Customer Reviews

Virus Hunting: Aids, Cancer, And The Human Retrovirus: A Story Of Scientific Discovery

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Virus Hunting provides an interesting understanding into the scientific quest in the study of tumor cell biology. It lays the foundation of the most complex of viral, epidemiological parthenogenesis, that of Human Retro virology, HIV-AIDS. The lab tech procedures used at NCI at the time: mass tissue cell growth cultures, assay developments, etc., continue to hold significant disease applicability, and contributes to future disease models investigations and research and development.

Since, virology is an esoteric discipline; the book was designed to reach wide audiences, presenting a more personal account. For HIV-AIDS research purposes, a plethora of academic references can be found in reknown science journals.


The book describes, in addition, an extraordinary life story, tragedy as the source of creative scientific inspiration, culminating ultimately to discovery. Some readers may miss these subtle nuances.

Great ideas originate from contentious, unorthodox individuals who defy and cut across the grain, remembering and giving gratitude to the critics and pretenders; however, vapid for they are as modern muses. When I read the book, I think of that rambunctious ass, Amadeaus and those scowling would be, Scalieries epitomizing those less accomplished.

The rating was lowered solely on the grounds of poor mechanics.

Dr. Robert Gallo has written a very interesting and informative book describing his career and how the HIV virus was discovered. In the final chapter he refutes the criticisms of Dr. Duesberg, who later wrote "Inventing the AIDS Virus". Dr. Gallo's arguments sound very convincing; however he does not provide a single reference. He makes many statements such as "this has been found", "studies have shown", etc. but never provides references. This makes it impossible to verify his claims or read the original source data. It is suspicious that Dr. Gallo does not disclose his scientific sources. Dr. Duesberg on the other hand, in his book refuting Gallo's arguments, provides 856 footnotes referring to publications in the most highly respected scientific and medical journals. In conclusion, it is a very difficult scientific problem to understand HIV, AIDS, and if there is a relationship or not. By not providing footnotes Dr. Gallo has made it more difficult for the serious inquirer.

This is a must read for anyone interested in science, and is especially inspiring towards anyone interested in pursuing biomedical research. Only a scientist like Robert Gallo could have been resilent enough to continue great discoveries (eg. IL2( , inspite of being relentlessly besieged by nay sayers, a zealous journalist, and one politician. Gallo shows that despite all odds ,one may still rise like a phoenix from ashes. Bravo! Ex Libris!

This book is the story of the discovery of human retroviruses including the AIDS virus. It traces the life of Robert Gallo from his first job to world fame and controversy. There is a lot of good detail about retroviruses and the techniques being used to fight them. The book does stumble sometimes. Some of the history is writen in a defensive style to dispell the negative reaction that Dr. Gallo has receive because of the anti-body test dispute with the French. Also the process of discovery, where he talks about lab work is very, very boring. It lacks the right kind of details to get the reader excited. Except for the above points it is good book that should be read.

This is a good book for scientific study and evaluation of
viral strains-their etiology and treatment approaches. The
research of cancer-causing retroviruses is discussed in humans.
These viral strains may be carried from chickens to people.
The retrovirus in chicken sarcoma and oncogenes when incorporated
into the genetic code of a virus quickly convert normal cells
to cancerous ones. Retroviruses can mutate. The work contains
a good description of the development of the Elisa blood testing
technique. This work would be perfect for a school project in
science or medicine.

If this book is any indication Robert Gallo must be one of the most narcissistic, self-absorbed people on the planet. This reads more like a summation for the defense than a historical account.

I can't believe there is a scientist in the world as egocentrical as Dr. Robert Gallo! The book is a shame, to say the least!

Found this book at the library while searching for helpful books for my science project... yeh, i'm a high-school student..
and seriously, this book does have a lot of information...
but, the book kinda really drags, and it's boring, and really,
i didn't need to know about who found this little detail and who examined this thing at what time where and blah. it was full of trivial infos people don't really need.

This book needs to be read by everyone

Egotistical he may be, but you can't hold his personality against him. It shows an intersting perspective on the science world...