5 comments about Splendid Solution: Jonas Salk and the Conquest of Polio.

1. In 2005 the U.S. celebrates its 50th anniversary of the first national polio vaccination program which helped eradicate the disease in this country: it's hard to believe a generation is growing up without ever having known the ravages of polio. New York Times writer Jeffrey Kluger's Splendid Solution: Jonas Salk And The Conquest Of Polio is both a biography of Dr. Salk and his search for the vaccine and a social history of polio. Chapters based on exclusive interviews with his friends and colleagues and access to his private papers provides new details on Salk's life and career, setting this life in context of both his times and contemporaries.



2. Kluger writes a riveting account of the search for an effective immunization for an annual epidemic plaguing society through the first half of the twentieth century. He skillfully weaves the story of Salk's quest within its social background. Reading it brought me back to my childhood in the 1950's and my parents' anxieties each summer as newspapers published counts of local and national polio cases.



3. This tale of science, competition, personalities and politics provides one a splendid base for understanding of processes of the past in order to help in understanding the present.
   With my knowledge of viruses as a health care professional, I found the intersection of science with egos and policy somewhat disturbing but not surprising. According to Kluger, Dr. Salk was a selfless scientist who prioritized work above family. The book nearly slanders Dr. Sabin. I have no basis for judgment other than this book, however. This is only one side of the story.
   One may find himself extrapolating to the current threat of pandemic Avian Influenza. Splendid Solution provides insight into the process, which according to NIH officials may take up to five years, whereby we may have an Avian Flu vaccine.
   Drs. Salk and Sabin (with their assistants) did more than protect us from Polio. In the end, it was the combination of their discoveries that conquered Polio. The book implies that Salk's vaccine may have conquered it alone or more quickly had politics not intervened. But we will never know. We do know that the combination worked.
   They laid the groundwork for our protection from threats yet unknown. They are both true American heroes.



4. Oh...I was so disappointed when I got near the end of the book and realized that the ending would be based on the susquent gearing up of the corporate making of the immense quantities of this vaccine, to bring it into control world-wide. Yet, I came to unerstand that was the right ending to this story...everthing after that was useless detail, even if I wanted to know more about the people involved.
   
   The continuing fight between the arrogant Sabin and Salk has been told elsewhere.and since I wandered around the hallways where Salk and his group did his work. I would hear bits and pieces of the rest of the story, including Salk's mistake of neglecting to mention all of his immediate collegues who spent so much time for so little recognition. I wonder is he ever offered a simple apology...or did he know that would never gain him total forgiveness.
   
   The book is all the more exciting because of my being in and around the places where they worked, and my husband worked for the newspaper, same as Troan...so the book gained the feeling of a movie to me. Kliger is an outstanding scince writer, so that means a lont time between books. Sigh...
   
   At least this is one virus they can truly claim a victory over, and how glad I am as a mother of the 1980's that my children were spared this horrific disease.
   
   Karen Sadler
   Science Education



5. i found the first chapter of this book quite boring, full of uninteresting detail, but it got better later, though it may be that i just got used to it. as it is, it still wasn't a particularly good book.
   
   one of my complaints is how kluger completely idealizes Salk. for instance, at one point he refuses to tell his rival details about his work because "it seemed somehow wrong to share what he knew with one scientist before revealing it to all the others." come on. it was proffessional rivalry.
   
   another thing that annoyed me was kluger over-analyzing various details that didn't seem to mean anything. he ascribed intentions to various unimportant acts that for one thing, he has no proof of, and for another, are boring to listen to. and we never really get any idea of Salk's personality, which makes the book rather boring, as salk is, after all, the main character. in his acknowledgements, Kluger calls him "a tectonic force in scientific history." bull. all he did was develop a vaccine with already-created methods.
   
   and the details. the book would probably have been way too short if kluger hadn't put in all the details, but still. he spends pages talking about trivial things like how someone decided on the specific date for a conference. sometimes it's interesting details that make a book come alive... but these aren't interesting details.
   
   so i guess the whole problem with the book was that it wasn't alive. the man it's about is a flat, unknown character, and the plot is too long-drawn out and not interesting enough. it wasn't *so* boring, i got through it easily enough, but when i was done i couldn't help thinking what a waste of my time.

No comments about One Woman's Life (Large Print Edition).

1 comments about It Can Be Done (Large Print Edition): Poems of Inspiration.

1. Kessinger Publishers puts out paperback reprints of public domain works. The pages of the original work are photocopied onto 8.5x11 paper and bound in plain vanilla covers.
   
   This work is a reprint of the 1925 edition of "It Can Be Done," a collection of inspirational poems. My grandmother had this book in her library and gave it to me when I was a pre-teenager. I have read and re-read the book until it is falling apart. I have returned to the book for inspiration during many difficult periods, and it has never failed to lift my spirits. When I recently reached for the book again, I found it so dilapidated I decided to go onto Amazon.com to see if I could find a better copy. I bought this volume and found it to be quite satisfactory.
   
   Two things the reader must know: 1. The quality of the poetry is very uneven. Some of it is perfectly wretched. 2. The book was published during an era of ethnic insensitivity, and the book reflects that insensitivity.
   
