| View Larger Image | Oncogenes, Aneuploidy, and AIDS: A Scientific Life and Times of Peter H. Duesberg | Paperbackby Harvey Bialy (Author)
| List Price: | $19.95 | | Price: | $17.05 | | You Save: | $2.90 (15%) | | | Available: | Usually ships in 24 hours |
| | Binding: | Paperback | | Publisher: | North Atlantic Books | | Edition: | 1st Edition | | Page Count: | 328 Pages | | Publication Date: | August 01, 2004 | | Sales Rank: | 389,064th |
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EDITORIAL REVIEWS |
Product Description
The author is an unabashed friend of Peter Duesberg and makes no bones about it in this personalized account of some of what the transformation of classical molecular biology into biotechnology has wrought. Most people, even many molecular biologists, will either not know or remember that two of the great themes of modern medicine, AIDS and cancer genes, both directly derive from the pioneering work on retroviruses of Peter Duesberg and a handful of others in the 1970s. Thus Duesberg's more than two decade, ongoing theoretical and experimental critiques of the dominant etiological explanations in each of these fields comes from substantial scientific contributions over a highly distinguished professional career that not only placed him in the US National Academy of Sciences at the young age of 50 in 1986, but gave him his own archive at the U.C. Berkeley Bancroft library--an archive that provided much of the documentation for revelations about the extremely unscientific behavior of several of Duesberg's powerful scientific adversaries. In tracing Duesberg's academic trials, tribulations and recent emerging triumphs, the author, an early PhD from the first department of molecular biology in the country at Berkeley, and the founding scientific editor of Nature Biotechnology, uses as guide posts the published papers of Duesberg from the earliest critical analysis of oncogenes in the pages of Nature in 1983 to very recent experimental demonstrations in the pages of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (USA) of quantitative, aneuploidy-based explanations of cancer's genetic roots. In between, the book follows the interruption of this classical scientific arc--in which one dominant paradigm begins to transform into a more useful and correct one--with the story of the iconoclastic professor's professionally self-destructive questioning of the other pillar of today's biotech driven molecular medicine that he unwittingly midwived--HIV and its relationship to AIDS etiology. The author interweaves fully documented and serious scientific history with often quite funny personal accounts to demonstrate how scientific theories develop and are shaped by historical circumstances. |
CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.0 based on 39 reviews)
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An insider's view of how science gets done by Randy Hall (Seattle, WA)  4 Stars
November 04, 2009
When I was young I was more credulous than skeptical, and I had no wish to be skeptical. Over time though, as long held beliefs either required subtle refinement or complete revision, I realized that although we may have vast knowledge, there are few entirely unassailable truths. Some skepticism is necessary.
I would not want to be as credulous as I once was, but I'm not sure if there is a point at which I could be too skeptical. Is Duesberg too skeptical? He certainly arrives at his views by well reasoned analysis of his extensive knowledge.
As I am writing this review (11/3/09), I haven't heard much about the successful HIV vaccine trial done in Thailand. I think it will be interesting to see what develops there, and Duesberg's reaction to it.
This book provided an insider's view of how an informed and skeptical mind can reach a conclusion at odds with the general view. The book was not overloaded with heavy science, yet the footnotes provided a more detailed view in a way that didn't disrupt the flow of the narrative.
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The precautionary principle and science by Sean O Nuallain (Berkeley, USA and Dublin, Ireland)  3 Stars
June 05, 2009
After a professional career in cognitive science and consciousness studies, a variety of mishaps resulted in my teaching and researching in the MCB department of UC Berkeley 2005-2008. O Felix culpa! Together with some of the best biologists 20th century America produced, who seem to be sent there to die, I was exiled to a WW2 department of energy building called Donner Lab at the Eastern end of campus, while construction work proceeded on the swanky Stanley Hall next door. The stakes in cognitive science and consciousness studies suddenly seemed puny; these fields in any case have been hijacked by philosophers who run an international dog-and-pony show. At Donner, there were the HIV/Aids denialists like Duesberg and Richard Strohman; the son and namesake of the lobotomist Walter Freeman; and at least one Nobel laureate changing to neuroscience. Full disclosure: I ended up publishing with several of them, but not Duesberg.
Cognitive science and consciousness studies are a mess; so too is biology. Duesberg insists that aneuploidy is a cause of cancer, not an effect; moreover, he argues that all the cell cultures sent him by his intellectual opponents confirm this. There is no one biochemical path for an oncogene(47). Moreover, Hiv does not conform to Koch's postulates (135). Biology should become more humble, and focus on more difficult paradigms like metabolic control analysis (final chapter).
All of this seems true to me. In my final few months in Spring 2008, a moral dilemma arose. Peter, whom I have found friendly and helpful, and whom UC Berkeley has practically barred from teaching, was to address our Freshman class He wanted me to say whether he should talk about his HIV theory or the aneuploidy work. The students are close to adulthood, and UCB is still a university. The precautionary principle, I explained to them, dictates that we should treat HIV as the cause of Aids. The science needs much more work.
