cancers being studied. His fascination with the disease is clear, but also his compassion for his patients, though I never found it sentimentalised.

It’s a little dense and probably slow going if you’re not used to reading non-fiction, or if the subject matter is unfamiliar. I was delighted that I could follow pretty much all of it, even when he discussed statistics (the bane of my biology degree); I found it pretty impossible to put down, because I had to keep finding out more. As the best non-fiction always does with me, I ended the book by wanting Mukherjee’s job.

Rating: 5/5

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