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| Panic in Level 4: Cannibals, Killer Viruses, and Other Journeys to the Edge of Science | 
 enlarge | Author: Richard Preston
Publisher: Random House
Category: Book
List Price: $26.00
Buy New: $14.63
You Save: $11.37 (44%)
New (30) Used (13) Collectible (1) from $12.49
Avg. Customer Rating:  15 reviews
Sales Rank: 59935
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 240
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 9.4 x 6.3 x 1
ISBN: 1400064902
Dewey Decimal Number: 616.024
EAN: 9781400064908
ASIN: 1400064902
Publication Date: May 27, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Brand new item. Over 3.5 million customers served. Order now. Selling online since 1995. Order with confidence. Code: B20080904214033T
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Product Description
Bizarre illnesses and plagues that kill people in the most unspeakable ways. Obsessive and inspired efforts by scientists to solve mysteries and save lives. From The Hot Zone to The Demon in the Freezer and beyond, Richard Preston’s bestselling works have mesmerized readers everywhere by showing them strange worlds of nature they never dreamed of.
Panic in Level 4 is a grand tour through the eerie and unforgettable universe of Richard Preston, filled with incredible characters and mysteries that refuse to leave one’s mind. Here are dramatic true stories from this acclaimed and award-winning author, including:
• The phenomenon of “self-cannibals,” who suffer from a rare genetic condition caused by one wrong letter in their DNA that forces them to compulsively chew their own flesh–and why everyone may have a touch of this disease.
• The search for the unknown host of Ebola virus, an organism hidden somewhere in African rain forests, where the disease finds its way into the human species, causing outbreaks of unparalleled horror.
• The brilliant Russian brothers–“one mathematician divided between two bodies”–who built a supercomputer in their apartment from mail-order parts in an attempt to find hidden order in the number pi (π).
In fascinating, intimate, and exhilarating detail, Richard Preston portrays the frightening forces and constructive discoveries that are currently roiling and reordering our world, once again proving himself a master of the nonfiction narrative and, as noted in The Washington Post, “a science writer with an uncommon gift for turning complex biology into riveting page-turners.”
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| Customer Reviews: Read 10 more reviews...
Felt like bait-and-switch given the title of the book... June 21, 2008
15 out of 22 found this review helpful
This sounded like a great idea when I found it on the shelf at the library... Panic in Level 4: Cannibals, Killer Viruses, and Other Journeys to the Edge of Science by Richard Preston. I opened the book, expecting to have around 200 pages of talk about killer viruses and the war against them. Instead, I got a seemly random assortment of stories that mostly bore little resemblance to the "Panic in Level 4" title. I almost felt like a victim of bait-and-switch.
Contents:
Introduction - Adventures in Nonfiction Writing; The Mountains of Pi; A Death in the Forest; The Search for Ebola; The Human Kabbalah; The Lost Unicorn; The Self-Cannibals; Glossary; Acknowledgments
The title actually comes from the Introduction chapter. It's there that the author relates his story of being allowed to enter a level 4 biohazard room as part of his background research as a writer. This is something that normally is never allowed, but a few rules were bent and he learned what it's like to be working with viruses that can kill you 100% of the time. Had the whole book stayed in that vein, it would have been great. But then Preston launched into an assortment of stories that, in my opinion, failed to deliver on the promise of the intro and title.
The Mountains of Pi examines two mathematicians who built their own supercomputer and dig deeply into the calculations of the value of Pi. Not a bad story in itself, but not exactly "panic" and "level 4" excitement. A Death in the Forest gets into how an insect infestation kills off eastern hemlock trees, and follows the people who try to prevent the deaths. Far from riveting... The Search for Ebola gets back to the title premise a bit, and shows how difficult it is to trace down the source of a disease that has no cure. The Human Kabbalah then reverts back to the "switch" category by following the story of the mapping of the human genome. An inordinate amount of time is spent looking at the personalities involved between the two groups trying to complete the mapping, as well as the motivation and lifestyle of each. Again, perhaps not a bad story in itself, but off the path of expectations. The Lost Unicorn goes into the efforts to restore the Unicorn Tapestries and the computing power needed to blend together digital images of the tapestries so that a digital record of the work is maintained. We're not only "off the path" now, but I'm not sure there was ever a path to begin with! The Self-Cannibals veers back towards the title, covering a syndrome known as Lesch-Nyhan where people are compelled to mutilate themselves in strange and painful ways. It could be a book by itself, but unfortunately it's a small chapter that only helps to counterbalance the other chapters that were out in left field.
