The Emperor of All Maladies
The Emperor of All Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjeeby Siddhartha Mukherjee
Shares rank 65 of 152 nonfiction books by recommenders
Recommended for its engaging writing and its clear picture of how hard early cancer screening is. One reader had to stop partway through.
Recommended for its engaging writing and its clear picture of how hard early cancer screening is. One reader had to stop partway through.
4 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 4
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 2 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 4 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 2 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Very interesting and well written
“it was very interesting and greatly written but I had to drop it”
Comment from 27 Dec 2025 in “Ask HN: What did you read in 2025?” Clear view of screening trade-offs
“I recommend reading The Emperor of all Maladies if you want to really get a sense for how delicate the problem of early screening is”
Comment from 15 Feb 2026 in “How often do full-body MRIs find cancer?”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Some readers had to drop it
“it was very interesting and greatly written but I had to drop it”
Comment from 27 Dec 2025 in “Ask HN: What did you read in 2025?”
Other nonfiction books people recommend
The four most recommended other nonfiction books, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Cuckoo's Eggby Cliff Stoll | 40 | 0 | 100% | 8 | — | Approved |
| Amusing Ourselves to Deathby Neil Postman | 36 | 0 | 100% | 9 | 1 yr3 owners | Approved |
| The Anxious Generationby Jonathan Haidt | 24 | 12 | 67% | 10 | — | Approved |
| Bullshit Jobsby David Graeber | 20 | 12 | 63% | 8 | — | — |
| The Emperor of All Maladiesby Siddhartha MukherjeeThis page | 4 | 0 | 100% | 2 | — | — |
What people said
2 of the 4 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“I recommend reading The Emperor of all Maladies if you want to really get a sense for how delicate the problem of early screening is”
“it was very interesting and greatly written but I had to drop it”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.