The Laws of Medicine

By: Siddhartha Mukherjee

Narrated by: Santino Fontana

Essential, required reading for doctors and patients alike: A Pulitzer Prize-winning author and one of the world’s premiere cancer researchers reveals an urgent philosophy on the little-known principles that govern medicine—and how understanding these principles can empower us all.

Over a decade ago, when Siddhartha Mukherjee was a young, exhausted, and isolated medical resident, he discovered a book that would forever change the way he understood the medical profession. The book, The Youngest Science, forced Dr. Mukherjee to ask himself an urgent, fundamental question: Is medicine a “science”? Sciences must have laws—statements of truth based on repeated experiments that describe some universal attribute of nature. But does medicine have laws like other sciences?

Dr. Mukherjee has spent his career pondering this question—a question that would ultimately produce some of most serious thinking he would do around the tenets of his discipline—culminating in The Laws of Medicine. In this important treatise, he investigates the most perplexing and illuminating cases of his career that ultimately led him to identify the three key principles that govern medicine.

Brimming with fascinating historical details and modern medical wonders, this important book is a fascinating glimpse into the struggles and Eureka! moments that people outside of the medical profession rarely see. Written with Dr. Mukherjee’s signature eloquence and passionate prose, The Laws of Medicine is a critical read, not just for those in the medical profession, but for everyone who is moved to better understand how their health and well-being is being treated. Ultimately, this book lays the groundwork for a new way of understanding medicine, now and into the future.

Quick, insightful, compelling

I really enjoyed this book. The reading was excellent and the content was insightful. I am a scientist by training and it was enormously helpful to hear the approach of a clinicians to complex problems like human diseases and treatments. If you’re interested in medicine or problem solving in any capacity, I’d recommend it.

Incredibly arresting

Very well written by the master author of Emperor of Maladies. My rec is to have Mukherjee himself narrate this for real and maximum impact.

Informative

Well thought out, clearly explained, insightful. The author is deliciously curious and walks the reader through his thoughts.

Spectacular

Recommended to anyone considering a career in medicine. At the level of any of the create physician authors I've ever read.

thought provoking

Great listen, very thought provoking. Makes you wonder, overall enjoyed it. No need to be a medical professional.