A NEW YORK TIMES, DAILY TELEGRAPH, ECONOMIST, MAIL ON SUNDAY and GUARDIAN BOOK OF THE YEAR

From the dawn of life itself, every being that has ever lived owes its existence to the cell.

‘Will leave you in awe’ Guardian

The discovery of this vital form led to a transformation in medicine but also in our understanding of ourselves – not as bodies or machines but as ecosystems. It has also given us the power to treat a vast array of mortal maladies…and even to create new kinds of human altogether.

Rich with stories of scientists, doctors and the patients whose lives may be saved by their work, The Song of the Cell is a stunning ode to the building blocks of life and the cutting-edge science harnessing their power for the better.

‘Profound…As big a topic as life itself’ The Times

‘Medical magic’ Daily Telegraph

‘Vast…important…optimistic’ Mail on Sunday

‘As big a topic as life itself; I’m not sure a writer could cover it better’ The Times

From the prize-winning author of The Emperor of All Maladies, The Song of the Cell tells the vivid, thrilling and suspenseful story of the fundamental unit of life.

In the late 1600s, a distinguished English polymath, Robert Hooke, and an eccentric Dutch cloth-merchant, Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, look down their hand-made microscopes. What they see introduces a radical concept that alters both biology and medicine forever. It is the fact that complex living organisms are assemblages of tiny, self-contained, self-regulating units. Our organs, our physiology, our selves, are built from these compartments. Hooke christens them ‘cells’.

The discovery of cells announced the birth of a new kind of medicine. A hip fracture, a cardiac arrest, Alzheimer’s, AIDS, lung cancer – all could be re-conceived as the results of cells, or a cellular ecosystem, functioning abnormally. And all could be treated by therapeutic manipulations of cells. This revolution in cell biology is still in progress: it represents one of the most significant advances in science and medicine.

Both panoramic and intimate, this is Siddhartha Mukherjee’s most spectacular book yet.

‘Brilliant … medical magic’ Daily Telegraph