A review by kiramke
The Family that Couldn't Sleep by D.T. Max

4.0

A friend has been reminding me to distinguish between an interesting topic and a topic I'd actually want to read a full-length book about. When I first heard of FFI I was fascinated, but honestly I'm not sure what 250 pages just on that would look like - probably science I wouldn't quite understand. Luckily this particular book covers more than FFI, giving a history of research into prions and prion disease research, with forays into kuru (always memorable if you've studied anthropology or traveled the south pacific) and scrapie. It was additionally interesting to read about mad cow, because I remember it, but wasn't at an age where I read the news closely, nevermind scientific papers. Overall very readable and interesting, despite the rather accepting treatment of Gajdusek.