Mortal and Immortal DNA

Select Praise for Gerald Weissmann Gerald Weissmann is Lewis Thomas's 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 America's most interesting and important essayist. --Eric Kandel How I envy the reader coming upon Dr. Weissmann's elegant, entertaining essays for the first time! --Jonas Salk Dr. Weissmann's 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, he's 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. . . . He'll stretch your mind's hamstrings. --Christian Science Monitor [Weissmann's 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 Weissmann's 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