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

The Nobel laureate Otto Warburg was widely regarded as one of the most important biochemists of the twentieth century. A Jewish homosexual living openly with his partner he was also among the most despised figures in the Third Reich. Yet top Nazi officials-perhaps even Hitler himself-dreaded cancer and protected Warburg in the hope he could cure it. Using new archival sources and interviews with current cancer authorities Sam Apple depicts a relentless figure hungry for fame who pursued his research even as the world around him disintegrated. Remarkably Warburg's theory about the metaboli c origins of cancer has been revived in our own time as scientists investigate the dangers of sugar and the link between obesity and cancer. Ravenous is a book for readers of Alan Turing and The Emperor of All Maladies: a tale of scientific discovery personal peril and the race to end a disastrous disease.