Ravenous: Otto Warburg, the Nazis, and the Search for the Cancer-Diet Connection

by Sam Apple

The extraordinary story of the Nazi-era scientific genius who discovered how cancer cells eat - and what it means for how we should.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Science, Health, Biography, World War II, Medicine

416 pages, Hardcover

First published May 25, 2021

About the author

Sam Apple is on the faculty of the MA in Science Writing and MA in Writing programs at Johns Hopkins. Prior to his arrival at Johns Hopkins, Apple taught creative writing and journalism at the University of Pennsylvania for ten years. He holds a BA in English and Creative Writing from the University of Michigan and an MFA in Creative Nonfiction from Columbia University. Apple is the author of Schlepping Through the Alps and American Parent. His forthcoming book, Ravenous (Liveright, May 2021), is about the German biochemist Otto Warburg and new developments in cancer science. Apple has published shorts stories, personal essays, satires, and journalistic features on a wide range of topics. In recent years, he has primarily written about science and health. His work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Wired, The Los Angeles Times, The Financial Times Magazine, ESPN The Magazine, The MIT Technology Review, and McSweeney's, among many other publications. Schlepping Through the Alps was a finalist for the PEN America Award for a first work of nonfiction.

Reviews

[Sonja Arlow · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cancer research seems to be like the parable of the blind men and an elephant.

One branch of research feels the legs and declare that cancer is genetically driven and spend billions on gene sequencing to find the oncogenes. The other feels the trunk and says no its environmental and proclaims that carcinogens are everywhere waiting to give us cancer. Yet another feels the tusk and says its viral and finally the last one feels the tail and says its metabolic.

The truth lies somewhere muddled in the middle. Some cancers are genetic, others are viral and most definitely some are carcinogenic. And once you have cancer the metabolic part really kicks into overdrive.....

Many cancer breakthroughs were swept under the rug for decades and this book that deals with one such man, Otto Warburg, his research, and the decline in popularity of his theory that cancer metabolism is crucial to understand prevention and cure.

He was a gay Jewish man in Nazi Germany who defied the Nazi regime in astounding ways. He was also a complete asshole and alienated many of his peers through his narcissism and God complex as well as his propensity to get into drawn-out feuds if anyone criticized his work.

The book is a mix between detailing his life, outlining the German science community and its change and struggles with the rise of WW2 as well as some REALLY interesting bits on Hitler.

And finally it shows that Otto Warburg was indeed right about the fact that the majority of cancers are glucose gluttons and the more you feed it (by overeating and not laying off the cupcakes) the more fuel you give to the fire. This is called the Warburg Effect and is now a well-accepted fact in the oncology community.

An interesting addition to the cancer genre but if you have never read books on cancer in the past I would rather you start with The Cancer Code or if you want to be challenged a bit more The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer.

[Dennis Hogan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just finished Ravenous: Otto Warburg, the Nazis, and the Search for the Cancer-Diet Connection by Sam Apple. Oscar Warburg 1883-1970 was a a German physiologist, medical doctor, and Nobel laureate. Warburg was Jewish and gay but managed to keep his job in medical research throughout WW2 Germany because of his reputation and breakthrough work on the metabolic aspects of cancer. He was brilliant & imperious and not surprisingly a very controversial figure. His observation, dubbed the "Warburg effect” that cancer cells convert glucose to lactate regardless of the presence of oxygen has been a part of cancer research since his discovery in the 1920’s. His research into the connection between diet and cancer was largely overlooked in his lifetime, not even bearing mention in Siddhartha Mukherjee’s seminal book , Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 2011. Warburg's work is back in play. Sam Apple, a brilliant non scientist writer does a wonderful job converting complex science into regular speak. I never thought I would appreciate cellular biology until I read this book. I finally understand cancer at the cellular level and more importantly a glimpse at preventative measures.

[Alexa Klein · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fascinating book about an openly gay, Jewish scientist researching cancer in Nazi Germany. Sam Apple weaves together science and history in a masterful way so that you're learning about cells, disease, and diet while enraptured by the narrative. His writing is clear and compelling and hits the perfect balance between thorough explanations of science and interesting and amusing anecdotes that give the reader deep insight into what Warburg was like, including when he had his secretary send away a Nazi official who came to ask for his papers proving his Aryan descent (which Warburg obviously could not produce). The bold reason Warburg gave for refusing to meet with him was that the official arrived at the institute unshaven and "spread unpleasant odors about him." These meticulously researched details make this book a hard one to put down and one you are guaranteed to learn a lot from.

[Morgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

So, to begin: “…Warburg’s early work on sea urchin eggs is typically explained as a first effort to understand cancer……” (Pg.14) WHAT? Sea urchin eggs? Really?

This book is part biography of Otto Warburg, part history and very much research science into the mystery of cancer. Otto was a fascinating man and this book is a fascinating read.

Otto Warburg (1883-1970) (Nobel laureate 1931) was a bull-headed obstinate Jewish genius much despised for refusing to leave Germany during the Nazi reign and for at one point attempting to get papers stating that he was an Aryan. He was that passionate to be able to continue his work.
Otto saw himself as German and that was that!

Otto devise what is known as the “Warburg effect” (please look it up on Google). After the war when Otto fell out of favour the “Warburg effect” became all but obsolete.

Fast forward about 60 years it was suddenly found to be a significant tool for the continuation of cancer research. The “Warburg Effect” is still in use today.

Sam Apple has written what could have been a dense incomprehensible tome in a manner that I found to be very reader-friendly.

[Verena Wachnitz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating account of Otto Warburg’s life and how science went full circle on the relationship between cancer and diet.

[Joshua · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliantly written, Ravenous is both a great biography of an unusual man and an important contribution to the understanding of cancer. This is science literature at its very best. I loved this book!

[J.J. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is good! A history of the science of cancer metabolism centred around an eccentric researcher in the horrific context of Nazi Germany. Ravenous presents details of metabolism, how they were discovered, and a historical account of the lives of the researchers involved. Ravenous makes the case for further study of cancer as a metabolic disease, and explains why this potentially fruitful area of research sat on the back burner for decades.

Plus you get fun cameos from several huge names in physics and biology.. cough.. Einstein.. cough

[Eve Schaub · Rating 5 out of 5]

Otto Warburg was a gay, Jewish biochemist protected by the Nazis because he was expected to cure cancer. That fact alone made me pick up this book, a beautifully told story entailing a kind of lost history of cancer research. This school of thought once focused on cell respiration and fermentation, which fell out of fashion in the latter part of the 20th century and these days is being rediscovered as newly relevant.

If you think this sounds dry- it isn't. This quasi-biography traces the rise of Nazism, the history of cancer knowledge, and above all the astonishing character of Warburg himself, a science diva extraordinaire, who lived like an aristocrat - horses, English tailored suits- and whose casual acquaintances included Albert Einstein. Ravenous reads like a page-turner of a mystery novel in which the cause for cancer is the killer. Highly recommend.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has many facets to it. Most of the first half is a about Warburg and his life and research in the era of the two world wars. The environment of Germany and science and its many Jewish scientists is interesting, and Warburg's surviving in Germany during most of the Nazi era is due to his great hubris. Max Planck had said that by removing Jews from scientific laboratories, German science had become worthless.

The second part of the book that goes into the nitty gritty of his specific scientific discoveries, and those of other scientists involved in cancer research may be too detailed for a cursory reader, except for the idea that science and research is always ongoing and questioned and reverts to past findings and circles around to new findings, etc. Never static and there is never one expert on anything.

There was a new concept put forward by a little known Jewish scientist, that there are elevated glucose levels in the blood of cancer patients, at the time that Kaiser Friedrich III (father of Wilhelm who lost Germany to WWI and the Nazis) was being treated for cancer. A Dec. 23, 1887 article in the NYT reported on a new theory regarding the treatment of cancer, which was to limit the amount of sugar intake by cancer patients. The Kaiser was being treated with this in mind. Just to show how long ago the NYT, major media, was involved in shooting down science in one day thanks to "experts" (hmmmm, when did that happen recently?) the next day the paper ran a second story quoting a perturbed NY cancer "authority" said that there was no relation between cancer and sugar in the blood. New metabolic understanding of cancer was dead within 24 hours of its arrival. (page 52)

One had to be fully Aryan to participate in society, otherwise banned from government positions and ultimately all professions. (In the words of NYC mayor, “you have to be Aryan to fully participate.” Oh excuse me, you have to be vaccinated to fully participate.) We know this story. We know that Jews were pronounced the enemies of the Nazis and the German state. They were considered to be diseased on a singular physical level, and pollutants with regard to infecting the German society. Initially, Jewish businesses were mobbed and destroyed with screams of "Jews out." Beatings, concentration camps, killings followed. Nazi officials would roam around to check to see if everyone had registered with their bureaucratic offices and had the correct Aryan "papers." Non-Aryans were subjected to violence and economic sanctions that made life unbearable, stripped of citizenship, robbed of their rights. Nazis were more interested in discussing politics than science (p. 135).

