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Product Details
Simon & Schuster, January 2011
Hardcover, 448 pages
ISBN-10: 1439158649
ISBN-13: 9781439158647
Description
WHO DECIDES WHICH FACTS ARE TRUE? In 1998 Andrew Wakefield, a British gastroenterologist with a history of self-promotion, published a paper with a shocking allegation: the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine might cause autism. The media seized hold of the story and, in the process, helped to launch one of the most devastating health scares ever. In the years to come Wakefield would be revealed as a profiteer in league with class-action lawyers, and he would eventually lose his medical license. Meanwhile one study after another failed to find any link between childhood vaccines and autism. Yet the myth that vaccines somehow cause developmental disorders lives on. Despite the lack of corroborating evidence, it has been popularized by media personalities such as Oprah Winfrey and Jenny McCarthy and legitimized by journalists who claim that they are just being fair to “both sides” of an issue about which there is little debate. Meanwhile millions of dollars have been diverted from potential breakthroughs in autism research, families have spent their savings on ineffective “miracle cures,” and declining vaccination rates have led to outbreaks of deadly illnesses like Hib, measles, and whooping cough. Most tragic of all is the increasing number of children dying from vaccine-preventable diseases. In The Panic Virus Seth Mnookin draws on interviews with parents, public-health advocates, scientists, and anti-vaccine activists to tackle a fundamental question: How do we decide what the truth is? The fascinating answer helps explain everything from the persistence of conspiracy theories about 9/11 to the appeal of talk-show hosts who demand that President Obama “prove” he was born in America. The Panic Virus is a riveting and sometimes heart-breaking medical detective story that explores the limits of rational thought. It is the ultimate cautionary tale for our time.
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“Seth Mnookin’s The Panic Virus is a lesson how fear hijacks reason and emotion trumps logic. . . . A brilliant piece of reportage and science writing."
-- Michael Shermer, The Wall Street Journal
"The Panic Virus is sure to attract attention. . . . Mnookin's book is an unsparing brief against the vaccine skeptics. But in a larger sense, this volume is less about the insurrection against inoculations than it is about the democratization of information. . . . Less about the contagion of ideas than about the contagion of misinformation and mistrust that metastasizes in the new technology."
-- David M. Shribman, The Boston Globe
"An accomplished journalist, Seth Mnookin takes an objective look at both sides of the vaccine/autism controversy and lands squarely on the side of science. With humor and wit, The Panic Virus examines the often bizarre events that led some families to become distrustful of science and erroneously conclude that vaccines might cause autism. This book will leave you scratching your head in pure amazement that this issue could get so out of hand when the science is so clear."
-- Alison Singer, President, Autism Science Foundation
"In plain language, Seth Mnookin provides an excellent narrative and evaluation that helps clarify for readers how and why vaccine controversies have arisen over the years as well as sensible ways for readers to understand the science that supports vaccine usage. Vaccines are the most effective public health measure since clean water."
-- Judith Palfrey, MD, FAAP, professor of pediatrics, Harvard Medical School and author of Child Health in America
"Seth Mnookin understood there was something more to the cruelly misled and dangerously misleading vaccines-cause-autism movement than just an unhappy group of parents with a need to blame someone. He saw the connection between this deathless conspiracy theory and the proliferating irrationality of a society that has supersized its information diet while starving its capacity to think straight. For that reason alone--not to mention the deft, often charming characterizations woven into its skillful and fascinating narrative--this is an important, powerful, and bracing book."
-- Arthur Allen, author of Vaccine and Ripe
"This important book should be read by anyone who has a child, cares about public health, or is interested in the state of discourse in 21st-century America. It is a terrific and terrifying call to action."
-- Jonah Lehrer, author of How We Decide
"There have been hundreds of recent outbreaks of ailments like whooping cough and measles that we thought would be eradicated by now--and might have been, if not for the anti-vaccine obfuscation. Bravo Seth Mnookin for digging for the truth and telling eloquent stories of what happens when lies, half-truths and self-interest collide with fear."
-- Laurie Garrett, Pulitzer Prize-winning writer and author of Betrayal of Trust: The Collapse of Global Public Health
"Mr. Mnookin's passionate defense of vaccination may be just what the public needs, in equal parts because of what it says and because of who is saying it. . . . Parents who want to play it safe, but are not altogether sure how, should turn with relief to this reasoned, logical and comprehensive analysis of the facts."
--Abigail Zuger, M.D., The New York Times
--Abigail Zuger, M.D., The New York Times
-- Abigail Zuger, M.D., The New York Times
Discover Magazine, January 15, 2011
...My new episode of Point of Inquiry is now up . The guest is Seth Mnookin, author of the new book The Panic Virus: A True Story of Medicine, Science, and Fear . Here’s the write up: Recently the British Medical Journal dealt yet ...
Discover Magazine, January 15, 2011
...My new episode of is now up. The guest is Seth Mnookin, author of the new book Here?s the write up: Recently the British Medical Journal dealt yet another blow to 1998 scientific study that first terrified the public about the ...
Capital Times, January 14, 2011
...that noise, too.” We find patterns in our fears, even when science says the threats are random, suggests Seth Mnookin. Enabled by the media, he says, we start to believe what is false. The emotional debate over whether childhood vaccines ...
Gawker, January 13, 2011
...valid date Please enter your full birth year Our latest iteration of the Gawker Book Club features The Panic Virus, a forensic and infuriating account of the genesis and spread of the vaccines-cause-autism meme by Vanity Fair contributor and ...
WNYC, January 13, 2011
...Seth Mnookin is a contributing editor at Vanity Fair, and a former senior writer for Newsweek where he covered media, politics, and popular culture. His new book, The Panic Virus ...
WNYC, January 13, 2011
...editor Dahlia Lithwick looks at how mental health becomes political and the history of the insanity defense. Plus: Seth Mnookin , author of the new book The Panic Virus: A True Story of Medicine, Science, and Fear ; Money U continues with a ...
AllVoices, January 11, 2011
...In his new book The Panic Virus, out today, journalist Seth Mnookin digs into the claims about the link between childhood vaccines and autism and why people believe them. ( Here's a WSJ review of the ...
New York Times, January 10, 2011
...report is Brian Deer, who has led the effort to debunk Wakefield’s claims over the past decade. Seth Mnookin, too, has written about the panic that Wakefield’s unsupported conclusions have caused, as parents have refused to have their ...
Vanity Fair, January 10, 2011
...After a disconcerting dinner-party discussion in 2008 with a first-time father about vaccines, Vanity Fair contributing editor Seth Mnookin set out to weed through the conflicting information and controversies surrounding childhood ...
Seattle Weekly, January 6, 2011
...Whidbey Islands, and in the richer suburbs ringing Seattle and Olympia. It's a connection confirmed by journalist Seth Mnookin, whose latest book, The Panic Virus, focuses on how the vaccine controversy spread most virulently in tony ...
Boston Phoenix, December 29, 2010
...Matvei Yankelevich. | 279 Harvard St, Brookline | 7pm | Free | 617.566.6660 or brooklinebooksmith.com SETH MNOOKIN | Harvard Book Store | January 24 | Vanity Fair writer Seth Mnookin grew up in Newton, went to Harvard, and wrote about his ...
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