Customer Reviews

Stem Cell Symphony: A Novel

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It's very refreshing to read a novel that is so well grounded in science and real life. This book has all the fictional elements of a great novel, yet you learn some things about science along the way through the book. I particularly liked the section on Congressional testimony. And I can personally relate to some of the nursing home scenes.
Great job!

Ricki Lewis' novel is the story of a young science writer who, as a hospice volunteer, finds herself inexplicably helping a patient with an incurable disease. It is current both in terms of discussing the science of the stem cell technology we hear so much about these days, but also in its musical references, like U2 and Coldplay (two artists included in a recent planetarium show I visited in the Rose Space Center in NYC.) There is a love interest with a twist, and I found myself gripped by the unknowns presented in the thickening plots. The cast of characters was eccentric but believable. Their actions felt so real sometimes, I found myself wondering if portions of the story were based on real events.

What I perhaps liked the best was that the uplifting ending suggested that the miracle of art (in this case music) can inexplicably have a profound scientific effect on our bodies in ways we have perhaps not yet discovered. If there are not medical researchers out there testing out Dr. Lewis' "novel" hypotheses- there should be!

I found myself learning about science while enjoying the story.

This was a good read- I highly suggest it!

I learned a lot from this book. Woven into the action is easily understandable explanations of stem cell research and Huntington's Disease. Dr. Lewis has her characters believeably interact as Hospice volunteer, patient and health care professionals. I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of new information that I was able to take out of the reading of the book.

If you are a reader that likes books such as Robin Cook's, who weaves a good story with science, Stem Cell Symphony is a book that you would enjoy.

I read this novel after reading an article about obesity in the Rennselaer Polytechnic Institute magazine by this author. The article was so superbly written and informative that I felt compelled to read more of her work and was pleasantly surprised to find this novel. The implications, obviously founded in solid scientific fact and research make it a page turner and I am grateful to find a scientist who knows how to communicate to the masses.