The Transformed Cell

I read this book for an odd reason: I was looking for anything written by John Barry, whose absolutely brilliant book, Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America, completely captivated me. He's only the ghost-writer this time, and this book may not be quite as good as his own, but it's still an amazing story of guts and determination. The reader comes away from this book with new respect for the guts and determination to the point of obsessiveness of both medical researchers and patients who participate in test programs. Along the way of a story as suspenseful as any murder mystery, one gets and understanding of immunology, molecular biology, and cancer. Barry's other book may change the way you think. This one won't exactly do thast, but it will open an entire world to you.

An account of the dedicated, honest and intelligent efforts to solve one of the most complicated of problems of medical science today, as described in "The Transformed Cell", makes one feel confidant that with scientists like Prof. Rosenberg around us, the solution to such problems is not very far. I'm only looking for the sequel to this masterpiece with a title "...And the Solution to it!". sanjay upreti, NY

For those interested in understanding more about cancer and the vagaries of scientific research and FDA approval, this book provides non-fiction as interesting as fiction. The book chronicles the journey and work of the author, a brilliant, driven scientist as he explores a radical new treament methodology for cancer, immunotherapy. His incision of the topic into understandable questions to be answered, and the research process to answer them makes the book a fascinating mystery. The reader learns to root for the scientist, his hard-working team, and the immune cells that fight cancer. Along the way, you learn about cancer, its causes, and alot of the associated terminology. Educational and entertaining.