Stem cells are one of the most intriguing and controversial scientific topics today. The interest in them stems (no pun intended) from the apparently limitless potential for their use in medicine. The controversy is rooted in the way that some of them – human embryonic stem cells – are obtained and used. For both of those reasons understanding stem cells – what they are, how they operate, and what’s fact and what fiction – is an important topic for anyone who wants to have a more informed opinion on the subject. This very short introduction is probably one of the bets and most up to date short introductions to this subject, and I’d highly recommend to anyone who is interested in stem cells.

The book covers some of the most basic facts about the stem cells: what they are, how are they different from the other cells, what are the different kinds of stem cells, why are so interesting to science as well as medicine. It turns out that the answer to every one of those questions is much more subtle and technical than it would naively be expected, and a lot of care needs to be used when discussing these issues. The book also covers various potential uses of stem cells in medicine, and in particular in tissue engineering and various tissue therapies. Despite all the hype that surrounds such therapies, many of them are still far from being viable. This is partly due to the fact that we still face tremendous technical difficulties, but also because many of the existing therapies are at least as good as anything that could be achieved using the stem cells. Thus, the book functions as a sobering reminder to keep our expectations relatively low when it comes to immediate impact of stem cells on medicine. However, the use of stem cells in drug development might hold much more promise, at least in the short turn.

One thing that I wish this book covered in some more detail is the general topic of cell division, growth and multiplication, especially in the context of multicellular organisms. This is a basic biology topic, and even thought it is discussed well in some other biology books in the Very Short Introduction series, it would be of some use to general readers who might have forgotten some of their biology. A small ten-page chapter would not have added too much to the bulk of this thin book.

A bigger issue that I have with this book is the way that it treats the thorny ethical issues surrounding the stem cells. The author claims that the sole purpose of this book is to present the science behind the stem cells, without getting bogged down into the controversial ethical discussions. However, he does end up discussion the ethical issues on several occasions, in addition to adopting the generally very rosy view of the stem cell research in general. The problem with bringing these issues in passing is that it’s absolutely impossible to do them justice that way, and what we end up with is a stick figure and straw man discussion of those topics. In my opinion, such approach does disservice to the whole topic, and I hope that Oxford University Press comes up with a companion book dealing with medical ethics in general and without strong and transparent bias.

Despite its few flaws, I still consider this to be one of the best short introductions to the stem cells that are currently available. It is a very concise and invaluable resource for anyone interested in the current state of our knowledge on that intriguing subject.