Object Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things.

One in two men and one in three women will develop invasive cancer. Tumors have the power to redefine identities and change how people live with one another.

Tumor takes readers on an intellectual adventure around the attitudes that shape how humans do scientific research, treat cancer, and talk about disease, treatment, and death. With poetic verve and acuity, Anna Leahy explores why and how tumors happen, how we think and talk about them, and how we try to rid ourselves of them.

Object Lessons is published in partnership with an essay series in The Atlantic.