Mortal and Immortal DNA: Science and the Lure of Myth by Gerald Weissmann (Engli

Description: Mortal and Immortal DNA by Gerald Weissmann "An absolute first-rate writer [on science and the arts]."--Kurt Vonnegut Jr. FORMAT Paperback LANGUAGE English CONDITION Brand New Publisher Description "Once again, Gerald Weissmann, with a firm and easy knowledge of everyone who matters from Auden to Zola, bridges the space between science and the humanities, and particularly between medicine and the muses, with wit, erudition, and, most important, wisdom." -Adam Gopnik, author of Angels and AgesAdmired by Nobel prizewinning scientists and literary tastemakers alike, Weissmann will continue to amaze and beguile new and faithful readers as both a masterful commentator on contemporary culture and a transcendent intellectual historian. By turns satirical and insightful, Mortal and Immortal DNA takes us on a nuanced exploration of the western canon, from Greek mythology through Dante to W.H. Auden and offers hilarious insights into popular culture along the way, from Paris Hilton to the true life story of Kathryn Lee Bates, the lesbian poet who penned "America the Beautiful."Gerald Weissmann is a physician, scientist, editor, and essayist whose collections include Epigenetics in the Age of Twitter: Pop Culture and Modern Science; Mortal and Immortal DNA: Science and the Lure of Myth; and Galileos Gout: Science in an Age of Endarkenment. He is professor emeritus and research professor of medicine at New York University School of Medicine. His essays and reviews have appeared in numerous publications worldwide, including the London Review of Books and New York Times Book Review. The former editor-in-chief of the FASEB Journal, he is now its book reviews editor. He lives in Manhattan and Woods Hole, Massachusetts. Flap The medieval clergy, aristocracy, and commercial classes tended to regard peasants as objects of contempt and derision. In religious writings, satires, sermons, chronicles, and artistic representations peasants often appeared as dirty, foolish, dishonest, even as subhuman or bestial. Their lowliness was commonly regarded as a natural corollary of the drudgery of their agricultural toil. Yet, at the same time, the peasantry was not viewed as "other" in the manner of other condemned groups, such as Jews, lepers, Muslims, or the imagined "monstrous races" of the East. Several crucial characteristics of the peasantry rendered it less clearly alien from the elite perspective: peasants were not a minority, their work in the fields nourished all other social orders, and, most important, they were Christians. In other respects, peasants could be regarded as meritorious by virtue of their simple life, productive work, and unjust suffering at the hands of their exploitive social superiors. Their unrewarded sacrifice and piety were also sometimes thought to place them closest to God and more likely to win salvation. This book examines these conflicting images of peasants from the post-Carolingian period to the German Peasants War. It relates the representation of peasants to debates about how society should be organized (specifically, to how human equality at Creation led to subordination), how slavery and serfdom could be assailed or defended, and how peasants themselves structured and justified their demands. Though it was argued that peasants were legitimately subjugated by reason of nature or some primordial curse (such as that of Noah against his son Ham), there was also considerable unease about how the exploitation of those who were not completely alien-who were, after all, Christians-could be explained. Laments over peasant suffering as expressed in the literature might have a stylized quality, but this book shows how they were appropriated and shaped by peasants themselves, especially in the large-scale rebellions that characterized the late Middle Ages. Author Biography Gerald Weissmann (August 7, 1930 July 10, 2019) was a physician, scientist, editor, and essayist whose collections include The Fevers of Reason: New and Selected Essays; Epigenetics in the Age of Twitter: Pop Culture and Modern Science; Mortal and Immortal DNA: Science and the Lure of Myth; and Galileos Gout: Science in an Age of Endarkenment. Review Select Praise for Gerald Weissmann"Gerald Weissmann is Lewis Thomass heir." --Robert Coles"Weissmann has a strong and well-informed interest, unusual for a scientist, both in poetry and in art." --Freeman Dyson"[Weissmann] bridges the space between science and the humanities, and particularly between medicine and the muses, with wit, erudition, and, most important, wisdom." --Adam Gopnik"Americas most interesting and important essayist." --Eric Kandel"How I envy the reader coming upon Dr. Weissmanns elegant, entertaining essays for the first time!" --Jonas Salk"Dr. Weissmanns juggling with the balls of global politics, biology, medicine, and culture in the framework of history is breathtaking." --Bengt Samuelsson, Nobel Laureate and former chairman of the Nobel Foundation"The premier essayist of our time, Weissmann writes with grace and style." --Richard Selzer"An absolutely first-rate writer." --Kurt Vonnegut"[Weissmann] is a man of wide culture, a captivating and graceful writer." --New Yorker"Weissmann introduces us to a new way of thinking about the connections between art and medicine." --New York Times Book Review"Oliver Sacks, Richard Selzer, Lewis Thomas . . . Weissmann is in this noble tradition."