Strategies of Sex: and other verses to diversity, adversity and perversity (Hardcover)

by Edwin Dennis Kilbourne (Author)
Key Phrases: pale whale, Philbrook Medical Center

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Strategies of Sex includes verses by a physician-scientist member of the National Academy of Sciences that are a celebration of the diversity of arrangements (often bizarre) that ensure the propagation of species, from Anableps to surgeonfish. The result is somewhere between Cole Porter ("bees do it") and Elizabeth Barrett Browning ("let me count the ways..") with a touch of Ogden Nash.

Book 1, focuses on the title topic, Strategies of Sex. Pudgy moorhens, hairy-legged fruit flies, doubly endowed four-eyed fish - whatever turns you on - they are all here, immortalized with grace and style. The price of too much male enthusiasm is described in "The Ballad of Howie" a four-eyed fish blessed (?) with two sex organs, and in "Never on Sunday, Hunday" about a bull who sired too many calves before dying of exhaustion. In the case of the fruit fly, Melanogaster, "acts of millisecond brevity interfere with his longevity". But female promiscuity is the subject of "The Round-Heeled Snakes of Sweden."

Book 2, Annotated Animals, defines the "zoo out there" in which the implicit verbal defamation of the Slow Loris is decried and doubts are expressed on the arrival of a "Tiny Pale Whale" at Coney Island. If that isn't news, then read "The Hippopota-news" or about the dog, man's best friend, with "no control at either end".

Book 3 covers - in verse and in prose - a sample of Humanity's Inanities. The author has taken license to indulge in a mixed bag of philosophical musings, including an obsession with proper English, ("More Importantly").

From the Inside Flap
Edwin Dennis Kilbourne, M.D. is an internationally recognized research scientist who has made significant contributions to the study and prevention of influenza and other human virus diseases. He developed the first genetically engineered vaccine of any kind more than 30 years ago and this method has become standard in the revision of influenza vaccines that is necessary almost every year. Dr Kilbourne is a member of The National Academy of Sciences, The Association of American Physicians and The American Philosophical Society. After completion of service in the Army of the United States Medical Corps at the end of World War II, he trained in virus research at The Rockefeller Institute, Subsequently, he has taught successively on the faculties of four medical schools: Tulane, Cornell, Mount Sinai (as Chairman of the Department of Microbiology and Distinguished Service Professor), and New York Medical College. (as Research, then Emeritus, Professor).

Kilbourne has served on advisory committees to the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research of the FDA. In the late 1970's he developed and chaired a series of published workshops on influenza for the NIH. He has also worked with the pharmaceutical industry in the development and trials of a new, experimental influenza vaccine.

Kilbourne has also had a life-long interest in non-scientific writing and has published humorous verses and essays in magazines for the general public. These have been inspired by whimsical news items gleaned from the press - most of them dealing with the often bizarre mating habits of sub-human species. They all meet together in Strategies of Sex. He lives in Madison, Connecticut on the shores of Long Island Sound where he pursues bluefish and striped bass in the summer. With variable success, he also pursues tennis balls on the court several times a week. Kilbourne's inspiration and advisor for 52 years is his wife, Joy, a native of New Orleans. There are 4 Kilbourne sons and 8 grandchildren.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 136 pages
• Publisher: Xlibris Corporation (May 20, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1413484255
• ISBN-13: 978-1413484250
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
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• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,891,639 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)