Can we use the word unvaccinated interchangeably for Aryans, here? Jewish disease in the face of German purity was a perceived threat in Germany that was used to make all policies. German science suffered as a result of removing the Jews from their laboratories. Is our science not suffering by cancelling the those that have a difference scientific opinion than our bureaucratic leaders? There is a dark road ahead.

[عدنان عوض · Rating 5 out of 5]

منذ فترة لم أقرأ كتاباً بالانجلزية بهذه الجودة في البحث والصياغة وتسلسل القصة وترابط أحداثها. كتاب يدمج بين السيرة الذاتية والعلم والتاريخ، حيث قام سام أپل بتوليف سيرة عالم الفيزولوجيا Otto Warburg
مع بحوث استقلاب السرطان مع تاريخ النازية وهتلر، ليخرج لنا بهذا الكتاب العظيم الذي يسرد تقاطعات تلك الأحداث والعوالم مع بعضها.

بعد أن تقرأ الكتاب الضخم لسيدهارتا ميكورجي The Emperor of All Maladies عن تاريخ السرطان وعلاجه؛ ستندهش من خلوه من اسم أوتو وُربْرغ تماماً. هنا يأتي أپل ليقدم التاريخ المنسي/المقصي في بيولوجيا السرطان وفي أبحاث وحياة أهم اسم فيها الفيزولوجي الألماني العظيم أوتو وُربْرغ تاريخ استقلاب السرطان. وكأن الكتابيَن في النهاية وجهان لعملة واحدة: السرطان. حيث يبحث الأول في تاريخه ويقاربه كمرض جيني وهنا يقاربه كمرض استقلابي.

فمن خلال تقديمه لسيرة ذاتية/علمية لوُربْرغ، والتي تأثرت كثيراً بالنازية وهتلر، نرى كيف قام هذا العالِم بالكشوفات المهمة المتتالية لفهم كيفيات حدوث السرطان، والتي جعلت منه اسماً مهماً في بحوثه ونال عليها المكانة العلمية المرموقة وجائز�� نوبل. وكيف كانت لشخصيته القوية، والغريبة، دوراً كبيراً في استمرار أبحاثه رغم الحرب والتضييق على اليهود من جهة، وكيف كانت للنازية دوراً كبيراً في تغيير مسار حياته والعلم من جهة أخرى.

وُربْرغ مثال كبير على أن الاكتشافات العلمية الأساسية الأصيلة لا تموت، وأنها دائماً تمثل حجر الأساس والمرجع والمفتاح والمسرّع للعديد من الاكتشافات التي تليها، وإن طال الزمن، وإن نُسيت/أُقصيت.

قدّم لي الكتاب ما قصدته فيه تماماً عن وُربْرغ وأبحاث استقلاب السرطان، ولم يتوقف عند ذلك بل أضاف لي الكثير في بيولوجيا السرطان وتاريخ العلم في القرنين الأخيرين وتاريخ العالم مع هتلر والنازية.

[Joe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Selected excerpts...

Tannenbaum found that underfeeding mice prevented or delayed the growth of every type of cancer he studied.

As we have grown heavier—nearly three-quarters of American adults are now overweight or obese—the association with cancer has grown still more convincing. A 2017 Center for Disease Control analysis concluded that more than 600,000 Americans had been diagnosed with body-fat-related cancers in 2014 alone.

And yet elevated insulin is a risk factor for cancer even in the non-obese. Conversely, someone who is overweight but has normal insulin does not appear to be at greater risk for cancer. Excess fat might contribute to tumors by causing inflammation and the release of additional hormones, but even in this scenario, insulin can be blamed for causing that excess fat to accumulate in the first place.

Stambolic, like most researchers, had never thought much about why insulin was commonly used in cell cultures. That changed in 2006, when he learned that the vast majority of breast cancers overexpress the insulin receptor.

Cancer cells often have more insulin receptors, Stambolic explained, because in the Darwinian landscape of a growing cancer, the cells that are best equipped to take advantage of elevated insulin in the blood are more likely to multiply.

