it was repetitive to read all the essays in the book at once, though spacing them out made them more enjoyable. Further impact The Lives of a Cell has had multiple printings, been translated into eleven languages, and sold over 250,000 copies within five years of publishing. The Lives of the Cell is looked back on as the watershed book for writing on science. It is included in the "100 or so Books that Shaped a Century of Science" compiled by Philip Morrison and Phylis Morrison for American Scientist. A reviewer, Douglas Kamerow, suggests that the themes in the book are perhaps even more relevant in the present than when the book was first published. The rapid improvement of technology in recent years opens up new ways that we can use science and language to improve our relationship with the Earth and among ourselves. It is also interesting to see Thomas's view of medicine of the time period since he experienced the beginning of infectious disease control with antibiotics which gave him perspective on other unknown medical areas in his time. Beyond the impact of his writing on scientific prose, Lewis Thomas has been compared to other writers such as E.B. White, Thomas Jefferson, Henry David Thoreau, Muriel Rukeyser (Life of Poetry). Awards The Lives of a Cell won the U.S. National Book Awards for "Arts and Letters" and "The Sciences" in 1975 (both awards were split). It is also ranked 11th on the Modern Library's "100 Best Nonfiction" books of the 20th century list. References External links Quotations from The Lives of a Cell 1974 non-fiction books Essay collections National Book Award-winning works Viking Press books