Customer Reviews

Natural Obsessions : Striving to Unlock the Deepest Secrets of the Cancer Cell

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In my senior year of college, we were assigned Natural Obsessions for the relevance to oncology as a science. I had expected, as with all other undergraduate literature, to find only academic value in the book and approached it as such. But what unfolded instead was a journey through the strange and passionate world of research. It is what made me want to become an oncologist.

The nature of the story is of the many races during the 1980s to identify the genes causative of cancer. The narrative largely follows one lab, that of Robert Weinberg at MIT, and details their many setbacks and their even more groundbreaking victories. The author takes an active part, effectively becoming absorbed into the research and drawing the readers with her.

What the book offers, then, is a daily tread through the lives of basic researchers: not filled with sterile labs and stuffy professors, but with the drama, intrigue, and bittersweet triumphs normally found only in fiction. As there are no outright heroes or villains (except perhaps cancer itself), the moral ambiguity of each of the subplots makes the struggles more human. There is as much backstabbing, cut-throat competitiveness, and outright selfishness in the research world shown here as in any other professional field. But there is also collaboration, celebration, and respect. Anyone who thinks basic science is boring should be convinced otherwise.

The other side of the story is, indeed, academic in nature, though interwoven seamlessly with the stories. Despite the heavy scientific concepts throughout the book, Natalie Angier -- a non-scientistist herself -- has taken great pains to evince the most convoluted theories in a light, colorful language. Not all of it will be clear immediately, but the essence of the book doesn't require total familiarity with the technicalities. It is the humanity of the researchers that drives this book, not the research itself.

For undergraduates unsure of thier career choices, I can recommend no better book than Natural Obsessions for deciding if scientific research is for them. For some, like one of my friends who chose med school over grad school, the themes of competitiveness and failure can be disheartening. For others, like myself, it can open up a new perspective on science, one that can be exciting as well as rewarding if you have a passion for it.

I have revisited this title recently as I strive to get IT professionals to "cross the chasm" to understand not only biology, but the culture and values of biologists and research in order to better do bioinformatics. I have never found a book that does this as well as Natural Obsessions, although I have a built-in bias - I was an undergraduate at MIT and a denizen of the Sharp lab on the fifth floor of the Cancer Center, next to the Weinberg lab, just shortly before Natalie arrived to experience life in the Weinberg group. I had the privilege of knowing most of the MIT people in the book, especially Mike Gilman, all of whom have gone on to distinguished research careers. Natalie's description of these folks is largely highly accurate, although it was hard on them after publication of the book in the 80's.

I highly recommend this book, not just for its lucid description of molecular oncology for laypeople, but for anyone who wants to know what it's like to be a biologist doing cutting-edge research - without investing 6, 7, or more years of their lives to earn a Ph.D. I wish Natalie would do a sequel - it would also be interesting to see "life in the lab" not just from the grad student and postdoc perspective, but from these same folks, who are now largely tenured faculty or VPs in biotech.

John Greene, Ph.D.

This book describes the search for the genetic basis of human cancer. A journalist spent several months in the lab of Bob Weinberg at MIT and one of his main competitors at Cold Spring Harbor Labs. The book is written from a perspective of a non-scientist. Yet, the book has sufficient technical details for us professionals, and captures the complex personal and professional relationships of scientists. Books is useful for those who wish to understand how contemporary science works and for those who wish to pursue a postdoc in Weinberg's lab.

I found this book a few weeks ago only by serendipity. I trusted the existing reviews, especially the one by mr.Kwong that I fully share. There is not much to add to his in depth analysis. Yet I would like once more to emphasize te great humanity that pervades this outstanding book. Sometimes it's really moving. I could simply not stop reading it, so enthralling it was. Moreover I would like to suggest to dr. Natalie Angier to think of an updated version with a brief synopsis of the major discoveries of the last decade and also a short dictionary of the most important terms which could be very useful for non biologist readers like me. I read a lot but very seldom I have read during the last years a book that explains key scientific discoveries with such a clarity. As J.J. says: Three things are needed for beauty: wholeness, harmony and radiance.

Kind of slow in the beginning, especially if you know the basics of cancer biology. But this book is brilliant and becomes engrossing after the first few chapters. I am shocked at how much access the author was given in the Weinberg lab. The author had many flattering but also not so flattering things to say about the lab.
Really a great book to read for would-be graduate students.

If you are going to study biology in graduate school, this book will have you more prepared to face all the difficulties and frustrations you are going to meet. I wish I had read it at the beginning of my graduate study.

I really enjoyed this book. It helped me understand a little bit about what it is like to be a basic research scientist and how some of the important early discoveries in cancer biology came about. Angier gives a very honest and open look at the politics inside labs and between labs as well as at the key players involved (primarily Bob Weinberg). Angier does an incredible job explaining the science, too.

This book covers all the in-depth information a person could want to know about cancer, while at the same time not burying the reading in technical jargon and biological confusion. I enjoyed reading this book for the information presented, but also the method in which it was conveyed. A must buy for anyone interested in this terrible disease.