Reviews for Concepts: A Prototheist Quest for Science-Minded Skeptics

The average rating for Concepts: A Prototheist Quest for Science-Minded Skeptics based on 2 reviews is 2.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2011-08-10 00:00:00 Felix J Delatorre Evolution of the humanity is not only related to the development of the physical appearance but also connected to the development of moral values to understand and respect the human body. Useful Bodies is a product of three scientists, Jordan Goodman, Anthony McElligott and Lara Marks. Jordan Goodman is a historian of science and medicine worked at the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology. He has a good record of publication in the history of medicine, science, and technology, including several articles on the history of therapeutics. Anthony McElligott is the founding Professor of History at the University of Limerick where he is also director of the Centre for Historical Research. He interested in the social, cultural, and political history of Europe and Germany in the twentieth century. Lara Marks is a visiting senior research associate at Cambridge University and an Honorary Senior Lecturer at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. She has published numerous books and articles on the history of maternal, child health and ethnicity. Her research is interested in the application of information technology in the pharmaceutical industry. General introduction from the beginning of the clinical trials was different examples from Germany to the US were mentioned in chapter one. By navigating to the second chapter, this chapter provided an account of the series of simulated biological warfare trials and the policy context within which they were performed. It closes with a consideration of the involvement of the population in the trials. The third chapter explored the ethical and scientific issues raised by the research project in the work of Mark Boyd. It discussed the method of malaria transmission to neurosyphilis patients. Boyd ethical problem arose when he was concerned to treat malaria above treating syphilis patients, even both of them were patients. Also, he resorted to letting uninfected insects feed on the arm of the laboratory technician, a practice that one colleague denounced as inhumane. Moreover, Hospital-Induced malaria could spread to the surrounding community. Boyd’s methods do make one uneasily aware of the slippery slope that might lead researchers to induce malaria in patients with no underlying disease to test medications or perform other research on malaria. On the other hand, Boyd had inherent conflicts in his goals. He wanted to gather data on the natural history of malaria, but at the same time, he wanted the patients to ensure only a safe levels of malaria. In chapter four, the invention of cyclotron introduced new technology “radiation.” It showed quite vividly the tensions between the wish to exploit new technology and help to establish a new medical discipline on the one hand, and ethical issues of experimentation in both nontherapeutic and therapeutic situations on the other. Chapter four narrated the history of some human radiation experiments at the University of California. Four projects evolved in parallel: experiments on the biologic effects of radiation, studies of the effects of radiation on soldiers, attempts to develop radiation therapy for cancer, and use of radioactive tracers to study normal human metabolism. Chapter five discussed the British wartime experiments and a full comparison with either the U.S. wartime or Willowbrook postwar experiments. In the British trials, arthritis patients were encouraged to volunteer on the grounds of patriotism as well as the chance that a dose of jaundice could give them remission from arthritis symptoms. However, they were not fully informed of the nature of the experiments especially the source of the infective material The Krugman experiments, generated criticism because the subjects were minors and mentally retarded and thus doubly unable to give their consent. Also, parents of children in the Willowbrook trials, approached as the children were about to be admitted, were told that the studies would help all children and that their child would be closely monitored. So in both cases, consent was sought with a joint appeal to serving the common good and some possible individual benefit. Returning to the Willowbrook trials, chapter 7 focused on the claim that hepatitis infection was an inevitable result of hospitalization at the Willowbrook State School. Analysis of the experiment was examined and criticized in this chapter. History related to the civilization of humanity is very interesting to be studied and examined carefully. However, a history of recognition a dignity and respect of the human body in the sake of medical benefits are equally important. Well, detailed book about a great service of the human to the pretended human scientists. Ahmad Zaiter B.Sc. Degree in Pharmacy (Philadelphia University, Jordan) Master in Pharmaceutical Technology (IIUM, Malaysia)

Review # 2 was written on 2015-07-18 00:00:00 Patrick Peristeri Would have been better to read this closer to when it was published back in 2000. The author talks extensively about furbies, lego mindstorms, the introduction of the world wide web and virtual reality. If you want history and context for these, then you'll like the book. The author aluded to how this technology is impacting our kids and their world view (ie, why should they memorize something when the web is available to look it up at any time from their cell phones). I would have enjoyed him discussing this more, but it remained a footnote in what was otherwise a drawn out history lesson on a few select technologies. Those technologies did fill us with awe at one time, but today are a commonplace, and so the book has lost much of the punch it may have had when it was first published.