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angus_mckeogh's review against another edition
5.0
Excellent read. If you've ever wondered about vaccines, autism, and mercury then you should read this book. It includes the actual scientific evidence, the story of infighting amongst the numerous autism groups, and the role the media has played in misrepresenting and hyping the debate (and I hate to tell you but there's actually zero debate). An extremely important work. As a father to two daughters and a medical professional, it's good to know that someone has actually got it right. I cannot stress enough with all the erroneous data that circulates in the media that everyone should read this book before embarking on parenthood.
ginny17's review against another edition
4.0
Science. Science. Science. This book explains how people can get caught up in an idea that has been scientifically disproven again and again. Despite the evidence, I doubt this book will change anyone's mind. People have chosen sides and those who believe vaccines cause autism will likely continue to believe that regardless of the science.
seclement's review against another edition
4.0
When I got this book, I was surprised by how long it was because I naively thought you couldn't write that much just about MMR and autism. Well, of course it turns out that the book was broader than that, and it was such a fascinating read that I flew through it! I thought the author made a really good case, right up front, about why vaccines are important and why there's a particular demographic of people who oppose vaccines (well-educated, middle class or affluent, mistrust of 'the establishment', believers that our health can be cured by will and spiritual healing, etc.). This book is really well-written and researched, and I thought it was a fair account of past and present vaccine controversies. I wish that more people would read it, particularly those on the fence about whether or not to give their kids vaccines. The book reminded me why I despise Oprah so much as well, and the fact that she takes no responsibility for the charlatans she had on her program is infuriating. The book left me with a knot in my stomach, but he did a good job of keeping it on an intellectual level throughout, and I was not nearly as upset while reading most of it as I had anticipated. Still, don't expect a happy ending. If you're living in the world today, you know there isn't a happy ending to this story.
captkaty's review against another edition
5.0
Really excellently researched account of how the supposed link between autism and the MMR vaccine or thimerosal caught on and what the public health repercussions of that are. The author does talk about some mistakes that public health officials made, but does not hold back his fury towards those scientists who completely formulated results for their own financial gain, nor to the media who gave this completely fringe, scientifically unsupported viewpoint a lot of airtime because it made for an interesting story. Also has really interesting stuff about the history of inoculations and vaccinations.
slackermd's review against another edition
5.0
I applaud Mnookin's strenuous research on this subject. I commend his courage to write a book that holds popular Autism organizations and mass media outlets accountable to high standards of scientific research rather than the unprecedented speculations of fringe doctors, "expertise" of celebrities, and emotional accounts of anti-vaccine parents who were promised causes and cures of their children's afflictions.
laurapk's review against another edition
4.0
I listened to the audiobook and found it very easy to follow and overall well written. I wonder if more examples of children injured by vaccine withdrawal would have made the book even more powerful (I always wonder if undecided parents who read these books will be swayed away from the pseudoscientific theories). The author was very good at being brief, although at times I felt like he was also brief with empathy. For example, as much as I'm frustrated with the anti-vaccine movement, I'm also very frustrated with medical indifference. It is a modern problems that doctors are too pressed for time to care, and female patients are often dismissed (and mothers as advocates for children are sometimes dismissed as well). This should be acknowledged, because it takes being very sick to understand how unhelpful doctors can sometimes be, and how tempting it is to turn to the non-medical side for help. Here, the story of parents embracing dieting therapies who discovered that their child's accidental ingestion of gluten had no impact on his progress was very powerful; it showed both the desperate need of parents to improve their children's well being with the tricky business of recognizing what really works and the natural ups and downs of a chronic condition.
If the book suffers somewhere is in the scientific domain. Fortunately the author staid away from hard scientific facts as much as he could, and he usually used explanations provided by specialists. When he tried to explain things himself, he didn't do a very good job. Forget his description of what an antibody is and how it's made. Antibodies don't mold themselves as a mirror to a pathogen. Antibodies also don't have memory, the cells making them (B cells) do. Here's how an antibody is actually made:
B-cells are white blood cells which travel around the body, carrying big proteins on their surface, which are a form of antibody called IgM (M for membrane). These early antibodies are generated at random, kind of like a randomly generated password when you try to setup an account. If the IgM on the surface of a B-cell binds a piece of a potential pathogen (the piece they bind to is often called an antigen), then the cell receives a signal that it's doing a good job, kind of like a job promotion. The B-cell starts to shed IgM (which are big and bulky); the cell also divides and makes more copies of itself. Once a B-cell receives the signal that it bound something well, it triggers a program inside the cell that allows the gene coding the antibody to start mutating randomly. That sounds like a bad idea, but these random mutations will often lead to the creation of new antibodies that bind the antigen even stronger! The stronger the new antibodies bind, the more the B-cell receives signals to keep dividing. Eventually the B-cell gets a promotion and it switches from making bulky antibodies (IgM) to making more slender antibodies (IgG, also known as memory antibodies). The memory is held in the DNA of the B-cell, which becomes a memory B-cell. What about those randomly generated mutations that didn't produce better antibodies? Those B-cells don't receive the nurturing messages to keep making more antibodies and they die within a few days. In order for a B cell to survive and become a memory B-cell it needs to encounter the pathogen/antigen many more times. In case of a real pathogen infection, this happens naturally for a few days/weeks while the immune system clears the pathogen out of the body. With vaccination the repeat exposure is achieved using two methods: 1)ingredients added in the vaccine (also known as adjuvants) that prevent the antigen from being immediately flushed by the body (remember, vaccines are usually made with killed pathogens or pathogens which are so weakened they usually can't make the recipient sick); 2) a booster shot is administered after a few weeks/month to retrain the B-cells.
