by D. T. Max
First published 2006
D. T. Max investigates prions, misfolded proteins that cause fatal brain diseases across species and continents. He traces how a Venetian noble family has endured an inherited condition for two centuries. The disease attacks in middle age, destroying sleep and creating brain lesions before killing within months. Max connects this fatal familial insomnia to other prion diseases. In Papua New Guinea, kuru devastated a tribe through uncontrollable laughter. Scrapie makes European sheep scratch themselves raw. Mad cow disease turned cattle violent in English milking parlors. Chronic wasting disease starves American deer surrounded by food. Max reveals how these conditions share a common cause in proteins that corrupt normal brain function. Prions resist destruction because they contain no DNA and exist in a gray area between living and dead matter. The journalist examines how these diseases spread globally and why they prove nearly impossible to stop. Max offers readers a scientific detective story that connects seemingly unrelated outbreaks into a larger pattern of neurological destruction.
Genres: biography, science, medical, non-fiction, true-crime, disease, academic, history-of-science
Vibes: dark, emotional, fast-paced, intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: investigative-journalism, scientific-mystery, true-crime
Setting: England, Papua New Guinea, United States, Venice
Period: 21st Century, 2 Centuries
336 pages · Hardcover · Random House
Content warnings: body-horror, death, medical-trauma