Insulin receptors are also overexpressed in a wide array of cancers, including cancers of the prostate, uterus, colon, and lung.

The results were clear. Even a little less insulin led to a “significant reduction in the development of pancreatic cancer."

...researchers can make tumors shrink or grow simply by enhancing or diminishing insulin signaling through genetic alterations.

Diabetes patients taking metformin were anywhere from 25 to 40 percent less likely to get cancer than patients taking other diabetes drugs. Cantley has said that metformin “may have already saved more people from cancer deaths than any drug in history.”

A small but rapidly growing body of research now suggests that following a very low carbohydrate (ketogenic) diet—which eliminates carbohydrates and so makes less glucose available to tumors—might make traditional therapies more effective in fighting some cancers.

Carbohydrates raise insulin more than protein or fat and so are the most obvious suspects.

...the more refined sugar that people ate, the more likely they seemed to develop diabetes and cancer.

More arrived in 1975 when Richard Doll looked into the relationship between cancer and sugar consumption across different countries and found that sugar could be tied to a number of other cancers, including those of the prostate, ovaries, uterus, rectum, testicles, and kidneys. A few years later came a review of sugar consumption and breast cancer deaths in women over 65. The five countries with the most deaths turned out to be the very five countries that consumed the most sugar. The five countries with the fewest deaths, in turn, were the five countries that consumed the least amount of sugar.

...a series of large-scale studies in the 1980s and 1990s failed to turn up evidence that dietary fat caused cancer.

The glucose and fructose consumed together in whole fruits, though potentially still fattening, are generally considered less problematic than refined sucrose because the molecules are absorbed more slowly and lead to less dramatic spikes of glucose and insulin in the blood.

When the fat can be safely tucked away in the fat tissue under our skin, it appears to do little metabolic harm. But as the supply of fat grows, storage capacity runs out. Now the fat will end up in places it never should. The liver itself will become marbled. The fat will make its way into the pancreas and even into our muscles.

This misplaced fat may be invisible from the outside, but it is far from benign. It drives inflammation and interferes with how our cells respond to insulin. To overcome that interference, or resistance, the pancreas has no choice but to secrete more insulin, and a dangerous cycle takes off. The additional insulin will likely make us fatter, which in turn can lead to still more misplaced fat and greater insulin resistance.

Sugar is not the entire story of insulin resistance. Any carbohydrate that is rapidly digested—beer or bread, pasta, and cereals made with refined flour—will also spike glucose and insulin levels. If fat is eaten together with these carbohydrates, the insulin spike will lead that fat to be stored rather than burned, and that dietary fat, too, will contribute to the “overload” problem. But nothing appears to drive the first stages of the process quite like refined sugar. Drinking sugar—in soda or fruit juice—is thought to be worst of all.

The fructose in the sugar, Cantley saw, could both turn on the Warburg effect and provide the building blocks for fat molecules that the cancers use to grow. “The evidence,” Cantley said, “really suggests that if you have cancer, the sugar you’re eating may be making it grow faster.”

“Too much sugar” might be the simplest explanation for the many obesity-linked cancers, but it is not a simple explanation. It is an idea built upon more than a century of science. Scientists had to figure out, among many other things, how fructose is converted to fat; how fat in our muscles and liver and other organs interferes with insulin signaling; how the pancreas responds by pumping out more insulin; how elevated insulin activates the Warburg effect and other molecular pathways within cancer cells; and how those pathways keep fledgling cancers alive and well nourished.

Skeptics have argued that if sugar is truly the driving force behind America’s obesity and diabetes epidemics, the rates of these conditions should have gone down in recent years, given that sugar consumption has declined of late in response to warnings about the danger it poses. ... As Taubes sees it, to suggest that sugar is not responsible for metabolic diseases based on current trends would be like cutting back from 20 to 17 cigarettes a day and then concluding that smoking could not be responsible for lung cancer if the rate did not fall.