   If you can overlook these two shortcomings, the book can be a rewarding reading experience. Even some of the wretched poems can lift your spirits.

No comments about Trouble in the Amen Corner (Isis Nonfiction).

No comments about Great Aunt Lizzie (Reminiscence).

No comments about Note-Book of Anton Chekhov (Large Print).

1 comments about Truxton King (Large Print Edition): A Story of Graustark.

1. Truxton King is a young American. Not just any American, but strong, tall, brave, individual, and rich. The only kind of American McCutcheon likes to write about. Truxton is traveling about the world in search of adventure and romance and finds both in the little fictional country of Graustark. It's up to Truxton to protect the child-prince from the evil Communists who plot to kill him with a suicide bomber (yes, they had suicide bombers even back then) and take over the principality.

No comments about Reminiscences of a Pioneer (Large Print Edition).

5 comments about Tis Herself.

1. 'Tis Herself - is a wonderful read for anyone interested in Miss O'Hara or in the "Old" Hollywood when stars were STARS.



2. Having watched the Quiet Man again recently, I was interested in learning more about Maureen O'Hara. As I read this book I was rather surprised at the contradictions in her life.
   
   The woman who fought her own battles, some of which are legend, had difficulty in her earlier career saying no to men, and ends up marrying one man she had no interest in. He calls her to his apartment, and unbeknownst to her has a preacher there to marry them. Shocked, she felt her intellect was sitting in a couch on the corner watching her make a dreadful mistake. She boarded a ship to America several hours later, and never sees the man again.
   
   She later makes a similar ill fated and disastrous mistake with her second marriage. Ten years is a long time to put up with that kind of BS. Finally, with Charlie Blair she finds true love, but will fate intervene?
   
   Most surprising is the relationship with John Ford, the brilliant director who won five academy awards for best director. At times, she was his muse, and at times he was her tormentor, sometimes using her in his movies, sometimes interfering in her life, and getting her fired off one movie, and also directing her most memorable role. He would not hesitate to use his influence in a negative self serving way. A complicated relationship. His presence haunts this book.
   
   Less surprising is the friendship with John Wayne, and the book gets quite emotional towards the end, as you can imagine. This book is very readable and flows quickly, and has plenty of drama to keep it moving along. If you were hoping for any insight into her craft, as I was, you will not find it here. Nevertheless, this is an interesting read.
   
   I hope you find this review helpful, and if you do, please click yes.



3. The content of the book is not unusual. The same things happened to many female movie stars. They married husbands who were drunks, who physically beat them, psychologically tortured them, stole all their money, whored around, and refused to work. Movie queens were preyed upon by a certain type of man. You can read the same stories over and over again in the lives of Lana Turner (whose abusive lover was stabbed to death by her teenage daughter in her bedroom), Judy Garland whose husband used to slap her across the face in restaurants, Hedy Lamarr whose husband wanted to tie her up and burn her with cigarettes, Lucille Ball whose husband was an alcoholic addicted to sex with other women, Bette Davis who was beaten "many many times" by 4 husbands. Many of these actresses stayed for considerable amounts of time with these abusive husbands, putting up with it, and hoping for change, just as millions of women do who are not actresses.
   
   What happened to Maureen is nothing compared to what Doris Day reveals in her autobiography.
   
   From the way Maureen has written this book I take it that she used this autobiography to release all the resentment and anger at people who she feels betreayed her or abused her over her lifetime. Near the begining of the book, she writes "Allow me just a smidgeon of lattitude here. I've waited seventy years for this!" And then POW! A lifetime of rage comes pouring out. It's powerful stuff, and not easy to read.
   
   Repeatedly Maureen writes that what she was doing, and what was being done to her, was confusing. Her life was full of contradictions, some of which she has no answer or explaination for. The book is certainly thought provoking.



4. Walt Disney's last dying gasp was to call Maureen the B word. Uh-huh. Riiight. That's all he had on his mind. That's what consumed his soul as he bid this world goodbye, his venom for Maureen O'Hara. Walt couldn't stand Maureen because Walt had wanted to give Hayley Mills top billing for The Parent Trap. Not (mind you) because little Hayley deserved it and ought to have been recognized. Oh no. Rather Walt the Schemer, Walt the Destroyer was intent upon keeping Maureen down by listing her name after Hayley's. Maureen had to stand up for herself. Maureen had to stand strong. Maureen insisted her name be listed first and Walt never, ever forgave her for gaining the upper hand in that situation. So, on his dying bed, his last concern was to call her a nasty word. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. This lady hates a whole lot of people.



5. I've always liked Maureen O'Hara, especially in 'The Quiet Man', and it was great fun to read about her personal life, and her thoughts about what was going on behind the scenes in the different movies I have watched so many times. The chapter on her comments about the making of 'The Quiet Man' and about her friendship with John Wayne were my favorite part. Her writing showed her weaknesses and mistakes made in her life in a balanced way that made me like her all the more. If you like Maureen O'Hara at all, you will not be disappointed in this book!

No comments about Alfgar the Dane or the Second Chronicle of Aescendune (Large Print Edition).