A provocative, intellectually vibrant, eloquently written look at recent advances in the war on cancer that will challenge everything you thought you knew about the disease-and provide hope for tomorrow and into the future.

When science writer George Johnson's wife was diagnosed with a metastatic cancer, he plunged himself into a study of the disease and of the people who dedicate their lives to understanding and combating it. What he discovered is that a revolution is now under way-a thrilling explosion of theories about what cancer really is and where it comes from. Here we have his luminous accounts of, among other revelations: tumors that evolve like alien creatures inside the body . . . paleoncologists who have found petrified tumors clinging to the skeletons of dinosaurs and human ancestors . . . the surprising changes in science's understanding of the causes of cancer, with dietary specifics and environmental toxins taking a lesser role. The Cancer Chronicles is endlessly surprising and as radiant in its prose as it is authoritative in its eye-opening science.