Fascinating history of the battle against cancer, vividly describing not just the mysteries of cancer and their gradual unraveling, but also the politics and people involved. There's plenty of ego and professional rivalry involved, with people holding onto wrong ideas and going down wrong tracks, but they're still the heroes compared to the obvious villains (tobacco industry, how are they still in business?) and sometime hero/villains (big pharma - heroes when they fund the research and bring it to market, villains when they, eh, not enough cancer customers). The author is a cancer physician and this book channels his professional and emotional investment in the topic, but cancer affects all of us, so while there are way too many "must read" books, I consider this one of them.