eBook The Biology of Cancer ePub

With the name Weinberg on the book, you will get to know the book will be well organized and illustrated. This one is much more different from the first edition published on the year 2006. After reading the updated version of " Hallmarks of cancer", if you think you need more, you must read this book, and pls be aware that this book come up with a poster as can be seen in my photos.
If your are interested in the molecular mechanism underlying the progress of cancer, I really suggested you to read this one, as you will find this book informative with emphasize on the gene instability and mutations. However, if you want to get a comprehensive view of this area, pls refer to " the molecular basis of cancer (4th)", which is also very organized and tend to cover more aspects than this one. If you are MD, and want to be more familiar to clinical related applications, use another book "Devita, Hellman and Rosenberg's cancer principles...", they are more focusing on clinical practices. Overall, if this book will have a third edition, and I hope it will, I will buy one with no hesitation.

Definitely the right textbook for a comprehensive introduction to cancer. Like a giant review article, but with more breathing room to go into historical experiments and explain how we have arrived at the current understanding of cancer. And, lots of excellent illustrations and micrographs. You are getting more than a typical textbook; it is more like a work of literature. "Sidebars" are used often for things to read if you have the time.

If you are not an expert in cell biology, the book takes care to explain concepts in the context of cancer; for example, it gives a primer on the immune system at the beginning of the immunology chapter.

Note, this is not a textbook of cancers or pathology, but of our current understanding of how all cancers work, mostly at the molecular level. I am reading this as a medical student and for that purpose, it is both too long and missing the pathology that I need, but I don't regret it. Like I said, this textbook is more about providing a complete and up-to-date understanding for the science-minded individual. On that basis I can recommend it to an enthusiastic undergraduate.

The book is almost 900 pages in length. I am currently on page 350 and can't put it down. It is as technically informative as an Alberts Biology book and as intense a read as any of the great Stephen King Novels. Weinberg recommends that the book be read from start to finish and not to jump around. It does seem reading from beginning to end really is the best way to absorb the material. I just wish I could read faster to discover what is coming up sooner. Weinberg does a beautiful job. The figures are informative. The images are beautiful. The accompanying movies are interesting. I estimate that it will take me about 4 to 6 months to read the entire book if I read a chapter (60+ pages) every 1 to 1.5 weeks. You could read it faster if pushed to do the reading while taking a class or were extremely motivated.

(Edit: please note that this review is for the 2007 edition. )

I think this is one of the best written technical books ever. The author is simply a gifted communicator of ideas and knowledge.

Much of the book uses the thread of the history of cancer research to give a perspective on how knowledge of cancer biology was built up, and it helps immensely in terms of organizing the knowledge and remembering it.

The author does an incredible job of going the extra mile to clarify and elucidate the biology. While you would be advised take a molecular biology course before reading this book, even if you don't, a lot of the biological mechanisms are explained so well they almost serve as foundation. And cancer makes a wonderful application for the molecular biology knowledge you acquired from other courses, while serving to reinforce and provide dramatic examples for that knowledge.

The author also knows how to simply keep things interesting with an easy-to-read style, a good sense of "story", and he anticipates most questions that might need explaining.

I'm sure future editions could only get larger in content due to the rapid pace of research. I look forward to anything written on the subject by this author. Perhaps the best strategy would be to try to keep the core book about the same length (of course updating as necessary), and spin off other books that provide depth in narrower areas. I hope the author continues writing more books on the subject.

To be fair, it is probably easier to make a book on cancer biology more interesting than, say, a biochemistry book. But I'd sure like to see a book on biochemistry by this author.

If I were to add anything to the book, it might be to review or summarize the various "drivers" of cancer that are covered (and discovered over the years) throughout the book, so you get a little more clarity on how they interact developmentally. For example, while certain mutations drive cancer, do they also require other cell changes or are they sufficient, etc. I think the answer is well explained if you read carefully, but perhaps a diagram of all the developmental pathways (evolution of cell changes) to uncontrolled cell division could be laid out somehow in one big picture, like a directed graph.