On January 17, 2024, the English edition of the book ‘What Tumors Teach Us: Parallels in the Behaviour of Cells and People’ by Jana Šmardová († August 31, 2023) was launched. In this article, you will also learn that the teaching of her course, ‘Tumor Biology for Everyone − or Cell Philosophy’, continues to be taught.
The launch of the English edition of Jana Šmardová’s book ‘What Tumours Teach Us − Parallels in Cell and Human Behaviour’, published by Munipress MU with the support of Faculty of Science, Life M and Roche in the representative edition “Masaryk University Monographs”, took place in the refectory of the Mendel Museum and started at 3 pm. The first part of the festive afternoon was led by Professor Jan Šmarda. He recalled his wife with a series of personal memories and praised her as a talented scientist, teacher and writer. He mentioned her desire to fully understand the principles and mechanisms, the essence of things. Every new insight delighted her and at the same time raised new questions worth addressing.
Afterwards, art photographer Libor Teplý remembered Jana Šmardová, with whom she shared her joys and sorrows during the writing of her book. Next, Jana Šmardová's favorite song Syn Daidalův by Vladimír Mišík was played and photos showing the most important stages of her life were presented. The artistic presentation was designed by Jan Šmarda and Jana Koptíková, who also illustrated the Czech and English editions of the presented book.
A very inspiring speech was given by Filip Trčka, a former student and colleague of Jana Šmardová. He evaluated the general role of teachers and described Jana Šmardová as a person who was able to inspire and enthuse students.
Klára Maliňáková, a former graduate student of Jana Šmardová, was the next speaker. She described the art of “overlaps“ - on which the book „What Tumors Teach Us“ is based - as the author's ability to look beyond things, to see them also as images and symbols from which we can learn something about the world and life. "She was not afraid of death, and therefore she knew the art of living," Jana Maliňáková continues.
The reviewers of the Czech edition, Jan Žaloudík and Jiřina Relichová, as well as the Dean of the Faculty of Science at MU, Tomáš Kašparovský, also emphasized the social significance of Jana Šmardová, who in his opinion "knew how to convey ideas that deserve to be known worldwide". Two video greetings were also presented. The first was delivered by Paula Enrietto, the head of the laboratory where Jana Šmardová worked in the USA, and the second by Pierre Jurdic from France, a colleague and family friend with whom Jana Šmardová was connected through the story of the painting of a girl´s figure in a cell, which became the main graphic motif of the book, and symbolizes the presence of the same principles in different systems.
The second part of the festive was led by the director of the Munipress publishing house, Alena Mizerová. She recalled the ten years during which the Czech version of the book was written and how inspiring the cooperation and communication with Jana Šmardová was for the publishing house.
The program also included a performance by cellist Šárka Mitevová, who accompanied the projection of a quote by Josef Čapek, with which Jana Šmardová strongly identified: "I worked a lot, even beyond my abilities and strength. I literally exhausted myself without any refreshment, without any break, without any rest. If you can, spare your lives more carefully!" The whole celebration culminated in the song Zaleť sokol, sung by Hana Ulrychová.
Afterwards, all the visitors had a drink in honour of Jana Šmardová and her book and discussed in the vestibule.
Jana Šmardová’s legacy is overseen by her husband, Jan Šmarda, who translated the book into English. “I started the translation when Jana fell ill, and working on the translation was actual therapy for us. The book meant a lot to Jana; she saw it as her legacy and wished to reach a wide audience. The English translation was carefully revised and linguistically checked by Benjamin J. Vail. All three of us met so he could get to know Jana and perceive her style and personality. It was a very pleasant collaboration”, Jan concludes. He worked on the translation for about a year, Jana Koptíková translated her illustrations into English, Radka Vyskočilová from Munipress did the proofreading and the index. The book will also be published in electronic form.
The first edition of the Czech version of the book, printed in 1000 copies in 2021, is now almost sold out. The reviews have been excellent, and the book inspired many of the readers. We could mention, for example, Dr. Marek Orko Vácha.
From the letter of Dr. Vácha:
Dear Professor,
Thank you so much for sending me your book, which I have just finished reading. I have made a lot of notes, and the parallels in the behaviour of cells and people have sparked a firework of thoughts and reflections; I will come back to it often.
Thank you so much for your book, for writing it and for writing it so beautifully.
According to Jan Šmarda, “Jana felt that she had something to say to people, therefore, she was obliged to say it. It sounds a bit unreasonable, but Jana cared about society. She sensed that some things were not right and were not developing well. She understood the rules of cooperation and coexistence of cells in the body, as well as the mechanisms that lead to tumor formation, and used this as inspiration to think about the rules of coexistence of people in society and the pathological conditions of this coexistence. She felt responsible for her family, students and friends and wanted to do as much as she could to improve the situation – spread awareness, inspire, finish her book, etc. That’s why she put so much energy into the book. Some people feel a certain reticence about the book – they believe that one of the reasons she died was she overexerted herself writing it. I know what a colossal amount of work she did, all in her spare time. She already had enough work to fill a normal life, but she didn’t stop. She wrote in the evenings, at weekends and on vacation. I admire that. On the other hand, I also realize that you have to give your body and mind space to rest, and unfortunately, she could not spare this time”.
