Ravenous: Otto Warburg, the Nazis, and the Search for the Cancer-Diet Connection

I loved reading this book. The author found a wonderful balance between narrative, history, and medical knowledge. Very insightful and engaging.

The author of this book, Sam Apple, teaches science writing at John Hopkins, so no surprise that he writes well about science. But his writing shines even more -- his book reads like a novel, with suspense and intrigue, while the scientific issues are rendered with clarity and with the use of clever metaphors that help the lay reader understand complex topics without condescension.The book ostensibly concerns Otto Warburg, a gay Jewish Nobel Prize winner living in Berlin under Hitler. That it's actually about much more than that is a real credit to Apple, who helps us trace the line of scientific inquiry into the causes of cancerous tumors in humans, and how that line diverged, broke up, and came back together. The Warburg connection feels tenuous at times, but Apple finds a way to bring him back into the discussion, and notably, doesn't pretend Warburg was nicer than he was. But Warburg also gets his due -- he's a forgotten Nobel Laureate who deserves much more credit than he's received by the general public, and this book is going a long way to giving him the notoriety he deserves.Meanwhile, I can't look at food the same way any more, so whether your bag is nutrition, health, chemistry, cancer research, or stories about truly fascinating people, this great read is worth every dime and minute that you spend on it.

This book fills in a huge void in the history of science and medicine, dredges up things that we collectively forgot. We believe that medical science is objective, but it turns out that it is tainted by politics just like everything else. Science is driven by very talented egotists, some of whom are partially right, and some who are dead wrong. Being right is not enough in science, you also need to be both right, have proof that you are right, and be on the right side of history. The first one is easier than the other two: convincing the scientific establishment is enormously difficult, even when evidence seems to be overwhelming. Scurvy was conquered by British sailors in 1700s, but early polar explorers put their faith in modern canning technology and rotted alive for the want of a little bit of vitamin c that they could have gotten from fresh lemon juice. While having a cure that worked, scientists did not understand why it worked, and at any chance chose faith in their own theories over experimental evidence. We might be experiencing a similar scientific disaster right now: there's very little understanding of the causes of the obesity epidemic, the metabolic syndrome, and the rampaging diabetes. It was strange that while I've learned about Hans Krebs in high school, and even had to memorize his famous cycle ( I can recall parts of it from memory 30 years later: oxalo acetate - acetyl coa - citrate - cis acanitate - oxalo suxcinate - fumrate - malate - and back to oxalo acetate ). But never once have I learned about his mentor, Otto Warburg. This book filled in this gap in my knowledge, and made me think deeply about the role of persuasion in science. It's an enjoyable read, an excellent, well researched, and lively pop science book.

Although I am not a science person the book was written in a way that anyone could follow. Warburg was a complicated man, this book captures his essence.

A very educational book.

Yes, sugar can be a danger to your health. You may already know that.This book is not a science-class lecture: Rather a good read actually. You will be brought to think-about and learn to respect the physiology of YOUR body. We're not all the same. It's time to know your risks.The reading of this will not scare you to death: It's not science class. Very much like reading a good novel... You didn't expect that I'll bet. Not preachy. Definitely not boring. Again: science/war/intrigue.Will bring you to thinking about asking your doctor some real questions; and listening to her/him: With understanding. No doubt you'll mention this book.It's a fun read. Characters throughout. Intrigue and Nazis and all that is upside down in a terrible world war.

So much information, a very interesting book.It’s a well researched book.It’s an easy read and very informative and enjoyable.

Well written, but Otto Warburg , the main character in this non fiction combination biography/ science history book , isn’t as interesting as he’s advertised to be. Although I bought this book because of it’s publicized description of of how the aforementioned, cancer scientist, Otto Warburg , a person with two Jewish grandparents, which was not good in Hitler’s Germany , but not bad enough to get one shipped to Auschwitz. ( A “full” Jew had four Jewish grandparents) That Warburg opted to stay in Germany , when most of his peers in science and cancer research had left, was not good for his legacy, but his life and his work in cancer research far outlived the Nazi period. In fact, he lived to age 85 , well after the Third Reich had disintegrated. What is the really compelling part of this book is that it explains the cause of cancer in clear , unambiguous terminology. I’ll never eat sugar again !

Great book about the history of cancer research and how it has gone off the rails. Sam Apple is a superb writer and researcher

Astonishing character living in extraordinary times.This book documents how, before WWII, German scientists lead the way in biology, only to be mainly ignored and forgotten afterwards.Warburg discovered that cancer cells love glucose. (he didn't know about glutamine). His cancer research was the only thing that protected him from the regime, as the leaders (AH etc.) had a mortal fear of the disease.

Muy interesante, bien escrito.

Author Sam Apple recontextualizes Warburg's work for the modern reader, bridging connections between the Nobel Prize winner's WW2 era lab work and today's cancer and obesity epidemics.This expertly told story mixes an accessible history of Warburg's academic research on metabolism's role in cancer progression with a biography of a scientist whose personal narrative is heavily influenced by Nazi Germany and family history.While Warburg is the star of this story, Apple makes connections for the reader of other scientific discoveries that broadened our understanding of the growth and death of cancer. We're shown how Warburg's views faded and are coming back again with new found understanding of the sugar cancer connection.If you're interested in the history of science this is a great, entertaining book. If you're interested in the history of cancer science, it's that much more brilliant and important of a read.

Easy to follow, fascinating and informative. I recommend this to anyone who likes a good narrative and also wants to know more about the development of understanding cancer.