I really enjoyed Preston's other works, which capture the danger and intensity of working with killer illnesses that approach a 100% level of mortality. Panic lacked a cohesive thread based on the title, and I was really disappointed that so many of the chapters failed to deliver on expectations. If you come into the book knowing that it's not all about microbes and germs, you may be more forgiving on the choice of chapter subjects. Unfortunately, I didn't, and I wasn't...
RICK "SHAQ" GOLDSTEIN SAYS: "THEY HAD SURVEYED "PI" TO 2,260,321,336 DECIMALS" June 18, 2008
9 out of 9 found this review helpful
The potential reader should be warned that despite the title of the book being "PANIC IN LEVEL 4", only the introduction portion of the book takes place at the Army's Level 4 virus laboratories at Fort Detrick, an Army base in the eastern flank of the Appalachian Mountains in Maryland. This is the headquarters of the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases. (USAMRIID) "Biosafety Level 4, is the highest and tightest level of biosecurity in a laboratory. Laboratories rated at Biosafety Level 4 are repositories of viruses called hot agents-lethal viruses for which there is no vaccine or effective cure. Level 4 labs are sealed off from the outside world." The author does a tremendous job in this area, as his narration makes you feel as if you're inside a pressurized whole-body-biohazard-suit along with him. You'll feel sweat dripping down every orifice of your body as untreatable "live" vials of Ebola and other deadly diseases are in your presence, and all of a sudden the zipper on your suit opens, or you find a hole in your sleeve or pants. Unfortunately this section ends too quickly and then we are in New York visiting with brothers Gregory and David Chudnovsky, two mathematics geniuses, that have built a supercomputer utilizing mail order parts in their rundown apartment. All in their quest to find hidden order in the number "PI". (The division of the circle's diameter into its circumference.) These brothers have built the equivalent of a Cray Y-MP Supercomputer (At the time, one of, if not "THE" fastest computer in the world.) which cost more than THIRTY-MILLION-DOLLARS... while their home-built computer cost them about SEVENTY-THOUSAND-DOLLARS. When the author is first greeted at their apartment door by David, as he slowly opened the door he said: "Don't worry, nothing unpleasant will happen to you here. We will not turn you into digits." The temperature in the apartment is unbearable due to the heat this massive computer puts out, and the landlord doesn't know they've created a supercomputer in their apartment. Eventually they break the world record by calculating "PI" to the 2,260,321,336, decimal, which though impressive still doesn't solve the problem. Note: The author calculated and had verified by a "New Yorker Magazine" fact checker, that there was at least ONE-TON-OF-PAPER in Gregory's bedroom.
From there we go to a story about the death of trees in the forest. I believe all six chapters are from prior New Yorker articles. Because of this, some chapters overlap as far as having the same characters or DNA research subjects, so the reader is stuck hearing the exact same information about certain people and subjects. The minute miniscule discussions regarding DNA, genome, bacteria, sequencing equipment, etc. over and over and over... I must admit it was over the head of a layman like me. And it wasn't the type of book I thought I was getting.
There is a really interesting and harrowing chapter on the Ebola virus that educates the reader that there is not only no cure, but it has been almost impossible to find out where and what it comes from. The author points out that just in the canopies of the forests there are a million living entities that haven't even been discovered by modern man. There's a chapter on a unicorn tapestry made in 1500 and as I mentioned earlier in discussing overlapping characters... the "math-brothers" are out of their apartment and reintroduced to the reader as if we've never heard of them before.