Sugar, of course, cannot be blamed for Nazism or for turning Hitler into a madman. But as his madness grew, so, too, did his taste for sweets. It wasn’t only his cherished Viennese pastries that he longed for. On any given day, Hitler might consume 2 full pounds of chocolates or 2 pounds of pralines. He even added sugar to his wine. Hitler’s valet, Heinz Linge, recalled that while planning for the invasion of Norway, Hitler kept running out of the room for more sweets. Linge asked Hitler if he was hungry. “For me, sweets are the best food for the nerves,” Hitler replied.14

[Kenny Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is well-researched and offers some interesting insights -- in particular, I was fascinated by the discussion of the historical origins of the wellness movement in Nazi ideology. However, the big problem is that the parts don't come together as a coherent whole. The beginning is essentially a biography of Otto Warburg's life, with a focus on his struggles in Nazi Germany and the aftermath. Given that he was a gay Jewish man, the story is often a riveting one, but it seems strangely divorced from the discussion of his cancer research -- in fact, by the middle of the book, I was convinced that the title was deceptive due to how little it talked about the cancer-diet connection. However, the topic abruptly shifts toward the end of the book as Apple sketches out the contemporary research on the topic. The discussion is dense and weirdly disconnected from the earlier biographical section. The result is a disjointed book that didn't seem to ever figure out its identity. It is not a straightforward biography, nor is it a good introduction to the cancer-diet connection.

I would only recommend the book if you're extremely interested in cancer research. It is also worth checking out for its details about the complicated relationship between Nazi science and American culture.

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible read - Sam weaves the history of cancer research in to the history of WWII, the Nazi regime, and the postwar scientific community in a very engaging yet informative way. You will learn not only about the path of cancer research and the current state, but the impact of society and politics on the activities of science itself. Despite sounding like a nonfiction read on niche topic, this book is written in such a way that it's hard to put down.

[Elizabeth Kerner · Rating 3 out of 5]

interesting to read about Warburg’s history and conflict as both an internationally known (and quite narcissistic) scientist advancing Germany’s cancer research and a gay Jewish man during the WWII. The last third, which focused more on the metabolism + cancer connection was interesting, but something about the writing style in that section just didnt click for me

[Tim · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an amazing book. A combination of biography and the history of cancer research up to today. All very thoughtfully connected and incredibly well-researched with lots of interesting connecting little stories and facts.

[Peter Sandwall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice history of a controversial scientist. His discoveries, initially respected and celebrated, were overshadowed by his arrogance and reprehensible decision to remain in Germany under Nazism. Ignored for a long period, the hyper-metabolism of tumors is now recognized as the Warburg Effect.

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

Biochemistry and the Holocaust

Excellent, detailed story of Warburg and his prescient work on cancer research. His theories died for a time but ultimately some became useful.

He was the only person of Jewish to stay in Germany and continue research during the Holocaust. He was definitely eccentric and intolerant. Like many narcissists he viewed the entire world and everyone in it by the impact it had on him.

One early incident stood out to me. A Nazi came by his institute in the mid 1930s insisting he fill out a form of aryan descent to get chemicals he needed. He essentially threw the Nazi out and told him to not come back.

[Kristen M. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This incredibly well researched biography of Otto Warburg captures the contradictions and idiosyncrasies of this quirky, Nobel Prize winning, gay, German-Jewish scientist. Warburg was a pioneer in the field of cancer research in the 1920s and 1930s and his life's work forms the basis for much of existing cancer research today. He was also a direct cousin of the Warburg banking titans in NYC during the same timeframe.

The author, Sam Apple specializes in science writing - and it shows! Sam Apple is on the faculty of the Masters in Science Writing degree program at John Hopkins - and he made this biography come alive with his ability to uniquely convey intricate science concepts, science history and experiments to the layman's audience (me).

The author depicts Warburg as the eccentric personality he must have been: feisty, difficult, and demanding. Warburg spent a lot of time feuding with other scientists - their epic takedowns of one another were in the form of correspondence, journal articles and at science conferences. Warburg literally shunned anyone who disagreed with him.

Warburg's story is compelling - he refused to leave Berlin when he had the chance because his dedication to the work was such that he couldn't be interrupted. Things did get complicated for Warburg in the early 1940s as the Nazi war machine attempted to disrupt his lab - but Warburg was somehow spared due to the nature of his work and also possibly because of Hitler's known hypochondria and interest in curing cancer. We know that Hitler was obsessed with health and nutrition, as his mother died of breast cancer. Hitler also often referred to the Jewish problem with disease and germ theory related terms.

Warburg's reputation suffered due to this indirect association with 'Nazi Medicine' and he has at times been dismissed as a Nazi collaborator. I believe the author makes a convincing case that Warburg was a sympathetic victim of circumstance. Towards the end of the war, Warburg did apply for a 'German Blood Certificate' to keep himself from being deported, which seemed to be more of a last ditch effort to save his own life and not to officially associate himself with the Third Reich.

