The Fevers of Reason: New and Selected Essays

(Paperback)

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"America's most interesting and important essayist." Eric Kandel, Nobel Prizewinning author of The Age of Insight

"[Gerald 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

In this diverting collection of essays, Gerald Weissmann looks back at the past few decades of a career spent working at the intersection of the arts and sciences. The Fevers of Reason features some of his best and most representative works, alongside eleven new essays that have never before been published in book form. Masterfully drawing from an array of subject areas and time periods, he tackles everything from Ebola to Eisenhower, Zika to Zola, Darwin to Dawkins, and once again shows that he is one of the most important voices in humanistic science writing today.

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 Galileo's 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.

Reviews

Praise for The Fevers of Reason

A rich layering of past, present, science, and literature to present diverse takes on the issue at hand. . . . 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

Highly accessible, entertaining. . . . Every current theme, including buzz about free radicals and the 2014 Ebola outbreak, is tempered with a historical anecdote. Here, too, are cautionary concerns about henna tattoos, reminders to beware of 'alternative science, ' and lots of humor. Weissmann's science writing is juicy and conversational. --Booklist

Expertly hopscotch[es] across all sorts of topics. . . . 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. . . . Anyone with an interest in American scientific or literary history will enjoy this collection. --Shelf Awareness for Readers

Weissmann's project is to show how science and culture aren't as distant as often thought, and the best of the essays are wonderfully stimulating and exciting in how they make this point. . . . Admirers will be captivated anew. --Publishers Weekly

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

Erudite, engaging, and accessible. --Library Journal

Weissmann models his work after that of his mentor, Lewis Thomas. . . . His ideas . . . are every bit as important. --Publishers Weekly

Author Bio

Gerald Weissmann is a physician, scientist, editor, and essayist whose collections include The Fevers of Reason: New and Selected Essays (forthcoming from Bellevue Literary Press); 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.