The Song of the Cell

An Exploration of Medicine and the New Human

By: Siddhartha Mukherjee

Narrated by: Dennis Boutsikaris

Length: 16 hrs and 3 mins

Publisher's summary

Winner of the 2023 PROSE Award for Excellence in Biological and Life Sciences and the 2023 Chautauqua Prize!

Named a New York Times Notable Book and a Best Book of the Year by The Economist, Oprah Daily, BookPage, Book Riot, the New York Public Library, and more!

In The Song of the Cell, the extraordinary author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Emperor of All Maladies and the #1 New York Times bestseller The Gene “blends cutting-edge research, impeccable scholarship, intrepid reporting, and gorgeous prose into an encyclopedic study that reads like a literary page-turner” (Oprah Daily).

Mukherjee begins this magnificent story in the late 1600s, when a distinguished English polymath, Robert Hooke, and an eccentric Dutch cloth-merchant, Antonie van Leeuwenhoek looked down their handmade microscopes. What they saw introduced a radical concept that swept through biology and medicine, touching virtually every aspect of the two sciences, and altering both forever. It was the fact that complex living organisms are assemblages of tiny, self-contained, self-regulating units. Our organs, our physiology, our selves—hearts, blood, brains—are built from these compartments. Hooke christened them “cells.”

The discovery of cells—and the reframing of the human body as a cellular ecosystem—announced the birth of a new kind of medicine based on the therapeutic manipulations of cells. A hip fracture, a cardiac arrest, Alzheimer’s dementia, AIDS, pneumonia, lung cancer, kidney failure, arthritis, COVID pneumonia—all could be reconceived as the results of cells, or systems of cells, functioning abnormally. And all could be perceived as loci of cellular therapies.

Filled with writing so vivid, lucid, and suspenseful that complex science becomes thrilling, The Song of the Cell tells the story of how scientists discovered cells, began to understand them, and are now using that knowledge to create new humans. Told in six parts, and laced with Mukherjee’s own experience as a researcher, a doctor, and a prolific reader, The Song of the Cell is both panoramic and intimate—a masterpiece on what it means to be human.

“In an account both lyrical and capacious, Mukherjee takes us through an evolution of human understanding: from the seventeenth-century discovery that humans are made up of cells to our cutting-edge technologies for manipulating and deploying cells for therapeutic purposes” (The New Yorker).

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2022 Siddhartha Mukherjee, M.D. All rights reserved. (P)2022 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.

great story but the finish was a bit lackluster

Quite enjoyed this book but felt a bit disappointed as it left out a quite loose ends. This could be trajectory of the things to come with gene editing, cancer therapies but not sure. Overall definitely a solid 4 stars, also think it could be a bit shorter, but still enjoyed it.

Very interesting

super solid read. I really enjoyed it. I would say definitly read if you like science.

Oh my god, this book is amazing. So well written.

I leave this book, informed, concerned and excited at the same time. The breadth of his knowledge, the depth of his humanity…

Amazing content. Beautifully written

Easy to understand. Tons of great information. Beautifully and easy to understand for the general public.

Excellent book

Informative, presented difficult information in an approachable manner.
Loved the historical presentation of various scientific explorations and discoveries

Good read

This was well presented information, the narrator was great. I would recommend this book to others.

Such a lovely deep dive for a lay person.

I’ve learned more about the way our bodies work, and don’t work. I re-listen most nights and always learn more.

song of the cell

I loved this and didn't think I would. what an amazing at US, the human being.

awesome book

need to be read by all students interested in cutting edge science. easy to understand.

Song of the cell is detailed and fascinating

Helpful, detailed cell biology and physiology from a researcher and physician who provides in-depth and accurate biology in terms that can be understood by non-biologists!