How do you count stem cells? This is a light, informative, and insider narrative of the discovery of the first method for routine, specific, and accurate quantification of therapeutic tissue stem cells. A technology sought after by the field of stem cell medicine for more than a century, James Sherley retraces his path toward the innovative breakthrough, weaving it with past and contemporaneous scientific history of relevant cancer and stem cell research. The story takes place within the larger context of scientific scholarship and research in powerful universities and institutes as an African American, offering an honest, if at times prickly, conversation about race and heritage in science. Written for both the novice and the expert, this book will intrigue readers with the nature of how new ideas are advanced in science and medicine and inform them of the fundamentals of scientific investigation and stem cell medicine, all provided in an accessible and entertaining form.