Books like The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer

01

When Breath Becomes Air

Paul Kalanithi · Memoir

When Breath Becomes Air is Paul Kalanithi's account of his life before and after being diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer at 36, while completing his residency in neurosurgery at Stanford.

A kindred science read.

02

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

Rebecca Skloot · Science

In 1951, a Black woman named Henrietta Lacks died of cervical cancer at Johns Hopkins Hospital.

A kindred science read.

03

Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity

Peter Attia · Health

Peter Attia's Outlive is a book about how most people approach longevity backwards.

A kindred science read.

04

Lifespan: Why We Age—and Why We Don't Have To

David A. Sinclair · Science

Lifespan opens with a bold claim: aging is not an inevitable feature of biology but a disease — one that can be treated, slowed, and possibly reversed.

A kindred science read.

05

Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst

Robert M. Sapolsky · Science

Behave is Robert Sapolsky's attempt to explain why humans do what they do — the violence, the altruism, the tribalism, the heroism — by working through every layer of biology that contributes to a single act.

A kindred science read.

06

Enlightenment Now

Steven Pinker · Science

Enlightenment Now is Steven Pinker's argument that the ideals of the Enlightenment — reason, science, humanism, and progress — have been responsible for a dramatic and continuing improvement in human wellbeing across virtually every measurable dimension, and that these ideals are under threat from counter-Enlightenment movements on both the left and the right.

Both dig into science.

07

Transformer

Nick Lane · Science

Transformer is Nick Lane's investigation of the Krebs cycle — a metabolic pathway discovered in the 1930s that every living cell on Earth runs — and his argument that this cycle is not merely the engine of cellular energy but a chemical record of how life first emerged from inorganic chemistry.

Both dig into cancer.

08

A Fine Balance

Rohinton Mistry · Literary fiction

A Fine Balance is set in an unnamed Indian city during Indira Gandhi's Emergency of 1975–1977, a period of suspended democracy, forced sterilization, and slum clearances that is barely taught in the West and barely taught in India.

Both dig into human resilience.

09

American Moonshot

Douglas Brinkley · History

Douglas Brinkley's American Moonshot focuses less on the engineering triumph of Apollo 11 than on the political decision that made it possible: John F.

Both dig into science.

10

American Prometheus

Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin · Biography

Kai Bird and Martin J.

Both dig into science.

11

Continuous Discovery Habits

Teresa Torres · Business

Continuous Discovery Habits is Teresa Torres's practical guide to making product discovery a sustainable, weekly team practice rather than a periodic research event.

Both dig into research.

12

Einstein: His Life and Universe

Walter Isaacson · Biography

Walter Isaacson's Einstein biography is the most widely read account of the physicist's life in English, written after Isaacson was granted access to forty thousand previously sealed documents in the Hebrew University Einstein Archives.

Both dig into science.