Childhood recollections and doctor interviews are used to revisit a younger brother’s experience with leukemia. Overall, it is an oddly pleasant book about cancer.

Wendel’s usual fare is the world of sports. In this departure, he interweaves family memories with scientific history to tell the story of the early days of treatment for children’s leukemia. His brother, Eric, died of leukemia at the age of 10, but outlived his prognosis by years thanks to the innovations and discoveries of a group of US doctors who called themselves the Acute Leukemia Group. This history is not as dramatic as some other scientific tales, but I appreciated learning about the foundations of one of the success stories of cancer care in this personal way. (Childhood leukemia had a mortality rate of 96% and a life expectancy of 18 months when Eric was diagnosed; the 5-year survival rate now is 85%.)

Read if: You enjoyed the mix of the personal and the scientific in The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for some more great reading in exchange for honest reviews.