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 metabolic 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.