--Los Angeles Times"As a belles-letterist, Weissmann is the inheritor of the late Lewis Thomas . . . Like Thomas, hes a gifted researcher and clinician who writes beautifully. Unlike Thomas, he is an original and indefatigable social historian as well." --Boston Globe"He writes as a doctor, a medical scientist, a knowing lover of art and literature and a modern liberal skeptic. But more than anything else, Weissmann writes as a passionate and wise reader." --New Republic"Weissmann is a master of the essay form. His witty and elegant prose makes the toughest subject matter not only accessible but entertaining." --Barnes and Noble Review"[Weissmann] is a Renaissance Man. . . . Hell stretch your minds hamstrings." --Christian Science Monitor"[Weissmanns essays] intertwine the profound connections of science and art in the context of our modern era . . . to illuminate the ongoing challenges scientists face in dealing with scrutiny and criticism, from colleagues and from our broader society." --Science"Weissmann not only endeavors to connect the realms of literature and medicine, but also to create community among readers in light of class, race, religion, and age." --Glassworks Magazine"Essays that brim with knowledge and bubble with attitude." --Kirkus Reviews"Erudite, engaging, and accessible." --Library Journal"Juicy and conversational." --Booklist"Weissmann models his work after that of his mentor, Lewis Thomas. . . . His ideas . . . are every bit as important." --Publishers Weekly"Weissmanns humanist, sometimes sardonic, voice binds together disparate strands to show how all human endeavor is linked. . . . Weissmann clearly sees how history obfuscates the work of women, people of color and immigrants, and tries to alter that." --Shelf Awareness for Readers Promotional Professional contacts: Author is editor of FASEB Journal, which has 300,000 to 500,000 hits per month. It is the official journal of 23 medical socities with 88,000 members. Author appearences: We will seek out medical school/scientific book signing events through organizations with which the author is affiliated that have large member lists, such as: New York Academy of Sciences Marine Biological Laboratory Ellison (of Oracle) Medical Foundation The New Yorkers Adam Gopnik is reading for pre-pub blurb or review. Oliver Sacks has agreed to read for endorsement. RTLR ad Academic marketing to science and humanities list as well as humanities in medicine list. Comprehensive broadcast media campaign. Long Description "Once again, Gerald Weissmann, with a firm and easy knowledge of everyone who matters from Auden to Zola, bridges the space between science and the humanities, and particularly between medicine and the muses, with wit, erudition, and, most important, wisdom." -- Adam Gopnik , author of Angels and Ages Admired by Nobel prize-winning scientists and literary tastemakers alike, Weissmann will continue to amaze and beguile new and faithful readers as both a masterful commentator on contemporary culture and a transcendent intellectual historian. By turns satirical and insightful, Mortal and Immortal DNA takes us on a nuanced exploration of the western canon, from Greek mythology through Dante to W.H. Auden and offers hilarious insights into popular culture along the way, from Paris Hilton to the true life story of Kathryn Lee Bates, the lesbian poet who penned "America the Beautiful." Gerald Weissmann is a physician, scientist, editor, and essayist whose collections include Epigenetics in the Age of Twitter: Pop Culture and Modern Science ; Mortal and Immortal DNA: Science and the Lure of Myth ; and Galileos Gout: Science in an Age of Endarkenment . He is professor emeritus and research professor of medicine at New York University School of Medicine. His essays and reviews have appeared in numerous publications worldwide, including the London Review of Books and New York Times Book Review . The former editor-in-chief of the FASEB Journal , he is now its book reviews editor. He lives in Manhattan and Woods Hole, Massachusetts. Review Quote