Sam Apple's Blog
July 11, 2021
Praise for Ravenous
"Apple . . . delivers a gripping account of biochemist Otto Warburg (1883–1970) and the origins of modern cancer science in his excellent latest. . . As he draws fascinating insights from the interplay between science and ideology. . . Apple keeps the scientific explanations easy to understand, while interviews with a slew of characters add color. This is a bona fide page-turner."
― Publishers Weekly, starred review
“A fascinating account of an impossibly arrogant scientific genius, his collision with the monster Adolph Hitler, and the revolutions in cancer research. Sam Apple, a lively stylist, handles these complex, braided narrative threads with clarity, insight, and a nose for the paradoxical and absurd. The result is a genuine contribution to science writing and a model for how to do contemporary nonfiction.”
― Phillip Lopate, Professor of Writing, Columbia University, editor of The Glorious American Essay
“Sam Apple is a spellbinding storyteller and explainer of science. Ravenous will change the way you think about cancer and how to prevent it.”
― Jason Fung, MD, author of The Cancer Code
“Otto Warburg’s decades-old science is central to a revolution in thinking about cancer as a metabolic disease. Sam Apple’s riveting book, Ravenous, reveals Warburg in all his brilliant, bizarre complexity and is a must-read for anyone interested in the science behind low-carbohydrate/high-fat and ketogenic eating.”
― Gary Taubes, science journalist, author of The Case Against Sugar
“Sam Apple’s Ravenous is biography at its best. Otto Warburg is an uncommonly good subject―a cell biologist who could not stand his fellow humans but devoted himself to saving them from the scourge of cancer. The author’s understanding of Warburg’s life and scientific legacy is perceptive and subtle, his biology lessons are a joy to read, and his history of the connections between Hitler and Germany’s early cancer research is a small masterpiece.”
― Patricia O’Toole, author of The Five of Hearts, When Trumpets Call, and The Moralist
“A remarkable book that just might make you rethink your diet. It’s well known―or should be―that poor nutrition can disrupt metabolism and lead to obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. In Ravenous, Sam Apple reveals that many of the most deadly cancers are connected to this very same diet-driven disease process.”
― Mark Hyman, MD, author of The Pegan Diet and Head of Strategy and Innovation at the Cleveland Clinic Center for Functional Medicine
"A brilliant weave of history and science, Ravenous tells the riveting story of how Otto Warburg, a Nobel Prize–winning biochemist and a gay man of Jewish descent, survived the Third Reich in a posh Berlin suburb, and how his theories of metabolic cancer cells may yet hold the key to finding a cure for the defining disease of our time.”
― Helmut Walser Smith, professor of German studies at Vanderbilt University and author of The Butcher’s Tale and Germany: A Nation in Its Time
“Ravenous reads like a cancer mystery with the larger-than-life Warburg in the role of the determined detective. By learning of the scientific struggles of the past, you'll gain a new appreciation for the modern focus on hormones, such as insulin, in the development of cancer.”
― Benjamin Bikman, Associate Professor, Brigham Young University, author of Why We Get Sick
“A fantastic read. If you’re interested in history or science― or just need inspiration to eat less sugar―this is the book for you.”
― Nina Teicholz, science journalist and best-selling author of The Big Fat Surprise
“While tobacco-induced cancer deaths continue to decline, the second major cause of cancer―obesity―moves to center stage. Few realize its profound importance in causing cancer. Sam Apple has written an endlessly interesting and carefully researched book.”
― Robert A. Weinberg, founding member of the Whitehead Institute and professor of biology at MIT
“A gripping and smart page-turner, Sam Apple’s Ravenous tells two fascinating interwoven stories: that of the pioneer of cancer metabolism research Otto Warburg, who in the twenty-first century finally has been proven right, and that of Hitler’s fear of cancer, both as the disease that had killed his mother and as a political metaphor.”
― Thomas Weber, professor of history and international affairs at the University of Aberdeen and author of Becoming Hitler
― Publishers Weekly, starred review
“A fascinating account of an impossibly arrogant scientific genius, his collision with the monster Adolph Hitler, and the revolutions in cancer research. Sam Apple, a lively stylist, handles these complex, braided narrative threads with clarity, insight, and a nose for the paradoxical and absurd. The result is a genuine contribution to science writing and a model for how to do contemporary nonfiction.”
― Phillip Lopate, Professor of Writing, Columbia University, editor of The Glorious American Essay
“Sam Apple is a spellbinding storyteller and explainer of science. Ravenous will change the way you think about cancer and how to prevent it.”
― Jason Fung, MD, author of The Cancer Code
“Otto Warburg’s decades-old science is central to a revolution in thinking about cancer as a metabolic disease. Sam Apple’s riveting book, Ravenous, reveals Warburg in all his brilliant, bizarre complexity and is a must-read for anyone interested in the science behind low-carbohydrate/high-fat and ketogenic eating.”
― Gary Taubes, science journalist, author of The Case Against Sugar
“Sam Apple’s Ravenous is biography at its best. Otto Warburg is an uncommonly good subject―a cell biologist who could not stand his fellow humans but devoted himself to saving them from the scourge of cancer. The author’s understanding of Warburg’s life and scientific legacy is perceptive and subtle, his biology lessons are a joy to read, and his history of the connections between Hitler and Germany’s early cancer research is a small masterpiece.”
― Patricia O’Toole, author of The Five of Hearts, When Trumpets Call, and The Moralist
“A remarkable book that just might make you rethink your diet. It’s well known―or should be―that poor nutrition can disrupt metabolism and lead to obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. In Ravenous, Sam Apple reveals that many of the most deadly cancers are connected to this very same diet-driven disease process.”
― Mark Hyman, MD, author of The Pegan Diet and Head of Strategy and Innovation at the Cleveland Clinic Center for Functional Medicine
"A brilliant weave of history and science, Ravenous tells the riveting story of how Otto Warburg, a Nobel Prize–winning biochemist and a gay man of Jewish descent, survived the Third Reich in a posh Berlin suburb, and how his theories of metabolic cancer cells may yet hold the key to finding a cure for the defining disease of our time.”
― Helmut Walser Smith, professor of German studies at Vanderbilt University and author of The Butcher’s Tale and Germany: A Nation in Its Time
“Ravenous reads like a cancer mystery with the larger-than-life Warburg in the role of the determined detective. By learning of the scientific struggles of the past, you'll gain a new appreciation for the modern focus on hormones, such as insulin, in the development of cancer.”
― Benjamin Bikman, Associate Professor, Brigham Young University, author of Why We Get Sick
“A fantastic read. If you’re interested in history or science― or just need inspiration to eat less sugar―this is the book for you.”
― Nina Teicholz, science journalist and best-selling author of The Big Fat Surprise
“While tobacco-induced cancer deaths continue to decline, the second major cause of cancer―obesity―moves to center stage. Few realize its profound importance in causing cancer. Sam Apple has written an endlessly interesting and carefully researched book.”
― Robert A. Weinberg, founding member of the Whitehead Institute and professor of biology at MIT
“A gripping and smart page-turner, Sam Apple’s Ravenous tells two fascinating interwoven stories: that of the pioneer of cancer metabolism research Otto Warburg, who in the twenty-first century finally has been proven right, and that of Hitler’s fear of cancer, both as the disease that had killed his mother and as a political metaphor.”
― Thomas Weber, professor of history and international affairs at the University of Aberdeen and author of Becoming Hitler
