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A review by lindsayw
Wisdom Of Whores,The by Elizabeth Pisani
5.0
June 2016 re-read: I graduated from my MSc. in Epidemiology last week, so I thought I would re-read the book that started it all: The Wisdom of Whores. I first read this book back in 2010 and it literally changed my life. I was in the middle of a degree in International Development, and my main interest was in Global Health, with a particular emphasis on HIV. I was really unclear about what I wanted to do with my life and was increasingly dissatisfied with the largely ineffective development work we've been doing for the last century or so and the seemingly ambiguous marking schemes this degree involved. As I became increasingly jaded, I picked up this book. In it, Elizabeth Pisani mentions that she is an epidemiologist (the first time I'd ever heard that word) and on learning what the hell that was, I said, "That's what I've been looking for. That's what I want to do."
Cut to six years later, where I ultimately finished that undergraduate degree in 2012, started a graduate epidemiology program in 2013, and defended my Master's thesis (focusing on HIV testing) at the end of last year. I've also spent the last two years working in harm reduction research focusing on HIV and Hepatitis C. So, with all the ceremony surrounding convocation last week, I thought I'd revisit this book to really bookend the whole thing. Now that I've given this exceedingly long back-story, here are my highly anticipated thoughts on the re-read.
This book is still amazing. I'm glad to see I had good taste in books six years ago, and I still see why it spoke to me so deeply. The only difference this time around was that now I've spent two years of my own life actually working on this issue rather than just researching it for school, and I've come across so many of the issues that Elizabeth Pisani talks about in my own life that it's frankly alarming. That so little has changed in the near decade since the book came out is a travesty. My work with people who use drugs has given me a pretty good idea of the lack of existing political will that would make the health of people who use drugs a priority. There have been encouraging steps forward in some areas, but there is still so much more to do. (For specifics of what those seemingly straightforward solutions are, I encourage literally everyone to read this book.)
Elizabeth Pisani is unflinching in her delivery of the realities of working in the field of HIV and her no-bullshit explanations of why we are failing so badly in getting HIV under control is eye-opening. She says so much of what needs to be said. If we could just get some more people saying it, maybe we could do better for the people who would genuinely benefit from the industry getting its shit together.
Original Review: "The Wisdom of Whores" immediately captured my attention with its thought-provoking title. The book within the cover just served to draw me in further. Elizabeth Pisani brilliantly captures one of the main obstacles in dealing with the HIV/AIDS crisis - sometimes smart people make bad choices. This is just one of the simple, yet brillint insights provided in this book; I couldn't put it down.
I have been studying HIV/AIDS for several years, and never has a book on the subject spoken to me in such a profound and meaningful way. In fact, due in large part to the world I was exposed to through Pisani's writing, I am now applying to my Masters in Epidemiology. Never underestimate the power of an excellent book.
Cut to six years later, where I ultimately finished that undergraduate degree in 2012, started a graduate epidemiology program in 2013, and defended my Master's thesis (focusing on HIV testing) at the end of last year. I've also spent the last two years working in harm reduction research focusing on HIV and Hepatitis C. So, with all the ceremony surrounding convocation last week, I thought I'd revisit this book to really bookend the whole thing. Now that I've given this exceedingly long back-story, here are my highly anticipated thoughts on the re-read.
This book is still amazing. I'm glad to see I had good taste in books six years ago, and I still see why it spoke to me so deeply. The only difference this time around was that now I've spent two years of my own life actually working on this issue rather than just researching it for school, and I've come across so many of the issues that Elizabeth Pisani talks about in my own life that it's frankly alarming. That so little has changed in the near decade since the book came out is a travesty. My work with people who use drugs has given me a pretty good idea of the lack of existing political will that would make the health of people who use drugs a priority. There have been encouraging steps forward in some areas, but there is still so much more to do. (For specifics of what those seemingly straightforward solutions are, I encourage literally everyone to read this book.)
Elizabeth Pisani is unflinching in her delivery of the realities of working in the field of HIV and her no-bullshit explanations of why we are failing so badly in getting HIV under control is eye-opening. She says so much of what needs to be said. If we could just get some more people saying it, maybe we could do better for the people who would genuinely benefit from the industry getting its shit together.
Original Review: "The Wisdom of Whores" immediately captured my attention with its thought-provoking title. The book within the cover just served to draw me in further. Elizabeth Pisani brilliantly captures one of the main obstacles in dealing with the HIV/AIDS crisis - sometimes smart people make bad choices. This is just one of the simple, yet brillint insights provided in this book; I couldn't put it down.
I have been studying HIV/AIDS for several years, and never has a book on the subject spoken to me in such a profound and meaningful way. In fact, due in large part to the world I was exposed to through Pisani's writing, I am now applying to my Masters in Epidemiology. Never underestimate the power of an excellent book.