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The Song of the Cell
- An Exploration of Medicine and the New Human
- Narrated by: Dennis Boutsikaris
- Length: 16 hrs and 3 mins
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Publisher's Summary
Winner of the 2023 PROSE Award for Excellence in Biological and Life Sciences and the 2023 Chautauqua Prize!
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 understanding: 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).
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
What the critics say
"This is the second of Mukherjee’s audiobooks that Dennis Boutsikaris has narrated, after 2017’s THE GENE. In this expansive history of the researchers who unlocked the mysteries of the cell, Boutsikaris demonstrates again the importance of an experienced narrator in shaping a complex narrative. Using many of his skills as a narrator of bestselling thrillers, Boutsikaris shades a syllable here, adds a degree of emphasis there, heightening and bringing dramatic tension to a history that is already skillfully told and highly accessible but, at times, unavoidably dense. This is a narrative to digest slowly, step by step. The chapters are conveniently brief, and it’s no effort to listen to such an adept performer a second, even a third, time."—AudioFile Magazine
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What listeners say about The Song of the Cell
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- afsaneh
- 2023-06-16
Another success
Never fails to fascinate! I’m always in awe of the depth of your knowledge and curiosity! Thank you for making me want to be a better human with a hunger for knowledge
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- Pierre Gauthier
- 2023-01-15
Fascinating!
This very well written work deals with the cell as the basic component of life. It starts with a discussion of the structure and functioning of individual cells and goes on to tissues and organs. In each case, descriptive elements are weaved with the history of their discovery as well as with malfunctions and their current or potential treatment. The author includes cases that he has encountered in his own practice as a doctor and even touches on his own health problems, with appropriate reserve and discretion.
The resulting offering is extremely informative and absolutely calls for a second listening.
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- Rob
- 2023-04-05
Outstanding
An absolutely outstanding review of current knowledge in cell biology written in a most digestible manner. Even as a health professional with many years of experience and an academic background, I found this book to be a wealth of knowledge. In fact, I would suggest it as required reading for any student of biomedical science.
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- seb
- 2023-01-24
Loved this book
Very interesting. Well explained. The reader has the perfect voice for this content. I have read or listened to all Mukherjee’s books. All are fascinating.
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- Amazon Customer
- 2023-01-21
Another winner
Poetic science and a history lesson as well.
Truly gifted
Wish I’d had him as a professor in university
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