Experimental Heart: A Novel. (Paperback)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: hot lab, mouse house, old bessy, Vera Fever, Richard Rouyle, Andy O'Hara (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Scientific publishers usually work diligently to avoid any allegation of publishing fiction. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, renowned for its prestigious scientific journals and books, smashes that mold with publication of its first novel...It’s a thriller whose subject is romantic self-discovery, and its milieu is the complex world of basic and applied life science research. It’s a good read, as Rohn makes her characters in the laboratory and the biotech communities come alive. I hope it’s a harbinger of more ‘lablit’ to come...Rohn’s skill in melding the scientific and literary worlds will give you a fresh perspective on life and work.” --Cell

“Scientific publishers usually work diligently to avoid any allegation of publishing fiction. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, renowned for its prestigious scientific journals and books, smashes that mold with publication of its first novel...It’s a thriller whose subject is romantic self-discovery, and its milieu is the complex world of basic and applied life science research. It’s a good read, as Rohn makes her characters in the laboratory and the biotech communities come alive. I hope it’s a harbinger of more ablity to come...Rohn’s skill in melding the scientific and literary worlds will give you a fresh perspective on life and work.” --Cell<br /><br />“Scientific publishers usually work diligently to avoid any allegation of publishing fiction. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, renowned for its prestigious scientific journals and books, smashes that mold with publication of its first novel...It'Â’s a thriller whose subject is romantic self-discovery, and its milieu is the complex world of basic and applied life science research. It'Â’s a good read, as Rohn makes her characters in the laboratory and the biotech communities come alive. I hope it’s a harbinger of more ablity to come...Rohn’s skill in melding the scientific and literary worlds will give you a fresh perspective on life and work."
—Cell

"At the heart of the story, which Rohn tells well...is a mystery that turns on a question of science...Along the way we witness the shifting, nomadic international fellowship of scientists, and especially of postdocs. Rohn aims to change the way in which the reading public thinks about scientists." --Nature

Product Description

"Engrossing","authentic", "compelling"...just some reactions to the debut novel by UCL cell biologist and well-known blogger Jennifer Rohn. A thriller centered on commercial drug development, the book will be enjoyed by anyone who knows the intense, intimate world of biomedical research. At last, a novel about scientists with characters that are recognizably real!

Andy O'Hara, a post-doctoral researcher in a London cancer research institute, agrees to help an attractive colleague, Gina, who is collaborating with a pharmaceutical company. She is working on a virus-based vaccine but has discovered the company is planning a clinical trial of the vaccine in Africa without preliminary animal tests. Andy gets a tip-off that Gina's corporate collaborator has a shady past, but also discovers a scientific reason why the vaccine may be doomed to failure. Andy and his friend Christine have helped Gina set up an illicit mouse experiment in their own animal facility, a move that could end all their careers if discovered.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 364 pages
• Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press (November 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0879698764
• ISBN-13: 978-0879698768
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #187,338 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars That lit window late at night? That was me, reading., February 11, 2009

By	Eva Amsen (Toronto, Canada) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Much has been said about the extremely realistic depiction of scientific research in Experimental Heart, but frankly I expected nothing less from Jennifer "Lab Lit" Rohn. Of course it's a thrill for a scientist reader to recognize lab politics and *feel* Andy's frustration at running out of Taq polymerase late at night, but that is just a bonus and is not what made this a great read.

It wasn't the correct use of experimental controls that kept me up reading at 4 A.M. and made me struggle to put the book down during a social gathering. It was the well-paced plot and the depth of the characters that pulled me in, while cliffhangers and foreshadowing seduced me to rapidly turning "just a few more" pages at odd hours.

For a few days I cared more about Andy's experiments than about my own, so I suppose waiting until after my thesis defence to pick up the book had been a wise decision...

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent read!, December 26, 2008

By	Kausik Datta (Baltimore, MD, USA) - See all my reviews

I am not a professional book critic, and don't know the first thing about book reviews. But I can say with certainty that I absolutely LOVED Experimental Heart, which I finished in two straight days of almost continuous reading, and would recommend wholeheartedly to others.

People have argued whether this book, or this sub-genre of books, is "science-fiction" or just plain fiction. Not too keen on that distinction, I am content if a book reads well. Experimental Heart does not disappoint on that count. It is a work of fiction involving people who work in Science disciplines - people who are not hallowed supernatural beings, but everyday human beings who are capable of looking at, analyzing and solving problems in a different way by virtue of their training, and at the same time, who are equally capable of making mistakes, thus emphasizing their essential humanity.

Dr. Rohn's description of the environment of the storyline - the research laboratory environment - was impeccable. As a bio-science researcher, I could imagine effortlessly sliding into each of the characters she created with care - the under-grad, the finishing grad student, the post-doc trying to hold together the vestiges of his or her sanity. These are I and my people. The situations she dealt upon are mine and ours, down to the ethical dilemmas of animal experimentation, the paucity of social life, the long hours spent at the bench working as well as trying to untangle results from piles of data, uncertainties over the translational nature of one's research, the inherent angst of post-doctoral life - so quintessentially familiar! And that alone made the book so enjoyable, not to mention the interesting plot and the psychology of the characters! Dr. Rohn has captured the essence so well.

