Reviews and Comments

This is a good book that skillfully encapsulates a vast sea of cell biology knowledge. This one is wonky compared to Siddhartha Mukherjee's previous books and deals with many more technicalities. I did not mind that. But those looking for a more easy-going book, like his previous ones, might be disappointed. The best thing about this book is that you get to see the story of cell biology, the people and patients involved, and the science, all in one logically unbroken chain of descriptions. Most patient stories or the author's personal stories, interwoven into various sections, fit well. A few looked out of place and forced to fit. But overall, I liked the book.

Short, crisp, and quite enjoyable history of the longitude problem. As a help to understand the mechanical devices described in this book, I looked at videos and animations of Harrison's chronometers available online. That helped a lot in understanding the scale of achievement of John Harrison. The author does not attempt to make a "what happened at the end?" mystery out of this story. The summary of what happened is stated right at the beginning. The author instead engages the reader by providing the context of the times, the details of the challenges, and so on. This approach works quite well.
Those of you who work in engineering will find the technology development challenges described in this book quite relatable!

I laughed out loud several times while reading this book as it reminded me of many incidents I encountered while playing gully crickets during my childhood. As I am at the age where any iota of skill I had for cricket, or any physical sport for that matter, is long gone, I achieved some level of catharsis reading the funny stories of sad men like myself.
Funnily, I found a lot of similarities between the stories in this book to local chess leagues I used to play in New York. The same jostling among grown adults over petty things, sad year-end reports, petty rivalries, temper tantrums, etc.
The only thing that put me off in this book is some instances of clearly sexist language/content. Since the book is published in the mid-90s, these things might have escaped scrutiny. Other than this, the book was a fantastic read.

The book deals with the highly complex problem of how to bring about sound, sustainable, and scalable social changes. Being a neophyte in this subject, I cannot judge clearly the various arguments presented in this book. But this book did make me think more carefully about many things I took for granted and for that reason, I think it is a valuable read. Recommended!

A truly wonderful book. The author takes great care in taking the reader through the story and foundations of calculus gently without overwhelming the reader with jargon and unnecessary details. The examples from daily life he chooses to explain various concepts are very relatable and help us to get an intuitive feel for calculus. The stories and personalities behind calculus are fascinating on their own. You can feel the author's love for calculus coming through the pages and it is infectious.

Highly recommended!

An autobiography that is both moving and inspiring. I had read about very early struggles against oppression in South Africa in Mahatma Gandhi's biography by Ramachandra Guha. When reading it I wondered what happened to the struggle in South Africa after Gandhi left. This book tells us the inspiring story about the period after Gandhi in South Africa.

Mandela has a wonderful way of telling his story which gently takes us to a tour of the time, the place, the emotions. One never gets bogged down in detail. He also has a great way of convincing us the logic behind his opinions without being forceful. That might be one of the factors that made him a great leader.

Highly recommended!

I very much enjoyed reading this book as it was informative both on the level of science and the pain that cancer patients go through. I appreciated the pains the author took to track down the historical details of cancer treatment. I also liked that he does not lose sight of human suffering and hope when talking about exciting developments in science.

I can talk about minor issues with the book, like how some sections are too US-centric, and how sometimes the author tries a bit too hard to spice up the descriptions of the science and scientist. But none of the above reduces the value of the book, so I wholeheartedly recommend this book.

I liked how Vonnegut manages to tell a poignant war story in a gentle way, without any attempt to glorify anything or anyone. I guess this became a classic because it makes people reflect on their values and their approach to life. And maybe even prompt them to question their own views. To do the above through a novel in a gentle way is the accomplishment of this book.

This is my first Vonnegut novel. When I was reading it, I was surprised how much Douglas Adams' (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) style was influenced by Vonnegut.

For several years this book was on my to-read list and at last, I am happy that I finished it. For someone like me who has never studied philosophy in school/college, this is a great introduction to western philosophy. Over the years I had acquired bits and pieces of information about various philosophical ideas and to see it placed in historical context and meaning is revealing. Russell clearly states his opinion about most of the philosophers and their work, while this might turn off some people who already know a lot about philosophy, for me this was very helpful. Especially his chapters about modern philosophers are very good.

I felt that what once looked formidable from a distance is now looking at least approachable after reading this book. I would recommend this to anyone seeking an introduction to western philosophy.

I enjoyed this. Naipaul has the marvelous skill of presenting keen observations about even the most mundane things. These observations together with his ability to write simple, moving prose brought back a lot of memories in me, many of which I did not know existed. His description of an Indian household from long ago was surprisingly similar to many real stories I knew. His ability to filter the mundane experiences from diverse places and present the ones that give a sense of the existence of some universal constants in life. Nowhere in the book, I felt that the plot has been contrived to play with the reader's emotions or the prose twisted in order to show off the author's writing caliber. The book reads like an honest, straightforward account and yet it is moving.