Select Praise for Gerald Weissmann "Gerald Weissmann is Lewis Thomass heir." --Robert Coles "Weissmann has a strong and well-informed interest, unusual for a scientist, both in poetry and in art." --Freeman Dyson "[Weissmann] bridges the space between science and the humanities, and particularly between medicine and the muses, with wit, erudition, and, most important, wisdom." --Adam Gopnik "Americas most interesting and important essayist." --Eric Kandel "How I envy the reader coming upon Dr. Weissmanns elegant, entertaining essays for the first time!" --Jonas Salk "Dr. Weissmanns juggling with the balls of global politics, biology, medicine, and culture in the framework of history is breathtaking." --Bengt Samuelsson, Nobel Laureate and former chairman of the Nobel Foundation "The premier essayist of our time, Weissmann writes with grace and style." --Richard Selzer "An absolutely first-rate writer." --Kurt Vonnegut "[Weissmann] is a man of wide culture, a captivating and graceful writer." -- New Yorker "Weissmann introduces us to a new way of thinking about the connections between art and medicine." -- New York Times Book Review "Oliver Sacks, Richard Selzer, Lewis Thomas . . . Weissmann is in this noble tradition."-- Los Angeles Times "As a belles-letterist, Weissmann is the inheritor of the late Lewis Thomas . . . Like Thomas, hes a gifted researcher and clinician who writes beautifully. Unlike Thomas, he is an original and indefatigable social historian as well." -- Boston Globe "He writes as a doctor, a medical scientist, a knowing lover of art and literature and a modern liberal skeptic. But more than anything else, Weissmann writes as a passionate and wise reader." -- New Republic "Weissmann is a master of the essay form. His witty and elegant prose makes the toughest subject matter not only accessible but entertaining." -- Barnes and Noble Review "[Weissmann] is a Renaissance Man. . . . Hell stretch your minds hamstrings." -- Christian Science Monitor "[Weissmanns essays] intertwine the profound connections of science and art in the context of our modern era . . . to illuminate the ongoing challenges scientists face in dealing with scrutiny and criticism, from colleagues and from our broader society." -- Science "Weissmann not only endeavors to connect the realms of literature and medicine, but also to create community among readers in light of class, race, religion, and age." -- Glassworks Magazine "Essays that brim with knowledge and bubble with attitude." -- Kirkus Reviews "Erudite, engaging, and accessible." -- Library Journal "Juicy and conversational." -- Booklist "Weissmann models his work after that of his mentor, Lewis Thomas. . . . His ideas . . . are every bit as important." -- Publishers Weekly "Weissmanns humanist, sometimes sardonic, voice binds together disparate strands to show how all human endeavor is linked. . . . Weissmann clearly sees how history obfuscates the work of women, people of color and immigrants, and tries to alter that." -- Shelf Awareness for Readers Description for Sales People These essays relate modern science and medicine to the broad themes of the Western canon: from Greek myths to W.H. Auden, with a reference or two to Paris Hilton. Using a clever sense of humor and a massive intellectual range of references, Weissmanns writing bridges the widening gap between the two cultures of science and the humanities. An extension of the genre of the informal science essay pioneered by Lewis Thomas (of whom Weissmann was a protege) these essays are in a league with Oliver Sacks, Stephan Jay Gould, and Richard Seltzer. Highly readable and amusing. Deals with current events through relating them to canonical science and literature. Every chapter deals with a current medical or scientific subject: stem cells, dengue fever, DDT, carcinogens, arthritis... NOT JUST A SCIENCE WRITER BUT A MAJOR INTELLECTUAL HISTORIAN. Details ISBN1934137162 Author Gerald Weissmann Short Title MORTAL & IMMORTAL DNA Publisher Bellevue Literary Press Language English ISBN-10 1934137162 ISBN-13 9781934137161 Media Book Format Paperback DEWEY 570 Year 2009 Residence US Imprint Bellevue Literary Press Subtitle Science and the Lure of Myth Place of Publication New York Country of Publication United States NZ Release Date 2009-06-18 US Release Date 2009-06-18 UK Release Date 2009-06-18 Pages 192 Publication Date 2009-06-18 Illustrations B&W photographs and illustrations throughout Audience General AU Release Date 2009-06-01 We've got this At The Nile, if you're looking for it, we've got it. With fast shipping, low prices, friendly service and well over a million items - you're bound to find what you want, at a price you'll love! TheNile_Item_ID:19796175;

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