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| Author: Richard Preston
Publisher: Random House
List Price: $26.00
Buy Used: $9.16
You Save: $16.84 (65%)
New (41) Used (23) Collectible (1) from $9.16
Rating:  16 reviews
Sales Rank: 22759
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 240
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 9.4 x 6.3 x 1
ISBN: 1400064902
Dewey Decimal Number: 616.024
EAN: 9781400064908
ASIN: 1400064902
Publication Date: May 27, 2008
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Condition: Used Very Good ~ No Marks On Text ~ In Stock ~
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 6-10 of 16
 Fascinating short nonfiction narratives, Preston-style June 10, 2008
Joanna
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
I was a bit disappointed when I received this book and realized that it was a collection of six separate stories, and not all of them were about scary germs. My disappointment, however, was short-lived. Richard Preston has expanded and updated pieces he has written for The New Yorker about different, yet somewhat related, topics in science.
Preston's "Introduction: Adventures in Nonfiction Writing" gives interesting insights into the process of writing, while illustrating such research experiences as wearing a space suit that came unzipped in a Biosafety Level 4 lab. This is a great introduction to the stories that resulted from his process:
"The Mountains of Pi" is the fascinating account of slightly eccentric brothers Gregory and David Chudnovsky, "one mathematician divided between two bodies" who build a supercomputer from mail-order parts in Gregory's apartment. They needed it to calculate pi to two billion decimal places so they could search for patterns in the number.
"A Death in the Forest" tells of the decimation of hemlocks by the woolly adelgid, a parasitic insect. (Think a condensed version of The Wild Trees: A Story of Passion and Daring with a bit of The Hot Zone: A Terrifying True Story stirred in.) It is a sobering reminder of the delicacy of our ecosystem.
"The Search for Ebola" covers the 1994 outbreak in Kikwit. (Although it mentions one or two of the same doctors from The Hot Zone, it is not repetitious.)
"The Human Kabbalah" is about the Human Genome Project and the institutional politics and people involved. (I was not enthralled by the lengthy details of the turf-wars, but it was eye-opening to see how individual agendas can hinder scientific research.)
"The Lost Unicorn" gives the history of a series of seven tapestries titled collectively The Hunt of the Unicorn. The Chudnovsky brothers and their homemade supercomputer also play an interesting role in this story.
"The Self-Cannibals" is about a horrific and heartbreaking genetic disorder known as Lesch-Nyhan Syndrome, which produces symptoms such as coprolalia, involuntary self-mutilation, and poor muscle control. (This was a factor in the fictitious super-bug featured in The Cobra Event.)
 If you read the essays in a magazine, skip this book June 21, 2008
Diane Bernard (NYC)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This is a collection of essays, of varying caliber. There isn't much to tie them together: one is about trees being destroyed by an Asian beetle, one is about a hideous genetic disease, another is about medieval tapestries. Any one of the essays could probably have been turned into an interesting book, but, somehow, this motley collection is more distracting than riveting.
Preston's writing can be a bit stilted, but when the subject matter is good enough, I don't mind reading on.
My biggest problem with this book is the length vs the price. At 188 pages, it is barely as long as a series romance, yet you need to shell out $26 for it. Since the original essays were all available in periodicals like "The New Yorker", which you can get at the library, this really seems like an insult to the reader's wallet.
If you haven't already read his essays, and want to browse through these, I'd definitely recommend the library. This book is not a keeper, and not worth the cover price.
 heard about it on NPR ; fantastic read June 18, 2008
Stephanie Williams (smithville,TN USA)
1 out of 4 found this review helpful
Panic in Level 4: Cannibals, Killer Viruses, and Other Journeys to the Edge of Science
This book is wonderful as it delves into the 2 mathmeticians who claim to be 1 mathmetician in 2 seperate bodies, the people born with self Cannibalism syndrome and we get to see their humanity. I loved it.
