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Book Review: The First Cell: And The Human Costs of Pursuing Cancer to the Last by Azra Raza (5/5)
Rating: 5/5 Stars
This book is good for: People with a basic understanding of Biology/interest in modern medicine, Pre-med students, students interested in research, anyone interested in end of life care or health policy.
This book is not good for: A light/fun casual read. Do NOT send this to a cancer patient or their family as a gift. Do NOT read this book if you’re not in a good headspace.
Read this book if you liked: Being Mortal, The Emperor of all Maladies, books by Malcolm Gladwell, Books by Yuval Noah Harari, Medical research. Basic understanding of medicine or patient experience is needed to appreciate the scope of what this book is saying.
This is a difficult book the read for multiple reasons, but that doesn’t make it any less needed. In fact, I believe that it’s one of the most important books that I’ve read this year because of that fact. As a current bone marrow transplant survivor myself (not for Cancer, but a similar blood disorder) and someone that is around people with Cancer quite frequently, I found myself often having to put the book down because of the sheer amount of information and the (quite frankly) depressing conclusions Dr. Raza presents. Each chapter is a different story of a…