For him, the conclusion of the book, in which the author summarizes the similarities between tumors and society and makes an appeal to us to pursue our dreams with humility, with respect for the greatness and interests of our common human project , is the crucial point. And then there are the chapters on aging, dying and so-called ‘good dying’; “Jana had great respect for the authors behind this concept, and delved deeply into the contexts of dying at the cellular and human level. She described a ‘good dying’ as dying in a loving home environment, as a dying that involves awareness and reconciliation, a dying without fear, when you have sorted everything out. She fulfilled all of this herself. She didn’t complain; she was calmer than me; she thought objectively. I do not think that´s usual; even in that she was such a strong and inspiring personality,” said Jan.
The book ‘What Tumors Teach Us’ is recommended reading for the course ‘Tumor Biology for Everyone − or Cell Philosophy. The course, created and led by Jana Šmardová, has been open to students from various study programs since 2013 and is dedicated to the connection between aspects of tumor cell behaviour and the diseases of today´s civilisation.
According to Professor Šmarda, Jana was a natural teacher. When she realized that the students were tired and could not concentrate, she changed the rhythm of the lecture and inserted some kind of entertaining activity. She often used metaphors for this. She collected them from various authors and used them to illustrate the phenomenon she was describing. The way she introduced her lectures was also original. She played the song and projected the lyrics, which related to the topic being discussed; the students enjoyed discovering and thinking about this connection. “She knew how to playfully weave multiple levels together. She offered explanations and ideas, but without enforcing them; in this way she taught her students to think. Her aim was to ensure that the wisdom, she had acquired over a lifetime effort, was not lost with her own physical demise. With inner enthusiasm, she explained scientific discoveries to the students and at the same time accompanied this with her own observations, thereby providing the necessary context. She was not afraid to express and offer her own opinion but without imposing it. The students registered the personal tone and responded in the essays that were the output of the course in the same spirit, which was unusually personal. The course was also conducted last year, after Jana’s death, using recordings of lectures taken before her illness. In her place, I guided the students through the course and took charge of the essay evaluation. Next academic year, I would like to take over the presentation of the lectures to help preserve her legacy”, says Jan.
Jan also selected several quotations from student essays, which were shown to visitors at the book’s launching. For your interest, we present some of them here:
“For me, an hour spent in these lectures was often one of the few occasions when I allowed myself to concentrate solely on the subject and the ideas it generated. With bated breath, I let each of the “overlaps” sink in, and very often I had to think deeply. Suddenly, new perspectives stood before me. Burning questions plaguing human society often emerged from the depths of the unconscious, questions that many are afraid to seek answers to. The entire course focuses mainly on cancer cells, their behaviour, and manifestations, and for me personally, especially the mirror these cells hold up to society. All of this made me think, mainly about how we perceive the society we live in today. While I listened to the lecture, there were several moments when my breath caught in my throat, and I had the feeling that several cogs had suddenly clicked into place. Unfortunately, in many cases, these were the moments when I realised how hypocritical the world around us can sometimes be”.
“The opportunity to think outside the box”
“In my short life, I have never come across anything like this; something so sophisticated, in which the somewhat ‘dry’ facts of cellular and molecular biology are combined with reality, the truth of our lives. Thank you for the extraordinary opportunity to review and deepen my biological knowledge, but above all to think outside the box”.
“I am so happy I signed up for and completed your course!!!”
“Death should be our greatest motivation”
“I was very inspired by your lecture on death, aging, and the desire for immortality. Your argument, that death should be our greatest motivation, has become deeply embedded in my mind and had an extremely positive effect on me, so much so that I believe it has influenced my future actions. AWARENESS and ACCEPTANCE of the fact that I will never reappear in the life / energy / soul form that I am here and now has opened my mind − that I have no reason to be afraid − and that I don’t need to spend my life worrying and fretting. That, since there is only one life, I should surround myself with good people”.
"To live as a man, and not a victim of today’s world"
“Finally, I would like to mention that the world is suddenly more beautiful because I have rethought my priorities. Before, it was just school and school and nothing else, and all those hours of stress simply drained me. Now I have a calm mind and try to live as a human being, and not as a victim of today’s world”.
If you want to remember Professor Jana Šmardová, watch this video from MUNIPress in which she introduces the Czech edition of the book, or the video in which she presents her book at the Solstice Festival. Her lecture on the topic of the new biology is also very interesting. The interview with Lucie Endlicherová recorded for Radio 7 on February 2, 2020 is also worth listening to. The interview will be rebroadcast on January 21, 2024 at 6:30 pm and repeated on January 23 at 10 am and January 27 at 11:15 pm. After the premiere, it will be available on all Radio 7 podcast services and on the web. (All sources are available in Czech language.)
We wish the English edition of the book much success.
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