The decimation of German science was also one of the casualties here - as so many other German-Jewish scientists either fled Germany or didn't make it out alive. German science has not truly recovered to the former successes of that bygone era.

The author's use of past and present science research and footnoting was exceptionally strong. I am ASTONISHED at how many scientists and doctors are referenced. I was ecstatic to be familiar with so many. Here is a sampling of scientists, doctors and science journalists mentioned - some are in the book itself and others in the footnotes or acknowledgments: Albert Einstein, Hans Krebs, Fritz Haber, Theodor Morell, Louis Pasteur, Albert Schweitzer, Robert Koch, Paul Ehrlich, Frederick Banting, Rachel Carson, Nina Teicholz , Valter Longo, Gary Taubes, Dominic D'Agostino, Peter Attia, Jason Fung, Norman Ohler, Thomas Seyfried, Siddartha Mukherjee and Ron Chernow.

The 'Warburg effect' is one of Otto Warburg's many contributions to cancer research in the last century. I look forward to any other titles by Sam Apple.

[S · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s very heavy on the science, maybe too much so. But there is much to recommend in this book. Otto Warburg, an intellectually brilliant and monstrously arrogant man, is also fascinating. The interesting thing was that both aspects of his persona allowed him to thumb his nose at Hitler and the Nazi party. Here is a Jewish, gay man telling Nazi storm troopers to drop dead. Incredible. Also enlightening is the description of Hitler’s out of control sugar addiction as he proceeded to get more and more out of touch with reality. So too the relationship between Germany’s beet sugar production and creation of Zyklon B — the cyanide gas used in the death camps. Overall, this is a fascinating book if you can get through (or skim) the in-depth biochemistry explanations and endless scientific squabbles.

[Monica · Rating 3 out of 5]

My actual rating is 2.5 stars. I certainly appreciate how difficult it was to take such a scientific topic and attempt to make it an interesting read. I did enjoy the storyline if you could follow it. There were many people, scientists, etc., that I got lost. Kind of reminded me of the Radium Girls. The book does have great information on cancer, sugar and diabetes - but when the story went into the scientific stratosphere-I glazed over.
Important information to share, difficult to write - but am glad I was able to learn some things.

[Stephanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting details about how a gay, Jewish man was sparred/conspired with the Nazis due to his cancer research. Also some interesting details on the current study of sugar and it’s role in cancer. However, the majority of this book is a history of the scientific research by Warburg and others and reminded me of many a day in microbiology and organic chemistry lectures that I would gladly have missed.

[Luis Cuesta · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book as a Goodreads giveway. This book is a detailed biography of German biologist Otto Warburg (1883-1970), who won the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1931 for his work on cell respiration and metabolism, especially as related to cancer. The research that Warburg is best known for today, and the work that forms the backbone of “Ravenous,” is his discovery that cancer cells behave differently from healthy cells in two very specific ways: They consume massive amounts of glucose — Apple compares them to ravenous shipwrecked sailors — and they eschew aerobic respiration in favor of fermentation.

Author Sam Apple keeps the scientific explanations easy to understand, while interviews with a slew of characters add color. As health and science writer Apple shows that although occasionally harassed by Nazi officials, Warburg,a scientist of Jewish Descent, was likely protected by Hitler, a hypochondriac terrified of cancer. The postwar years produced little change in Warburg’s routine, and theories about the pathogenesis of cancer dominated research until the 1960s, when scientists turned their attention to DNA and cancer-causing genes postwar years produced little change in Warburg’s routine, and theories about the pathogenesis of cancer dominated research until the 1960s, when scientists turned their attention to DNA and cancer-causing genes

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Hitler and other Nazi leaders, Apple shows, were deeply troubled by skyrocketing cancer rates across the Western world, viewing cancer as an existential threat akin to Judaism or homosexuality. Ironically, they viewed Warburg as Germany’s best chance of survival. Setting Warburg’s work against an absorbing history of cancer science, Apple follows him as he arrives at his central belief that cancer is a problem of metabolism. Though Warburg’s metabolic approach to cancer was considered groundbreaking, his work was soon eclipsed in the early postwar era, after the discovery of the structure of DNA set off a search for the genetic origins of cancer.


