Tuesday, August 28, 2007
book report: Intuition
Intuition
by Allegra Goodman
I thought I was going to love this book for the first couple of chapters. It's set in the mid-1980s in a research laboratory and the descriptions of the lab, the lives of the grad students and postdocs, the monotony and sense of humor that develop simultaneously around scientific research... all of these struck chords with me based on my experience haunting various labs with my dad. Even the descriptions of the smells were pleasingly right. The main conflict of the story is between Cliff, a possibly corner-cutting postdoc who appears to have discovered a possible cure for cancer, and Robyn, a postdoc who has been in the lab longer than Cliff but whose experiments have been going nowhere. They have a romantic releationship but it ends badly, and then Robyn begins to believe that Cliff might be faking or manipulating his data. Both sides of the conflict pick up various supporters, until it mushrooms into an investigation that includes testimony before Congress. You would think that a massive conflict would create a pretty compelling story, but it really didn't do much for me. Most of the conflict is expressed via different characters' inner monologues about their ethics and beliefs and feelings. It just wasn't a very interesting way to examine the ethics of research. Also, it made me really glad that I did not choose to go into science in an academic setting.
by Allegra Goodman
I thought I was going to love this book for the first couple of chapters. It's set in the mid-1980s in a research laboratory and the descriptions of the lab, the lives of the grad students and postdocs, the monotony and sense of humor that develop simultaneously around scientific research... all of these struck chords with me based on my experience haunting various labs with my dad. Even the descriptions of the smells were pleasingly right. The main conflict of the story is between Cliff, a possibly corner-cutting postdoc who appears to have discovered a possible cure for cancer, and Robyn, a postdoc who has been in the lab longer than Cliff but whose experiments have been going nowhere. They have a romantic releationship but it ends badly, and then Robyn begins to believe that Cliff might be faking or manipulating his data. Both sides of the conflict pick up various supporters, until it mushrooms into an investigation that includes testimony before Congress. You would think that a massive conflict would create a pretty compelling story, but it really didn't do much for me. Most of the conflict is expressed via different characters' inner monologues about their ethics and beliefs and feelings. It just wasn't a very interesting way to examine the ethics of research. Also, it made me really glad that I did not choose to go into science in an academic setting.
Labels: book reports
