Mortal and Immortal DNA: Science and the Lure of Myth

Mortal and Immortal DNA: Science and the Lure of Myth

by Gerald Weissmann
Mortal and Immortal DNA: Science and the Lure of Myth

Mortal and Immortal DNA: Science and the Lure of Myth

by Gerald Weissmann

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Overview

"America's most interesting and important essayist." —Eric Kandel, Nobel Prize–winning author of The Age of Insight

"[Gerald Weissmann] bridges the space between science and the humanities, and particularly between medicine and the muses, with wit, erudition, and, most important, wisdom." —Adam Gopnik

Admired by Nobel prize–winning scientists and literary tastemakers alike, Gerald Weissmann amazes and beguiles as both a masterful commentator on contemporary culture and a transcendent intellectual historian. By turns satirical and insightful, Mortal and Immortal DNA takes us on a nuanced exploration of the western canon, from Greek mythology through Dante to W.H. Auden and offers hilarious insights into popular culture along the way, from Paris Hilton to the true life story of Kathryn Lee Bates, the lesbian poet who penned "America the Beautiful."

Gerald Weissmann (August 7, 1930 – July 10, 2019) was a physician, scientist, editor, and essayist whose collections include The Fevers of Reason: New and Selected Essays; Epigenetics in the Age of Twitter: Pop Culture and Modern Science; Mortal and Immortal DNA: Science and the Lure of Myth; and Galileo’s Gout: Science in an Age of Endarkenment.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781934137161
Publisher: Bellevue Literary Press
Publication date: 06/01/2009
Pages: 192
Product dimensions: 5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Gerald Weissmann (August 7, 1930 – July 10, 2019) was a physician, scientist, editor, and essayist whose collections include The Fevers of Reason: New and Selected Essays; Epigenetics in the Age of Twitter: Pop Culture and Modern Science; Mortal and Immortal DNA: Science and the Lure of Myth; and Galileo’s Gout: Science in an Age of Endarkenment.

Table of Contents

Prefatory Note 11

1 Mortal and Immortal DNA: Craig Venter and the Lure of "Lamia" 13

2 Homeopathy: Holmes, Hogwarts, and the Prince of Wales 19

3 Citizen Pinel and the Madman at Bellevue 25

4 The Experimental Pathology of Stress: Hans Selye to Paris Hilton 32

5 Gore's Fever and Dante's Inferno: Chikungunya Reaches Ravenna 39

6 Giving Things Their Proper Names: Carl Linnaeus and W. H. Auden 45

7 Spinal Irritation and Fibromyalgia: Lincoln's Surgeon General and the Three Graces 53

8 Tithonus and the Fruit Fly: New Science and Old Myths 60

9 Swiftboating "America the Beautiful": Katharine Lee Bates and a Boston Marriage 67

10 Nothing Makes Sense in Medicine Except in the Light of Biology 75

11 Apply Directly to the Forehead: Holmes, Zola, and Hennapecia 81

12 Elizabeth Blackwell Breaks the Bonds 86

13 Chronic Lyme Disease and Medically Unexplained Syndromes 94

14 Eugenics and the Immigrant: Rosalyn Yalow and Rita Levi-Montalcini 100

15 Science in the Middle East: Robert Koch and the Cholera War 105

16 How to Win a Nobel Prize: Thinking Inside and Outside the Box 110

17 Homer Smith and the Lungfish: The Last Gasp of Intelligent Design 117

18 DDT Is Back: Let Us Spray! 123

19 Academic Boycotts and the Royal Society 128

20 Teach Evolution, Learn Science: John William Draper and the "Bone Bill" 135

21 Diderot and the Yeti Crab: The Encyclopedias of Life 141

22 Dengue Fever in Rio: Macumba versus Voltaire 149

Acknowledgments 155

References 156

Permissions 181

Index 184

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