New Materials: Streaming Audio

A riveting investigation of inflammation―the hidden force at the heart of modern disease―and how we can prevent, treat, or even reverse it.

Inflammation is the body's ancestral response to its greatest threats: injury and foreign microbes. But as the threats we face have evolved, new science reveals simmering inflammation underneath the surface of everything from heart disease and cancer to mysterious autoimmune conditions.

In A Silent Fire, gastroenterologist Shilpa Ravella takes us on a lyrical quest across time, around the world, and into the body to reveal hidden inflammation at the root of modern disease―and how we can control it. We meet an eccentric Russian zoologist, the passionate yet flawed inventor of Kellogg's Cornflakes, and dedicated researchers working on the frontiers of medical and nutritional science today. With fascinating case studies, Ravella debunks common myths about "anti-inflammatory" lifestyles―adding or eliminating any one food, for example, is not a cure-all―and unmasks the links between food, the microbiome, and inflammation. A paradigm-shifting understanding of human health, A Silent Fire shows us how to live not only long, but well.

The discovery of cells—and the reframing of the human body as a cellular ecosystem—announced the birth of a new kind of medicine based on the therapeutic manipulations of cells. A hip fracture, a cardiac arrest, Alzheimer's dementia, AIDS, pneumonia, lung cancer, kidney failure, arthritis, COVID pneumonia—all could be reconceived as the results of cells, or systems of cells, functioning abnormally. And all could be perceived as loci of cellular therapies.

Filled with writing so vivid, lucid, and suspenseful that complex science becomes thrilling, The Song of the Cell tells the story of how scientists discovered cells, began to understand them, and are now using that knowledge to create new humans. Told in six parts, and laced with Mukherjee's own experience as a researcher, a doctor, and a prolific reader, The Song of the Cell is both panoramic and intimate—a masterpiece on what it means to be human.