More than any textbook, article, or lecture could, this book offers a sip of contagious enthusiasm and a conviction that scientists will eventually “crack the cancer code"

Science

One of the best accounts I've read of how science is actually performed.

Peter Forbes, The Guardian

A succinct, accessible study of humanity's genetic bulwark against cancer.

Nature

Ms. Armstrong¹s book comes alive in the sections where she explores cancer¹s human toll, including the devastating experience of families with rare genetic mutations, such as Li-Fraumeni syndrome, which leaves children of parents with a faulty gene vulnerable to cancer at almost any age. She also captures the excitement of researchers as they come upon eureka moments.

Wall Street Journal

Armstrong paints a very human picture ... Not only does Armstrong make p53 understandable but she also sheds light on the scientific method. In an age of government austerity, highlighting the importance of scientific research is also a gift.

The Lancet

Armstrong has rendered, from what easily could have become a tangled web of complex science, a readable story of discovery. As in the best travel writing, it's not the destination that's important here, but the journey. This is not only a story about the gene on chromosome 17, nor only about the nature of cancer, but also about how science works.

Ellen Bartlett, Boston Globe