If the book suffers somewhere is in the scientific domain. Fortunately the author staid away from hard scientific facts as much as he could, and he usually used explanations provided by specialists. When he tried to explain things himself, he didn't do a very good job. Forget his description of what an antibody is and how it's made. Antibodies don't mold themselves as a mirror to a pathogen. Antibodies also don't have memory, the cells making them (B cells) do. Here's how an antibody is actually made:
B-cells are white blood cells which travel around the body, carrying big proteins on their surface, which are a form of antibody called IgM (M for membrane). These early antibodies are generated at random, kind of like a randomly generated password when you try to setup an account. If the IgM on the surface of a B-cell binds a piece of a potential pathogen (the piece they bind to is often called an antigen), then the cell receives a signal that it's doing a good job, kind of like a job promotion. The B-cell starts to shed IgM (which are big and bulky); the cell also divides and makes more copies of itself. Once a B-cell receives the signal that it bound something well, it triggers a program inside the cell that allows the gene coding the antibody to start mutating randomly. That sounds like a bad idea, but these random mutations will often lead to the creation of new antibodies that bind the antigen even stronger! The stronger the new antibodies bind, the more the B-cell receives signals to keep dividing. Eventually the B-cell gets a promotion and it switches from making bulky antibodies (IgM) to making more slender antibodies (IgG, also known as memory antibodies). The memory is held in the DNA of the B-cell, which becomes a memory B-cell. What about those randomly generated mutations that didn't produce better antibodies? Those B-cells don't receive the nurturing messages to keep making more antibodies and they die within a few days. In order for a B cell to survive and become a memory B-cell it needs to encounter the pathogen/antigen many more times. In case of a real pathogen infection, this happens naturally for a few days/weeks while the immune system clears the pathogen out of the body. With vaccination the repeat exposure is achieved using two methods: 1)ingredients added in the vaccine (also known as adjuvants) that prevent the antigen from being immediately flushed by the body (remember, vaccines are usually made with killed pathogens or pathogens which are so weakened they usually can't make the recipient sick); 2) a booster shot is administered after a few weeks/month to retrain the B-cells.
danchibnall's review against another edition
4.0
Seth Mnookin wrote a tremendous book and I am so happy to have read it. This book stands up for science and shows, in great detail, how there are no links between vaccines and autism. The author does a great job of showing the evidence for the benefits of vaccines and how groups claiming vaccines are bad have no evidence at all. The book covers the international epidemiological studies, the Special Masters decision of 2008, the decades of disease prevention, and many, many other examples of science working for the benefit of people.
The author also does an excellent job of highlighting the problems, errors, willful ignorance, and lack of scientific expertise and knowledge of many so-called "experts" on the side of the anti-vaccine crowd. The one figure who needs to apologize to families everywhere is Jenny McCarthy, who continues to spout myths and people believe her.
I'm glad I read this book. I sympathize greatly with families who have autistic children and I hope that they one day find out why their children have this disorder and that they may find a cure or method of prevention. However, until that day arrives I believe that scientific knowledge has shown that there is no link between one of our great achievements, vaccines, and autism.
The author also does an excellent job of highlighting the problems, errors, willful ignorance, and lack of scientific expertise and knowledge of many so-called "experts" on the side of the anti-vaccine crowd. The one figure who needs to apologize to families everywhere is Jenny McCarthy, who continues to spout myths and people believe her.
I'm glad I read this book. I sympathize greatly with families who have autistic children and I hope that they one day find out why their children have this disorder and that they may find a cure or method of prevention. However, until that day arrives I believe that scientific knowledge has shown that there is no link between one of our great achievements, vaccines, and autism.
aubreystapp's review against another edition
5.0
Really excellent, it's soooo nice to have this vaccine controversy cleared up for me, finally. I really love how in depth it goes with all the history and the science behind it all. A must read for everyone!!