The Emperor of all Maladies; A Biography of Cancer by Siddhartha Mukherjee

A 500 page journey through the history of Cancer and Cancer Therapy.  It is written by a medical oncologist with numerous references to his personal experiences with cancer patients.  The conflict between the plodding scientific method and the urgency to find a cure is very well described in the book.  The author does a good job explaining the sciences of epidemiology, biochemistry as well as politics of illness.  He does a better job explaining earlier advances than more recent advances.