I liked the way Dr. Rohn took care to explain the shop-talk in lay terms, but never breaking the flow of the narrative. I don't, of course, know if all non-scientists would understand the concepts readily, but it was great reading about our bread-and-butter stuff explained in common parlance. It kind of added a good deal of perspective to the underlying business.

I applaud Dr. Rohn on a book well-written; in fact, I can't stop cheering.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I'm a professional cynic but my heart's not in it, February 3, 2009

By	R. P. Grant (Sydney, Australia) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The worst fear of Selby--the only talking dog in Australia (and perhaps the world)--is that if his secret gets out he'll be sent to a laboratory where he'll "have to talk to boring scientists all day"(1). This portrayal of scientists--in a children's book--is by no means unique in popular culture. In fact, 'boring' might be an improvement: the white-coated, bespectacled scientist with poor hygiene and bad fashion sense is usually dangerously mad, or at best well-meaning but ineffectual. The attractive daughter is optional.

Yet other professions do not suffer from similar opprobrium. Lawyers, police, teachers, nurses all have sympathetic portrayals in popular entertainment. Even the sociopathic House, M.D. is a hero. The discrepancy is puzzling: after all, every mother believes her offspring is going to cure cancer--if they show any scientific proficiency at all. But in films scientists are usually either holding the world to ransom, creating unimaginable terrors or just generally stuffing things up. Similarly, the portrayal of science itself is lacking: although we think we have a pretty clear idea of police procedure or what happens in an emergency room, how, when it comes down to it, is science done?

Jennifer Rohn (a researcher at University College London, with a PhD in virology) started the online magazine LabLit.com to examine the portrayal of science and scientists in fiction, the media and popular culture: not so much to increase sympathy for the scientific profession but to raise general awareness.

Her first novel, Experimental Heart (CSHL Press), is firmly in this genre, the story narrated by a scientist whose life and concerns will be recognizable to many scientists and their families, and revealing to everyone else.

The plot is driven by an intrigue worthy of Dan Brown, with countless twists and turns and cleverly revealed clues. But at its heart this is not primarily a book about science, or evil machinations. It is a love story. Fast-paced, but with absorbing detail and wittily observed; from the first chance encounter to the dare-devil denouement it is the uncertainties of human emotion that provide the imperative to read on.

That is not to say the setting is incidental. The science--and there is a lot of it--is dealt with engagingly yet uncompromisingly. It is not for the faint-hearted, but Rohn manages to guide us through the maze of modern scientific endeavour, providing enough detail to satisfy the pedantic biologist while not allowing the laic to feel lost. And more than that: she confides in us, initiates us in the secrets of her trade; teaches without preaching; informs without condescending.

I'd come back upstairs [...] around midnight to find poor Helmut slumped at his bench, fast asleep and murmuring vague German phrases about being attacked by molecules.

Andy O'Hara and his colleagues are real people. Helmut, the stereotypical German (whom Rohn never allows to lapse into slapstick), the keen student, the arrogant scientific superstar, the starry-eyed idealist--they're all here and every molecular scientist will recognize them. Similarly, the challenges faced by O'Hara and his colleagues are common to real scientists: including finding good parties and maintaining conversations with arts and humanities students. "Never even admit you're a scientist until the second date," one of his friends advises Andy.

Rohn writes wittily, even beautifully in places. I laughed out loud at the description of an argument--"the sequitur having got increasingly non"--and resonated with Rohn's description of antibodies as molecules that grasp their targets "with a lover's fervour". Arguments about genetic engineering and vivisection are dealt with sensitively and with incisive intelligence. This makes the the rather drawn-out ending and epilogue all the more puzzling, as if an over-zealous agent wanted to add more pages to the book. The back cover-promised abduction is so long in coming that I thought I'd missed it--and then it was so telegraphed it was no surprise.

But this is quibbling. The triumph and despair of the scientific endeavour are explored with fondness, as are other aspects: the almost parental pride and regret of teaching students and watching them become independent; the migratory lifestyle and its effect on relationships. There are strange coincidences--it seems improbable that Andy would discover Ainikka when he did: but this is how science happens. It's not strange or supernatural: as every good scientist knows, the wider you spread your net the more chance there is of that chance meeting that can change everything.

And here Rohn excels. Andy O'Hara is a scientist. He attempts to be rational, he treats his life as an experiment, tries to apply his sceptical and analytical thought processes to his personal life: with mixed results. He annoys the reader because he can not see what is plainly in front of him, will not, in fact, look at the evidence objectively--although he fools himself into thinking he is. This professional cynic's heart is not in it.

But this is the point. We get the sense that scientists are ordinary people, but doing extraordinary jobs. Andy O'Hara is a hero, but a beautifully flawed one. This is what makes the drama compelling. He is inconsistent: brilliant but stupid, rational but illogical: gloriously messy, gloriously human.

PS. One little detail didn't ring true. In our lab in Cambridge we would never use beakers from the wash-up cupboard when celebrating papers or grants. We drank champagne from 100 ml measuring cylinders.

1. Selby Screams Duncan Ball 1989 HarperCollinsPublishers, Australia