If we are recommending actual life sciences textbooks or literature, I would recommend the Hallmarks of Cancer, which is actually a review article. Simply reading that alone will give someone a strong basic understanding for how cancerous tissue actually develops and evolves capabilities until it becomes deadly.

This had great impact on me…and the quick read of Ptashne’s “a genetic switch” really pulled me into molecular biology. They helped me start to conceptualize how a group of inanimate objects (eg proteins, lipids, nucleic acid) can collectively be “alive”, including reproduce, and “make decisions”.