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THE IMAGINATIONS OF UNREASONABLE MEN

Name: THE IMAGINATIONS OF UNREASONABLE MEN
Author: Bill Shore
ISBN: 978-1-58648-764-5

INSPIRATION, VISION, AND PURPOSE IN THE QUEST TO END MALARIA

by Bill Shore ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 23, 2010

Aside from the fulsome hero-worship, Shore provides solid information on malaria research, along with provocative views on...

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Share Our Strength founder Shore (The Light of Conscience: How a Simple Act Can Change Your Life, 2004, etc.) examines a handful of philanthropic innovators in the fight against malaria.

The author profiles the imaginative and unreasonable men and women who are battling malaria around the world. He looks closely at Steve Hoffman, who heads a private firm developing a whole but weakened malaria parasite vaccine. The steps require breeding mosquitoes infected with the parasite, dissecting out the parasites from the insects’ salivary glands, irradiating them, assuring they are free of contaminants and then preserving them for use as inoculants to trigger an immune response. It’s an impressive technological feat, but the praise heaped on Hoffman is off-putting, as are the author’s frequent repetitions of data and background information. While Shore emphasizes a malaria vaccine as the Holy Grail, he admires an innovator who is using microbes to generate inexpensive versions of artemisinin, a current treatment. Nor does he disparage RTS,S, another vaccine candidate currently in trials in Africa, or the use of insecticide-treated bed nets. But issues remain, including the need for good governance, infrastructure and education in the African countries most afflicted by the disease—dilemmas ably chronicled by Sonia Shah in The Fever (2010). There are also significant scientific hurdles, as too little is understood about malaria immunity. Hoffman’s vaccine passed safety tests but has yet to prove efficacious. Finally, Shore writes that we need to rethink philanthropy. There’s no question that Bill Gates has been an important player, but Shore argues that nonprofits must become less dependent on donors and more self-sustaining by being market-oriented. He cites achievements of a nonprofit pharmaceutical company developing drugs for neglect diseases and Hoffman’s intention of marketing his vaccine to tourists and the military while making it available in poor countries.

Aside from the fulsome hero-worship, Shore provides solid information on malaria research, along with provocative views on “social entrepreneurship.”

Pub Date: Nov. 23, 2010

ISBN: 978-1-58648-764-5

Page Count: 320

Publisher: PublicAffairs

Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2010

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

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NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

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This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)

Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996

ISBN: 0-15-100227-4

Page Count: 136

Publisher: Harcourt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis

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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955

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An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.