I just finished the book: Cancer, the emperor of maladies. I spend 2 -3 years on and off, to finish the book. It was what should I say...an incredible book, long and detailed, the narrative was very easy to follow with clear sentence, and organized in such a logical order, that I could understand.
This is a book of history, a history of cancer, a history of how we human identify it; how we tried to treat it; it filled with history, science, and politics. Science was not the central topic of the book, but the book cannot escape from discussing it. How and what science is, became a intense focus here. As I am experiencing the pandemic of Coronavirus, some of the points in the books became even more relevant, and brings me to a new perspective.
I think one of the most intriguing idea I got from the book was the argument of how science should be conducted? Should the government or an organization pour all its resource towards a planned goal? Or should we let scientists decide where their scientific interest lead them? It came from a historic sentence in the book when somebody told President Roosevelt,
"...In the winter of 1945, Vannevar Bush had written to President Roosevelt, 'The striking advances in medicine during the war have been possible only because we had a large backlog of scientific data accumulated through basic research in many scientific fields in the years before the war.'" (Book chapter 43)
The example could said about DNA,
"..., Avery and his colleagues reported in 1944 that genes were carried by one chemicals, deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA. What scientists had formerly disregarded as a form of cellular stuffing with no real function -- a "stupid molecule," as the biologist Max Delbruck once called it dismissively..." (Book Chapter 37)
DNA was discovered 1869 by Swiss Researcher, Friedrick Miescher. This paragraph I think really highlighted Mr. Bush's words. And for this book about Cancer, which showed how we use this knowledge to design the Targeted Treatment we used now. The whole thing could be traced back to the mid- 19th century. This is really fascinating!
The view on science itself was often expressed against a goal oriented grand scientific plan for a nation. And author used the whole book to prove this thesis. I think this was expressed best in the chapter 15, but what's the reason of writing this? Because in the political realms, this view was impatiently shut down. In terms of politics, timely results is everything. When the lobbyists pushed for a war on cancer,basic science was shunned. If we looked at the pandemic right now. We can suddenly understand why some people would rush to swallow medications that's not much use to them, instead hurt them sometimes. From the present, we can also understand why so many doctors would try radical surgery or chemo therapists were trying to find more toxic chemicals try to cure cancers. Because like some examples from the this book, dying patients have no time.
But I'd say some people well versed in politics will say, well, it's a problem of direction. They choose the wrong way. But I feel that urgency would always trump the importance. Which meant that looking for effective chemotherapy will always comes first. The basic science of biology will always be in the background, especially in term of political debate.
For me personally, I can see how messy it is to find cure, even now. I remember when 蕭婆婆 got the cancer 20 years ago. One of my uncle's friend was in research of cancer tried to comfort my aunt, targeted treatment was mentioned. But she past away not long after. I did not know the detail. But I know, the treatment was not effective. But 5 years ago, one of my uncle's friend, got breast cancer. And she's still alive today. I think the treatment must've been improved now. It's a long struggle, it's messy. I hope it helped me to understand. Because I only like to do things when I totally grasped the procedure, the effect. But often, it is not the case. I still need to move forward as mess was left behind, and hope that continuous action can get a fix in the future...