The last chapter is entitled "THE SELF-CANNIBALS" which is about Lesch-Nyhan syndrome. I had never heard of it before, and it is a sad, sad, gut-wrenching illness. It will be hard for any human being with even the smallest amount of empathy to not be distressed reading this. One of the tamer passages is: "Over time, his fingers had gotten into his mouth and nose, and had broken out and removed the bones of his upper palate and parts of his sinuses, leaving a cavern in his face. He had also bitten off several fingers. J.J. seemed happy most of the time, except when he was injuring himself." After getting to know the disease and the affect on the poor human beings and their families that are stricken with it, I wish the author would have used a different title for this chapter. One of the phrases used in this chapter was "self-mutilation", which is still awful but I feel it would show a little more dignity.
This book obviously is written with a very high intellect level, but it is not for everyone, and I hope my review will help people to buy and not to buy as the individual case may be. I wish I could have read a review like this before I decided. I wasn't prepared for what I read.
 How on earth did this guy get on the New York Times Bestsellers list? June 10, 2008
4 out of 13 found this review helpful
I was excited to read this book, which was highly recommended to me by a friend. However, while I was able to plod through a few sections, this says nothing about the author's writing skills but rather goes to show that, no matter how horrible the writing is, fascinating material is fascinating material. If you like to read books written entirely in short, stilted sentences with no narrative flow, read this book. Otherwise - don't.
Trying to Get Another Book Out June 15, 2008
4 out of 9 found this review helpful
This is for sure not Richard Preston's best. It started very good but then it went down hill from there. "Panic in Level 4" is just the title for the first story in the book and it wasn't even that scary either. The rest of the stories (each one good material for a book) don't have anything to do with the title. I mean, Craig Venter, just his biography, would be a damn good best seller, but going through the swings in the stock market of his company during the dot-com era, his fights with everybody involved and his financial dilemmas have absolutely nothing to do with the title. I would for sure eliminate the last story, too crude and treated with very little respect for the private lives of the victims. I have read many books about viruses, pandemias, bacteria and all vector-related diseases you may think of and I can be sure about one thing about this book....it is not worth it. Richard, take only one story from this book and make something worthwhile out of it.
 Fascinating short nonfiction narratives, Preston-style June 10, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
I was a bit disappointed when I received this book and realized that it was a collection of six separate stories, and not all of them were about scary germs. My disappointment, however, was short-lived. Richard Preston has expanded and updated pieces he has written for The New Yorker about different, yet somewhat related, topics in science.
Preston's "Introduction: Adventures in Nonfiction Writing" gives interesting insights into the process of writing, while illustrating such research experiences as wearing a space suit that came unzipped in a Biosafety Level 4 lab. This is a great introduction to the stories that resulted from his process:
"The Mountains of Pi" is the fascinating account of slightly eccentric brothers Gregory and David Chudnovsky, "one mathematician divided between two bodies" who build a supercomputer from mail-order parts in Gregory's apartment. They needed it to calculate pi to two billion decimal places so they could search for patterns in the number.
"A Death in the Forest" tells of the decimation of hemlocks by the woolly adelgid, a parasitic insect. (Think a condensed version of The Wild Trees: A Story of Passion and Daring with a bit of The Hot Zone: A Terrifying True Story stirred in.) It is a sobering reminder of the delicacy of our ecosystem.
"The Search for Ebola" covers the 1994 outbreak in Kikwit. (Although it mentions one or two of the same doctors from The Hot Zone, it is not repetitious.)
"The Human Kabbalah" is about the Human Genome Project and the institutional politics and people involved. (I was not enthralled by the lengthy details of the turf-wars, but it was eye-opening to see how individual agendas can hinder scientific research.)
"The Lost Unicorn" gives the history of a series of seven tapestries titled collectively The Hunt of the Unicorn. The Chudnovsky brothers and their homemade supercomputer also play an interesting role in this story.
"The Self-Cannibals" is about a horrific and heartbreaking genetic disorder known as Lesch-Nyhan Syndrome, which produces symptoms such as coprolalia, involuntary self-mutilation, and poor muscle control. (This was a factor in the fictitious super-bug featured in The Cobra Event.)
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