4.19/5
Author: Meredith Wadman
Publication Date: Sep 4, 2018
Formats: PDF,Paperback,Hardcover,Audible Audiobook,Kindle
Rating: 4.19/5 out of 544
Publisher: New York: Penguin Books (US) # 591 1st Printing 1946
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Apr 13, 2018
I had hoped this would be a comparable read to Rebecca Skloot’s The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks and Siddhartha Mukherjee’s The Emperor of All Maladies, which are two of my absolute favorite books and were also among the first to turn me on to medical-themed literature. Instead, I found myself skimming through the book’s dense scientific and historical information: like Mukherjee’s other book, The Gene, which made last year’s Wellcome shortlist, The Vaccine Race is overstuffed with a mixture I had hoped this would be a comparable read to Rebecca Skloot’s The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks and Siddhartha Mukherjee’s The Emperor of All Maladies, which are two of my absolute favorite books and were also among the first to turn me on to medical-themed literature. Instead, I found myself skimming through the book’s dense scientific and historical information: like Mukherjee’s other book, The Gene, which made last year’s Wellcome shortlist, The Vaccine Race is overstuffed with a mixture of the familiar (for me, at least – genetics), the seemingly irrelevant (cell culture techniques and scientific nomenclature), and the truly interesting (questions of medical ethics).Mar 13, 2017
This is what I knew about vaccines prior to reading this book:Apr 22, 2018
Around 60 years ago it was still possible for pregnant mothers exposed to German Measles or rubella, to have children that were born with crippling birth defects. No one really knew how the virus affected the unborn child, nor did they know the best way to fight against this disease. It was understood how you could make a vaccine to combat the virus that caused this illness and others like chicken pox, rabies, and polio, but early attempts with animal cell-based vaccines caused as many problems Around 60 years ago it was still possible for pregnant mothers exposed to German Measles or rubella, to have children that were born with crippling birth defects. No one really knew how the virus affected the unborn child, nor did they know the best way to fight against this disease. It was understood how you could make a vaccine to combat the virus that caused this illness and others like chicken pox, rabies, and polio, but early attempts with animal cell-based vaccines caused as many problems as the illness they were trying to cure.Apr 03, 2018
Just had to DNF this as it was too slow going. Not necessarily a bad book, just very dense and I think aimed at someone who has prior knowledge or is passionate to learn about viruses, rather than a casual reader.Feb 18, 2017
Disclaimer: I got an advance proof from Viking through a Goodreads giveaway.Feb 27, 2017
Mind blowing. What Wadman reveals in The Vaccine Race will have you questioning your own ethics and morals. While Wadman discusses the very fascinating history of vaccines, she also reveals the unregulated, exploitative experiments on orphans, prisons, newborns, and intellectually disabled children that were tested on and/or harmed irrevocably in the process creating many vaccines.Feb 18, 2018
This book chronicles the life of Dr Leonard Hayflick, who rose from humble beginnings as a poor Jewish kid from Southwest Philadelphia to become the inventor of the first human diploid cell line, and to determine that these and other normal human cells can only divide a limited number of times before they die, which later became known as the Hayflick limit. One cell line, WI-38, created while he was a staff member of the Wistar Institute in Philadelphia, became the host for viruses used to This book chronicles the life of Dr Leonard Hayflick, who rose from humble beginnings as a poor Jewish kid from Southwest Philadelphia to become the inventor of the first human diploid cell line, and to determine that these and other normal human cells can only divide a limited number of times before they die, which later became known as the Hayflick limit. One cell line, WI-38, created while he was a staff member of the Wistar Institute in Philadelphia, became the host for viruses used to create effective vaccines against rubella (German measles) by Dr Stanley Plotkin, and against rabies, by Dr Hilary Koprowski, the long time director of the Wistar Institute, and his colleagues. Hayflick is portrayed as a dedicated and driven but underrecognized researcher, whose dogged persistence and willingness to skirt established norms allowed him to gain recognition for his discoveries, but led him to fall afoul of the National Institutes of Health, which derailed his work at the height of his career.Oct 12, 2017
I really enjoyed this, and I read it at a very opportune moment — at exactly the same time as I had my lab skills residential school in Milton Keynes. The techniques described were mostly not the same, but there was some crossover, and it was great to think about how I might one day contribute to the same science, if I go that route. My only quibbles with this book were with the sometimes unfocused feel; there’s a lot of scientists which it tracks quite closely, and sometimes I wondered how I really enjoyed this, and I read it at a very opportune moment — at exactly the same time as I had my lab skills residential school in Milton Keynes. The techniques described were mostly not the same, but there was some crossover, and it was great to think about how I might one day contribute to the same science, if I go that route. My only quibbles with this book were with the sometimes unfocused feel; there’s a lot of scientists which it tracks quite closely, and sometimes I wondered how relevant all of the details are.Apr 22, 2017
This was a very interesting book. To be clear, this is much more of a science book than a political book, but the science speaks for itself. I read "Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" several years ago, and this book has some similar themes regarding cell lines (although not as dramatic). I learned a lot about how vaccines were developed from reading this book. I did not realize how naive I was! When I was pregnant it was determined that I would need a Rubella booster, but no one explained to me This was a very interesting book. To be clear, this is much more of a science book than a political book, but the science speaks for itself. I read "Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" several years ago, and this book has some similar themes regarding cell lines (although not as dramatic). I learned a lot about how vaccines were developed from reading this book. I did not realize how naive I was! When I was pregnant it was determined that I would need a Rubella booster, but no one explained to me how important it was and I took it for granted. Considering I was born in the 70's I wonder now after reading this book which Rubella vaccine I received that left me unprotected as an adult. I had also previously thought that the current situation with Zika (a virus that threatens unborn babies) was a new phenomenon, but now I realize that this is not the first time our world has been faced with a virus that threatens fetal health. To clarify, I was pro-vaccine before reading this book and I remain pro-vaccine. As soon as I hit save on this review I am heading to the March for Science! ...moreJan 09, 2018
