Book Club: May 6, 2024, 2-4pm – Fellows and External Fellows – Zoom only

May 6, 2024, 2-4pm – Fellows and External Fellows

 Siddhartha Mukherjee, The Song of the Cell: An Exploration of Medicine and The New Human (2022)

Discussion Leader: William Logan

Mukherjee is an accomplished and engaging writer and an oncologist who won a Pulitzer Prize for his earlier book on cancer. Here he presents the history of the cell in a lucid and engaging way, including the fascinating stories of key researchers, some of whom were from Toronto. Cells were first identified with the development of the microscope in the 1600s. Subsequent discoveries showed that single cells could become multicellular masses, which could become organs, which could combine to become intact organisms. The sequence of chapters follows this logic. He describes cellular physiology or function and how dysfunction in cells leads to disease, material often enlivened with stories of real patients. We are only beginning to understand the way cells communicate with each other; this is the “Song of the Cell”. Our bodies will not naturally accept material from other beings or foreign bodies such as bacteria and viruses. And as much as we have learned about cell function and dysfunction, the pandemic has shown us there is a lot we still don’t know. At the same time, progress in modifying cells to reintroduce into bodies raises a host of ethical questions about “the new human” of the title. (Available in all formats – paperback appears in September 2023; 378 pages plus notes)

The link to register is https://forms.office.com/r/KS8gCrHRq5

The deadline to register is the Monday morning the day of the event at 8 am.  The Zoom link will be sent to registrants only.

If you have any questions, please contact the organizer – Linda Hutcheon at l.hutcheon@utoronto.ca.