by Sadhan Majumder

4.5 stars – 2 reviews

Text-to-Speech and Lending: Enabled

Here’s the set-up:

n Search of Love, Science, and God begins with “My Dad” and ends with “Your Dad,” a letter to his teenage children. In between, the book offers an inspiring story of two generations of immigrants and their struggles to succeed and help others. The author describes his parents’ journey to India and his own journey from a small city in India to New York to study science and discover ways to help patients. Arriving in New York with $200 in his pocket and a suitcase in his hand that his mom had packed, the challenges of life could never make a dent in his enthusiasm. He details his failures and successes. He emphasizes what he has learned about the importance of expressing appreciation for others and developing the traits of tenacity, courage and determination. He recounts meeting the woman who almost did not marry him and his path to changing her mind.

The author also uses his experiences to illustrate how our fear of the unfamiliar molds our behavior and our biases including racism, and how politics impacts science and our lives. He shares accessible scientific explanations of how things work, reflecting his curiosity about all aspects of the universe and the amazing world we inhabit and the mysteries of the human body and mind. He looks for and finds a connection between science and God. He shows how his first lesson in a microbiology lab illuminates the COVID-19 pandemic. Building on some of his early research, he suggests how we grow from a single cell in the womb to a full human being. He makes the connection between cancer and embryonic development. He chronicles his discovery of how a molecule called REST drives a group of brain tumors by controlling cancer stem cells, and how he engineered this same molecule to convert muscle cells into neurons. He concludes by explaining the scientific basis for the rebellious behavior of teenagers such as his twins and that this behavior is to be expected as a process of normal growing up.