It's interesting to learn about the innumerable intricacies and machinations come into play in order to generate something that is truly paradigm-changing. When people discuss going back to a time before agriculture (I'm looking at you, Derek Jensen) two of the major things that would prevent me from wanting to do so are antibiotics and vaccinations. See, I am very happy to live in a time where the only needless childhood illness that I suffered from was the Chicken Pox, and I was among the last It's interesting to learn about the innumerable intricacies and machinations come into play in order to generate something that is truly paradigm-changing. When people discuss going back to a time before agriculture (I'm looking at you, Derek Jensen) two of the major things that would prevent me from wanting to do so are antibiotics and vaccinations. See, I am very happy to live in a time where the only needless childhood illness that I suffered from was the Chicken Pox, and I was among the last to even have to suffer from that. I am grateful that my parents had me vaccinated against so many illnesses that could have killed me had I grown up 100 or even 50 years prior to when I did.Feb 28, 2017
Somewhat mistitled, this book is actually about one of my favorite scientific techniques, cell culture, and one scientist who generated a valuable cell line that was subsequently used in creating some of vaccines. The author has a specific viewpoint on the topic, which colors the story is a rather negative light, not unlike Skloot's book on Henrietta Lacks. Since I am much more neutral on the subject, I was not very impressed by the book. I thought the book relied on some dubious sources (e.g., Somewhat mistitled, this book is actually about one of my favorite scientific techniques, cell culture, and one scientist who generated a valuable cell line that was subsequently used in creating some of vaccines. The author has a specific viewpoint on the topic, which colors the story is a rather negative light, not unlike Skloot's book on Henrietta Lacks. Since I am much more neutral on the subject, I was not very impressed by the book. I thought the book relied on some dubious sources (e.g., "The River," a book claiming that a polio vaccine tested in Africa was the source of HIV, now disproven) and was unduly partisan. ...moreJun 06, 2018
This was fascinating, the history of vaccine research and trial-and-error, the beginnings of fetal tissue research (which I had zero idea about and am SO fascinated by), abortion, and a whole pile of questions about medical ethics. This is perhaps a little more dense than, say, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (which I loved, btw), but it was a topic I knew very little about and really appreciated and am fascinated by Wadman's introduction.Feb 13, 2018
This book centered around Hayflick, and his cells, although it did a good job of portraying how devastating diseases such as Rubella and Polio used to be. Wadman also spends considerable time on the shift from "doing science for the good of mankind" to the rise of the big pharma companies from today.Jul 17, 2018
Once upon a time scientific research was done for the well-being of mankind . Somehow during the second half of the 20th century the motivation of research scientists appears to have changed. It became much a cut-throat business. Meredith Wadman's book describes how research scientists variably supported each other, assisted each other, blocked each other, tripped each other and stole each other's ideas.Jul 26, 2017
This is a great non-fiction book spanning the history of the vaccine. It covers the science, the politics, the human drama and the morality.Nov 09, 2017
Mar 29, 2018
I have not enjoyed a book alinvolving science as much as this one in a long time. The history of vaccine making is very interesting, and the author is able to write it like a story, while still throwing in scientific concepts for non-scientists. It was so interesting to learn how research in a lab was done without all the technological advances we have nowadays, and sad to see how clinical trials were conducted.Aug 10, 2018
Much of the work done in tissue culture by the biologists discussed in the book was the exact sort of work I did working in a clinical virology laboratory for ten years. Also, I had rubella (as a toddler and not prenatally - I was too young for the vaccine). So, double whammy there. Pretty fascinating stuff, and scary to think what it took to develop polio and rubella vaccines in the first place.Oct 24, 2018
Wadman reveals more than the reader probably wants or needs to know about how the most commonly used vaccines today (rubella, rabies, chickenpox, mumps, etc.) were developed and regulated. Though it's a slog to get through, it's fascinating - particularly so as it considers the life and work of Leonard Hayflick, who championed the use of human cells still being used today.Mar 08, 2017
This nonfiction account of the spectacular and life-saving advances in vaccine development over the last fifty or so years is in some ways reminiscent of The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution by Walter Isaacson. Until you see it set out before you, it is difficult to imagine or remember how much important history has passed in this field in just the last few decades.Apr 24, 2018
Read my other book reviews at booksibled.wordpress.comJan 19, 2018
A few statistics to start with;May 11, 2017
This is a difficult book to describe in some ways, as it lumps together a few different stories that are related but sometimes only tangentially: it discusses the various competing vaccines for (especially) rubella, the development and ownership of human cell lines that could be used for vaccine-making, and the various political battles in the field of vaccine research.May 13, 2017
There are things that as a young adult now, I just take for granted. The Vaccine Race by Meredith Wadman reminded me of just how different life used to be. This work is even more relevant today, as currently in Minnesota, the state is in the the midst of the largest measles outbreak in years due to the efforts of anti-vaccination advocates.May 17, 2017
An interesting non-fiction book tracing the development of several vaccines (mainly rabies, polio, and rubella) in the 60s through the 80s.Take your time and choose the perfect book.
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