Not Quite the "Edge of Science" July 28, 2008
Gregg Eldred (Avon Lake, OH USA)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Because I was totally enamored with Richard Preston's earlier book, The Wild Trees, and listed it as one of the best books I read in 2007, I was looking forward to his latest effort, Panic in Level 4: Cannibals, Killer Viruses, and Other Journeys to the Edge of Science. The title comes from Preston's experience in a Biosafety Level 4, the highest and tightest level of biosecurity in a laboratory, where exposure to viruses present will kill you 100% of the time. Through some "luck," he was able to work in a Level 4 lab, where the technicians were working with a person that died from exposure to Marburg Ebola. Marburg is a strain of Ebola that is found in East Africa and is just as deadly as any Ebola virus.
Contents:
Introduction: Adventures in Nonfiction Writing
The Mountains of Pi
A Death in the Forest
The Search for Ebola
The Human Kabbalah
The Lost Unicorn
The Self-Cannibals
Glossary
Acknowledgments
After the introduction, where Preston explains his "Panic in Level 4," the reader is introduced to two number theorists that built their own supercomputer in their New York apartment. In "The Mountains of Pi," these mathematicians are looking for patterns in pi, trying to crack the code. While interesting to read how brilliant people are marginalized by mainstream academia when they don't fit into traditional roles, it was more a story concerning the Chudnovsky's overcoming the limits of renting time on supercomputers and building their own out of mail-order parts. "A Death in the Forest" continues Preston's work in The Wild Trees, where he writes about the death of Eastern Hemlocks, the largest trees in the eastern part of the United States due to the introduction of an invasive species, the hemlock wooly adelgid. The next chapter, "The Search for Ebola," concerns the research done to trace the host of Ebola and also tells a tale of an Ebola outbreak in Congo. From there, we learn of the two factions in the race to unlock human DNA. "The Human Kabbalah" focuses on Craig Venter, who was in direct competition with the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Not only was he trying to beat the NIH at reading the human genetic code, he was also trying to make money off it, by selling his research to the large pharmaceutical companies. Bringing the Chudnovsky brothers back for an encore, we learn about tapestries, digital photography, and supercomputers in "The Lost Unicorn." Finally, in "The Self-Cannibals," Preston writes about a genetic disease, Lesch-Nyhan syndrome, where the victims perform the most gruesome self-mutilation.
The stories in "Panic in Level 4" are very different. While the subtitle, ". . . and Other Journeys to the Edge of Science" leads one to believe that most of the chapters will deal with Ebola-like issues, the reality is that Preston seems to have created a book from his favorite personalities or projects. While I really enjoyed reading about most of the topics, they didn't live up to the introductory chapter or to "The Search for Ebola." Those are they types of stories that we have come to expect from Preston. However, as a fan of The Wild Trees, I did enjoy "A Death in the Forest." I am fascinated with large trees, and the ecosystems contained in their canopy, but it seemed out of place in this book. Also out of place was "The Last Unicorn." Using a supercomputer to piece together thousands of digital photographs of the Unicorn Tapestries does not come across as gripping science. "The Self Cannibals" was the most unsettling chapter in the book. I glanced at a picture of one of the victims and then I refused to look at it. The results of Lesch-Nyhan syndrome are disturbing. I was hoping that somehow Preston would tie in the human DNA project more tightly with the story, but there wasn't much between the two chapters. As you might tell, I had high expectations for this book after really enjoying The Wild Trees. I was disappointed with most of the chapters. But if you are liberal with your definition of "edge of science" or if you ignore that and simply look at each chapter as interesting science writing, you may enjoy it.
Surprised. June 13, 2008
J. Perry
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I am giving this book five stars because I love Preston's writing. He can make something that I'm not interested in fascinating. It has been three years since I have read a book by him and was extremely excited when this book came out. His book "The Hot Zone" is one reason why I am academically obsessed with infectious diseases.
The only thing I do not like about this book is the title. It is very misleading in my opinion. I didn't expect to read anything about pi, which ended up being fascinating and the way Preston describes an individual is amazing. I also didn't expect to read anything about a tapestry. The title made me think I would be reading more about hot agents (which you will read in the intro, kind of a repeat of The Hot Zone).
Even though I expected and wanted to read more about viruses and bacteria, I got a lot of knowledge out of this book. A blessing in disguise is what I will call it.
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