Seán O Nualláin Ph.D. 5u Meitheamh 2009
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A review of one star reviews by Elliot Cutler (Chicago, IL)  5 Stars
August 03, 2007
Great book. Read it in one go despite the technical vocabulary brain stretching. I've read similar minded books including Lauritsen's which gives a clear picture from the gay world's point of view during the first AIDS outbreak.
What's most important is the reaction of the one star reviews. It's amazing the degree to which they make their scientific arguments entirely out of personal attacks. An example: "If HIV is not an infectious disease why don't [they] take a vial of infected blood and inject it in [their] body?" Of course this could in no way constitute an experiment, whatever the result might be, but it satisfies the true believer by focusing hatred on the perceived enemy.
No one argues that AIDS sufferers have not died, but the HIV=AIDS folks have such a huge emotional attachment to the (as yet unclear) mechanism of the syndrome that they have stopped doing science, or even reason in favor of the championship crying jag. In many of these one star reviews we are beaten down with the reports of (reports of) thousands who have, or will suffer. Regarding each death as a vote for their "side" they heap abuse on the skeptical for not caring as much as they do.
That there are people capable of objectivity in the study of diseases is a great thing. That this objectivity can be strained and tested is the running theme of this book. Reading of famous scientists (famous patent holders) who can't come up with real answers, (in a tough debate situation, maybe, but even months afterwards?), but launch into personal attacks is a warning about who these people are and how their objectivity is holding up.
The parallel to Global Warming is identical. Again, the numbers of scientists belonging to the club rather than the value of any reasoned arguments, is used to beat down the opposition.
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Biography of a Flawed Scientist by Kate Volpe  1 Stars
April 16, 2007
Shame on Harvey Bialy for not telling the entire story of this misguided man. Duesberg has caused many people to stop or not start medications that have been proven countless times to save lives. Who cares about the argument that HIV doesn't cause AIDS. Does HIV do bad things to people's bodies? Yes. (This has been proven thousands of times.) Can HIV treatment, imperfect as it is, help? Yes. (This too has been proven thousands of times.) Where would you find this information out? The same place you would discover information about heart disease and diabetes and other diseases. Just read scientific medical journals, not this bio of a wasted scientific career.
Scientists should look at study results. Scientists should not hold onto one theory from 1993 and not change their minds when the data change. Medical knowledge changed rapidly. Peter H. Duesberg has not changed his mind as most of us witnessed the world of HIV dramatically change from one where a great percentage of those infected with HIV died to one where the disease could be managed. So many lives have changed as a result of these developments in HIV care and treatment.
I personally know a few people who bought into the Duesberg theory of HIV medicine and did not take medications. Guess what. They died. People like Harvey Bialy who write biographies of flawed men share the responsibility for these people's deaths.
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Flawed, but interesting by Italo Vecchi (Ferrara, Italy) 3 Stars
October 07, 2006
First, this reviewer is a dyed-in-the-wool contrarian with no background in medicine.
The book's main subjects are AIDS and the role of aneuploidy in oncogenesis. Its arguments are deeply flawed, but still very much worth reading.
The current consensus on AIDS may be summed up as follows:
1) AIDS is an infectious disease, deadly if untreated.
2) The HIV virus causes AIDS.
The book argues that both 1) and 2) are false. As far as 1) is concerned, the book's argument amounts to little more than handwaving. As for 2), the book may have a point, although the alternative explanations provided, such as recreational drug use, are as vague as they are unconvincing and scientifically untestable.
Systematic omission seems to be an essential tool of the author's argument. Just to give an example, the spread of AIDS among hemophiliacs is barely mentioned. The AIDS epidemics among hemophiliacs in countries that did not tempestively adopt blood-screening for HIV is ignored.
As for HIV causing AIDS, the story is somewhat different. Duesberg's critique may have played a role in pinpointing unwarranted hidden assumptions and flaws in the mainstream arguments. The HIV virus appears to be a very special one, its dynamics is still unclear and, since "in vivo" experimentation is problematic, no direct proof that it causes AIDS appears to be available, although circumstantial evidence is there.
The book's chapters about aneuploidy effectively, albeit unwittingly, exemplify the role that explanations (i.e. rethorical models) play in scientific research. It also suggests that neither Duesberg, nor anyone else has a scientifically testable and convincing model for oncogenesis.
The author laments the unfairness of mainstream scientists and provides a wealth of vivid and even entertaining examples. On the other hand, Duesberg and Bialy are hardly champions of civilised debate, resorting to double standards (e.g. concerning Koch's postulate), obfuscation and "ad hominem" attacks.
The book paints a vivid picture of the inner workings of medical research and it raises important issues, a.o. about the role of the media and about the practical implementation of the scientific paradigm. The critical scrutiny it invokes may be fruitfilly applied to its arguments as well as to those it targets.
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| Infectious AIDS : Have We Been Misled?
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Duesberg, the world's foremost retrovirus expert, argues that no conclusive link has ever been proved to exist between HIV and AIDS. In this collection of essays, Dr. Duesberg theorizes that the various diseases under the AIDS umbrella are brought on by long-term recreational drug use, unhealthy living conditions and are not sexually transmitted.
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