Science · Similar reads
Books like The Song of the Cell
The best books like The Song of the Cell are The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer, The Gene: An Intimate History, and The Selfish Gene. The Song of the Cell by Siddhartha Mukherjee is about cell biology, medicine, evolution. If that's what drew you in, here are 12 books that share its DNA — each summarized on Superbook, and ready to chat with in the app.
- The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer
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The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer
Siddhartha Mukherjee · Science
The Emperor of All Maladies is Siddhartha Mukherjee's account of cancer from antiquity to the present — its biology, its treatments, its false dawns, and the scientists and patients caught in the middle of each.
A kindred science read.
Read the summary → - The Gene: An Intimate History
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Siddhartha Mukherjee · Science
The Gene is Siddhartha Mukherjee's account of the gene — what it is, how it was discovered, and what humanity has done and might yet do with that knowledge.
Both dig into evolution.
Read the summary → - The Selfish Gene
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Richard Dawkins · Science
The Selfish Gene reframes evolution from the organism's point of view to the gene's.
Both dig into evolution.
Read the summary →
- A Short History of Nearly Everything
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A Short History of Nearly Everything
Bill Bryson · Science
A Short History of Nearly Everything is Bill Bryson's attempt to understand the scientific story of everything — from the Big Bang to the emergence of modern humans — by spending three years talking to scientists and reading science history.
Both dig into evolution.
Read the summary → - Lifespan: Why We Age—and Why We Don't Have To
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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.
Read the summary → - The Tangled Tree: A Radical New History of Life
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The Tangled Tree: A Radical New History of Life
David Quammen · Science
The Tangled Tree is David Quammen's account of how molecular biology overturned the traditional picture of the tree of life — the branching diagram, familiar since Darwin, that represents the evolution of all living things from a common ancestor.
Shares evolution and scientific discovery with The Song of the Cell.
Read the summary → - The Vital Question
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Nick Lane · Science
The Vital Question asks why life is the way it is — why all complex life is eukaryotic, why eukaryotes all have mitochondria, why sex exists, why organisms age and die, and why life may be exceedingly rare in the universe.
Shares cell biology and evolution with The Song of the Cell.
Read the summary → - Your Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body
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Your Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body
Neil Shubin · Science
Your Inner Fish is paleontologist Neil Shubin's account of how understanding the deep evolutionary history of vertebrates reveals the origins of the human body.
Shares evolution and human body with The Song of the Cell.
Read the summary → - The Story of the Human Body
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Daniel Lieberman · Health
The Story of the Human Body is Daniel Lieberman's account of how evolutionary biology can explain the chronic diseases that plague modern populations.
Shares evolution and human body with The Song of the Cell.
Read the summary → - A Crack in Creation: Gene Editing and the Unthinkable Power to Control Evolution
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A Crack in Creation: Gene Editing and the Unthinkable Power to Control Evolution
Jennifer A. Doudna and Samuel H. Sternberg · Science
A Crack in Creation is Jennifer Doudna and Samuel Sternberg's account of how CRISPR-Cas9 works, what it can do, and why its possibilities should give everyone pause.
Both dig into evolution.
Read the summary → - An Elegant Defense
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Matt Richtel · Science
An Elegant Defense is Matt Richtel's attempt to explain the immune system to a general audience through a combination of narrative science and personal story.
Both dig into medicine.
Read the summary → - Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are?
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Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are?
Frans de Waal · Science
Frans de Waal's central argument is that we've spent most of the last century asking the wrong questions about animal intelligence.
Both dig into evolution.
Read the summary →
Books like The Song of the Cell: quick answers
What are the best books like The Song of the Cell?
The best books like The Song of the Cell by Siddhartha Mukherjee are The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer by Siddhartha Mukherjee, The Gene: An Intimate History by Siddhartha Mukherjee, The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins, A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson, Lifespan: Why We Age—and Why We Don't Have To by David A. Sinclair, plus 7 more below. Each was chosen for themes it shares with The Song of the Cell, such as cell biology, medicine, evolution.
What should I read after The Song of the Cell?
A natural next read after The Song of the Cell is The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer by Siddhartha Mukherjee. A kindred science read. Other strong choices are The Gene: An Intimate History by Siddhartha Mukherjee, The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins, A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson.
What books are similar to The Song of the Cell by Siddhartha Mukherjee?
The Song of the Cell centers on cell biology, medicine, evolution. Books with a similar feel include The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer by Siddhartha Mukherjee, The Gene: An Intimate History by Siddhartha Mukherjee, The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins, A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson, Lifespan: Why We Age—and Why We Don't Have To by David A. Sinclair, The Tangled Tree: A Radical New History of Life by David Quammen — all free to read and chat with on Superbook.
