There’s wisdom here to be sure, but it’s mingled with plenty of self-indulgence.
Thirty-four short medical/social-history essays by the erudite if somewhat dyspeptic physician-author (Democracy and DNA, 1996, etc.).
Weissmann’s “diary” runs in reverse order, beginning on October 2, 2001, and working backwards to April 3, 2000. The dating is as arbitrary as the title; essays have more to do with whatever news struck Weissmann’s fancy and launched his stream of medical consciousness. For example, the entry dated June 26, 2000—the day that Francis Collins and Craig Venter appeared with President Clinton to announce that the rival teams had all but completed mapping the human genome—takes the White House event as a jumping-off point for a discussion of laying the transatlantic cable in the19th century and the place of private enterprise in science and industry. Given the author’s respectable knowledge of the arts and sciences, this approach is often rather enlightening. Weissmann’s take on good friend Lewis Thomas’s life (January 17, 2001) emphasizes Thomas’s liberal stance against the rampant anti-Semitism that characterized most medical schools a generation ago. The essay for October 3, 2000 (during the week the FDA approved controversial “abortion pill” RU 486), encapsulates the history of research on the effects of steroid hormones on cell membranes and of prostaglandins on uterine muscle. April 3, 2000, cautions against mixing prescription drugs and herbal remedies (about which Weissmann is generally negative) but concludes with a marvelous history of aspirin. July 4, 2000, a paean to the late Patrick O’Brian, may intrigue fans with the suggestion that O’Brian heroes Aubrey and Maturin are modeled after Fitzroy and Darwin. Elsewhere, Weissmann reveals an impatience with the way things are, a sense that we haven’t come all that far, and even the suggestion that it might be best to go back, for example by reintroducing DDT as a means of preventing malaria.
There’s wisdom here to be sure, but it’s mingled with plenty of self-indulgence.Pub Date: May 8, 2002
ISBN: 0-8050-7095-8
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2002
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The Johnstown Flood was one of the greatest natural disasters of all time (actually manmade, since it was precipitated by a wealthy country club dam which had long been the source of justified misgivings). This then is a routine rundown of the catastrophe of May 31st, 1889, the biggest news story since Lincoln's murder in which thousands died. The most interesting incidental: a baby floated unharmed in its cradle for eighty miles.... Perhaps of local interest-but it lacks the Lord-ly touch.
Pub Date: March 18, 1968
ISBN: 0671207148
Page Count: 312
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Oct. 12, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1968
IN THE NEWS
A media-savvy scientist cleans out his desk.
Tyson (Astrophysics for People in a Hurry, 2017, etc.) receives a great deal of mail, and this slim volume collects his responses and other scraps of writing.
The prolific science commentator and bestselling author, an astrophysicist at the American Museum of Natural History, delivers few surprises and much admirable commentary. Readers may suspect that most of these letters date from the author’s earlier years when, a newly minted celebrity, he still thrilled that many of his audience were pouring out their hearts. Consequently, unlike more hardened colleagues, he sought to address their concerns. As years passed, suspecting that many had no interest in tapping his expertise or entering into an intelligent give and take, he undoubtedly made greater use of the waste basket. Tyson eschews pure fan letters, but many of these selections are full of compliments as a prelude to asking advice, pointing out mistakes, proclaiming opposing beliefs, or denouncing him. Readers will also encounter some earnest op-ed pieces and his eyewitness account of 9/11. “I consider myself emotionally strong,” he writes. “What I bore witness to, however, was especially upsetting, with indelible images of horror that will not soon leave my mind.” To crackpots, he gently repeats facts that almost everyone except crackpots accept. Those who have seen ghosts, dead relatives, and Bigfoot learn that eyewitness accounts are often unreliable. Tyson points out that extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, so confirmation that a light in the sky represents an alien spacecraft requires more than a photograph. Again and again he defends “science,” and his criteria—observation, repeatable experiments, honest discourse, peer review—are not controversial but will remain easy for zealots to dismiss. Among the instances of “hate mail” and “science deniers,” the author also discusses philosophy, parenting, and schooling.
A media-savvy scientist cleans out his desk.Pub Date: Oct. 8, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-324-00331-1
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Norton
Review Posted Online: Sept. 1, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2019
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