Galileo's Gout: Science in an Age of Endarkenment

by Gerald Weissmann

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

Embryonic stem cell research. Evolution vs. intelligent design. The transformation of medicine into "health care." Climate change. Never before has science been so intertwined with politics, never have we been more dependent on scientific solutions for the preservation of the species.

Transporting us across more than four hundred years of pivotal moments in science and medicine, Gerald Weissmann distills history's lessons for today's new age of sect and violence: "The Endarkenment." Among others, he lingers with Galileo and his daughter in seventeenth-century Florence, Diderot and d'Alembert in Enlightenment Paris, William and Alice James in fin de siècle Boston, James Watson as the John McEnroe of DNA, and Craig Venter decoding the genome at the dawn of the twenty-first century. Weissmann's message is clear: "Experimental science is our defense—perhaps our best defense—against humbug and the Endarkenment."

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:	9781942658894
Publisher:	Bellevue Literary Press
Publication date:	11/12/2020
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	3 MB

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

Introduction: The Endarkenment     9
Intelligent Design: Galileo and the Lynxes     13
Galileo's Gout     18
Swift-boating Darwin: Alternative and Complementary Science     25
Homeostasis and the East Wind     31
Red Wine, Ortolans, and Chondroitin Sulfate     45
Cortisone and the Burning Cross     49
The Case of the Floppy-eared Rabbits     54
Einstein and Jimmy Mac     61
Baumol's Curse     71
From the Patchwork Mouse to Patchwork Data     76
Alice James and Rheumatic Gout     82
Lewis Thomas and the Two Cultures     92
Rats, Lice, and Zinsser     108
Faith-based Alternative Medicine: Moses Applies for a Grant     118
Reducing the Genome     124
A Nobel Error     134
The Mother of Us All: Boston City and the Thorndike     139
Childish Curiosity     150
Jacques Loeb and Stem Cells     155
Galton's Prayer     161
References     167
Acknowledgments     183
Index     185

Editorial Reviews

Weissmann, a research professor at NYU's School of Medicine, is concerned about what he calls the coming endarkenment, which he contrasts with the Enlightenment, and warns that our lack of scientific understanding is beginning to cause serious problems for society. For instance, he sees as emblematic of the endarkenment the displacement of science by religious doctrine in the evolution/creationism controversy and the federal government's efforts to do rigorous scientific studies of faith-based alternative medical treatments. As in other books, such as Darwin's Audubon and The Woods Hole Cantata, Weissmann offers brief chapters (most previously published in a variety of venues), which allows him to touch on many topics but at the expense of depth. Although Weissmann models his work after that of his mentor, Lewis Thomas, his writing is not as poetic; his ideas, however, are every bit as important. Two chapters, one on Thomas and one on Thomas's mentor, Hans Zinsser, are particularly well done and serve as an intellectual family history for Weissmann. Like those two greats, Weissmann is a staunch defender of experimental science and of medical practitioners who take the time to listen to and learn from their patients, all of which he fears will be lost in the approaching endarkenment. B&w illus. (Apr.)

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Publishers Weekly

Select Praise for Gerald Weissmann

"Gerald Weissmann is Lewis Thomas's heir." —Robert Coles

"Weissmann has a strong and well-informed interest, unusual for a scientist, both in poetry and in art." —Freeman Dyson

"[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

"America's most interesting and important essayist." —Eric Kandel

"How I envy the reader coming upon Dr. Weissmann's elegant, entertaining essays for the first time!" —Jonas Salk

"Dr. Weissmann's juggling with the balls of global politics, biology, medicine, and culture in the framework of history is breathtaking." —Bengt Samuelsson, Nobel Laureate and former chairman of the Nobel Foundation

"The premier essayist of our time, Weissmann writes with grace and style." —Richard Selzer

"An absolutely first-rate writer." —Kurt Vonnegut

"[Weissmann] is a man of wide culture, a captivating and graceful writer." —New Yorker

"Weissmann introduces us to a new way of thinking about the connections between art and medicine." —New York Times Book Review

"Oliver Sacks, Richard Selzer, Lewis Thomas . . . Weissmann is in this noble tradition."—Los Angeles Times

"As a belles-letterist, Weissmann is the inheritor of the late Lewis Thomas . . . Like Thomas, he's a gifted researcher and clinician who writes beautifully. Unlike Thomas, he is an original and indefatigable social historian as well." —Boston Globe

"He writes as a doctor, a medical scientist, a knowing lover of art and literature and a modern liberal skeptic. But more than anything else, Weissmann writes as a passionate and wise reader." —New Republic

"Weissmann is a master of the essay form. His witty and elegant prose makes the toughest subject matter not only accessible but entertaining." —Barnes and Noble Review

"[Weissmann] is a Renaissance Man. . . . He'll stretch your mind's hamstrings." —Christian Science Monitor

"[Weissmann's essays] intertwine the profound connections of science and art in the context of our modern era . . . to illuminate the ongoing challenges scientists face in dealing with scrutiny and criticism, from colleagues and from our broader society." —Science

"Weissmann not only endeavors to connect the realms of literature and medicine, but also to create community among readers in light of class, race, religion, and age." —Glassworks Magazine

"Essays that brim with knowledge and bubble with attitude." —Kirkus Reviews

"Erudite, engaging, and accessible." —Library Journal

"Juicy and conversational." —Booklist

"Weissmann models his work after that of his mentor, Lewis Thomas. . . . His ideas . . . are every bit as important." —Publishers Weekly

"Weissmann's humanist, sometimes sardonic, voice binds together disparate strands to show how all human endeavor is linked. . . . Weissmann clearly sees how history obfuscates the work of women, people of color and immigrants, and tries to alter that." —Shelf Awareness for Readers

From the Publisher