Remarkably, Warburg’s theory has undergone a resurgence in our own time, as scientists have begun to investigate the dangers of sugar and the link between obesity and cancer, finding that the way we eat can influence how cancer cells take up nutrients and grow. Rooting his revelations in extensive archival research as well as dozens of interviews with today’s leading cancer authorities, Apple demonstrates how Warburg’s midcentury work may well hold the secret to why cancer became so common in the modern world and how we can reverse the trend. A tale of scientific discovery, personal peril, and the race to end a disastrous disease, Ravenous would be the stuff of the most inventive fiction were it not, in fact, true."

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was such a fascinating and thorough account of the life of Otto Warburg and the scientific backdrop of Germany as well. I found that weaving in Hitler's story throughout also added more insight to what was going on at the time. I found the book to be engaging and it offered an immense array of information into an enjoyable read. My biggest caveat is that the author did not tell the story chronologically, which made it a bit hard to follow at times. I found Warburg to be rather insufferable , however, I did enjoy learning his story and what he brought to the field. And while I have studied Hitler before, this book brought new insights and information that I wasn't aware of. This book is a great read if you love science or history, and even better if you are quite fond of both. I definitely recommend it!

[Kayla · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. It is long, listened video audio but well worth it. It is history and very scientific. If you have an interest in those studies, you will find this interesting.

It’s about Dr. Otto Warburg. He was a half jewish, german physiologist who researched Cancer & Photosynthesis. His research on cancer was overlooked for many decades. He survived in Germany, mainly because of his ego but also his research during that time in WWII.

In this book, you will hear some about Hitlers upbringing, other scientists and Dr. Warburg. It gives the complete history of that time frame, how these things came to be, to include science.

It is not meant to be a cancer scare book. However, we all must face reality.

[Crystal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written very well considering the complexities of science. Easy to comprehend the complex scientific language. Apple masterfully wove Otto Warburg’s personal life, professional life, scientific findings, WWII, and Hitler into an incredible story. For me, it is making me rethink “trusting the science”. Seeing that the scientific community shunned his research for personal reasons makes me rethink how much I can trust modern research. Forty years after his death, researchers accidentally stumbled upon his work and was able to revive and solidify his findings. Think of how close we would be to curing cancer if only they had listened.

#GoodreadsGiveaway

[Mike Lisanke · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very informative book But it's a little difficult to understand its purpose. Is it a history of Hitler's Germany from the perspective of a Nobel Laureate Scientist? Or is it the history of an important study of Cancer and the metabolic effects which might control it (promote/limit cancer growth). The 2nd part of the book (post WWII Warburg) tends towards the explanations of the metabolic disorder which is the cause of cancer (and to me the most interesting part of the book). But I also am a student of Nazi Germany and Its Prevention Today. And it's apropos because they mention many in the German High Command used Cancer as a metaphor (and so do I; fascism/Nazism are a cancer).

[Therese · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first couple of parts of this book is mainly about the brilliant arrogant scientist and his life and research in nazi Germany which was interesting since he was gay and Jewish. The last part was more of a focus on how he was right all along, that cancer cells feed off of glucose which creates insulin. Would have been better if the author had differentiated between high fructose sugar and fructose from fruit because there is a difference. I couldn’t tell sometimes which he was talking about and I think he meant both as if they were exactly the same.

[Donna Frasor · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book that weaves three stories: the biography of acclaimed scientist Otto Warburg, the Nazi regime & Hitler’s fear of cancer, and a history of cancer research. How an openly gay Jewish scientist could keep his job in Germany throughout WWII was a story in itself. The scientific explanation of sugar and its relation to cancer was sometimes too much for my non-scientific brain, but Apple does an extraordinary job of trying to explain the theories of what causes cancer in layman’s terms. Although not a page turner, a very thorough, well researched book.

[Estee · Rating 4 out of 5]

My two favourite subjects: the evils of Hitler and; the cure and prevention of cancer through nutrition and other homeopathic remedies.

Firstly, this book really brought up new facts about Hitler that I didn’t know and it confirmed to me even more what an evil being he was. His fear of cancer, his fear of germs, his vegetarianism…

Warburg did what he could to avoid persecution by the Nazis. He was, what Nazi Germany termed, a Mischling. A half Jew though ancestry.

In all: an interesting read to learn about Warburg, the scientist best known for the Warburg Effect in oncology.