Survival of the Sickest

Moalem, Sharon, and Jonathan Prince. Survival of the Sickest. 1st ed. New York: William Morrow, 2007. Print. (253)

The book Survival of the Sickest can be compared to myth busters of biology. It explores prominent diseases in today’s society and explains their history and journey through natural selection. It is a book that wonders why and asks why not. It’s about survival and creation. And it takes you on a magical medical mystery tour.

Survival of the Sickest was only possible because Dr. Moalem asked questions. This is the key to scientific discovery. You cannot assume how certain things work, or simply guess. You must break down each detail and ask how or why things work a certain way. An example from the book was when Dr. Moalem put together her grandfather’s love for giving blood with the relief it gave him. Dr. Moalem didn’t just acknowledge that this happened, he asked why it happens. Because he asked why, he was able to determine that his grandfather had a heredity condition called hemochromatosis. He didn’t stop there though, when his grandfather developed Alzheimer’s, he went even further to discover a link between hemochromatosis. There are multiple more examples like this throughout the book that require the same level of thought to formulate.

With that simplified background of the book one can understand the magnitude of thought needed to formulate this book. It was truly an eye opening experience reading this book. One can simply focus narrowly on the task at hand, much like looking down a hallway, but you can also look at the task at hand and relate it to other aspects of your work, much like looking at something outside in the wide open. This book gives you the ultimate big picture. It thinks of everything you didn’t think of. It was truly an eye opening and in-depth experience reading this book.

Word Count: 314