Guided by Mukherjee’s granular narration...I was repeatedly dazzled by his pointillist scenes, the enthusiasm of his explanations, the immediacy of his metaphors. But I also found myself wondering where we were going. What kind of organism might these smaller units add up to? What was the shape of the story he set out to tell? ... The organization of the book may be cellular, but the overall effect can feel sprawling — like a city that allowed developers to keep building lovely houses while doing little to contain them. Similarly, some of the writing in The Song of the Cell is so lovely that you can get caught up in its music. Mukherjee has an undeniable gift for metaphor ... If Mukherjee were another kind of storyteller — tidier, if less honest — he could have showcased a more linear narrative, emphasizing how developments in cell research have yielded some truly amazing possibilities ... But as a practicing physician, he has seen too much suffering and death to succumb to an easy triumphalism.
An engaging formula. He tells a vivid story...and relates it to the broader science. Mukherjee writes lucid sentences dense with metaphors as pedagogical tools ... The author covers the debates that raged in the 18th and 19th centuries between mechanists ... There is nothing odd about finding entrenched orthodoxies repeated in popular science books. What is odd is that Mukherjee, with his emphasis on 'interconnectedness,' 'cooperation' and 'ecological relationships' in biological processes, hovers on the brink of countering his own reductionist argument that the whole is the sum of its parts. He flirts with a form of holism ... Despite its omission of important current disputes in biology, which have roots in earlier centuries, The Song of the Cell is a lively, personal, detailed, often moving account of the cell in medical history and its promise in the present.
... a comprehensive account of basic biology, alongside a history of the many great minds that have helped us to see beyond widespread misconceptions to scientific truth ... This is not just about clear-cut successes: alongside the stories of diligent scientists, there are intriguing tales of the many eccentrics whose contributions were vital to the transformation of medicine. As such, this is a book filled with missteps, arguments and prejudices. It almost made me feel sorry for my scientific colleagues, painstakingly working away in labs, trusting that systematic hard work is all that is required to achieve a big breakthrough ... Mukherjee uses sometimes salutary and always engaging stories such as these to teach the fundamentals of cell biology, but also to illustrate that no one individual is ever responsible for any advancement in science. Rather, progress is made in a series of often unwitting collaborations ... If you are not already in awe of biology, The Song of the Cell might get you there. It is a masterclass in how cells function and malfunction ... Catering for every level of reader, Mukherjee sometimes uses visual metaphor to simplify matters. In so far as it is possible, Mukherjee has captured the wonder of that in one book.
... [Mukherjee] completes a trilogy of doorstopper-length biological showstoppers ... executed with the intimidating competence of a US magazine journalist ... Even his formidable writing skills can’t always hide the complexity of the topic, however ... If there is a flaw in this book, then, it is its ambition. The range of topics covered is vast: the brain, the heart, stem cells, the immune system, amoeboids. Mukherjee’s problem is that the cell is the building block of everything that lives — which makes focusing the book, or even giving it a narrative, nigh-on impossible ... Imagine reading a history of the brick, and finding the author had to not only describe walls, not only describe the Great Wall of China, but also describe the geopolitical and climatological triggers of the rise of the Mongol hordes that led to its construction — and the intricacies of the siege weaponry that determined its design. That is a little like what it feels getting to the section on the immune system ... Cell biology is complex and as big a topic as life itself; I’m not sure a writer could cover it better.
... erudite, panoramic ... He riffs beautifully on caretakers like white-blood cells as well as haywire malignancies that defy treatment ... He lightens dense, arcane science with revelatory anecdotes sprinkled with memoir ... He pivots elegantly to therapies — SSRIs, electrodes — that have helped lift the fog of crippling moods ... Mukherjee is an elegant stylist, occasionally prone to a ripe line, but an assured and genial guide. He engages other authors who share his passion for the biosphere.
Eye-opening ... An extraordinarily gifted storyteller, Mukherjee offers an expansive chronology of discovery in cell therapies (such as IVF) and setbacks ... Both convincing and inspiring, and woven throughout his narrative are accessible explanations of cell biology and immunology. This is another winner from Mukherjee.
A lumionous journey ... Mukherjee...has a knack for explaining difficult ideas in terms that are both straightforward and interesting. In his latest, he punctuates his scientific explanations with touching, illustrative stories of people coping with cell-based illnesses ... Mukherjee occasionally digresses from the historical story to provide vivid portraits of key researchers, with recollections about his own work ... Understanding the mechanics is one thing, he notes; hearing 'the song of the cell' is something else. This poignant idea serves as a suitable coda for a fascinating story related with clarity and common sense ... Another outstanding addition to the author’s oeuvre, which we hope will continue to grow for years to come.
