Splendid Solution: Jonas Salk and the Conquest of Polio

by Jeffrey Kluger

Book Overview

In medical school when Franklin Delano Roosevelt was diagnosed with the disease shortly before assuming the Presidency, Salk was given an impetus to conduct studies on polio. His progress in combating the virus was hindered by the politics of medicine and by a rival researcher determined to discredit his proposed solution. But Salk's perseverance made history-and for more than fifty years his vaccine has saved countless lives, bringing humanity close to eradicating polio throughout the world. Splendid Solution chronicles Dr. Salk's race against time-and a growing epidemic that reached 57,000 reported cases in the summer of 1952-to achieve an unparalleled medical breakthrough that made him a cultural hero and icon for a whole generation.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0425205703
• ISBN13: 9780425205709
• Release Date: February 2006
• Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
• Length: 384 Pages
• Weight: 0.98 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.1" x 8.9"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

The politics of science

On page 318 of this book, Jonas Salk is quoted as saying, "When you're arguing for an unpopular idea, there are three stages of truth. First, your opponents say it can't be true. Next they say if it's true, it can't be very important. Finally they say well, we've known it all along." To me, Splendid Solution does an excellent job of telling the story of Salk arguing for his unpopular idea, the eventually successful Salk vaccine. To me as on outsider, the world of science seems like it should be very fact-based and black and white. The more I read about the history of science, however, the more I learn how far that is from the truth. Some reviews complain this book doesn't have enough of the science of vaccination or epidemiology, but I think Kluger's decision to focus his story specifically on the politics of gaining acceptance within the scientific community for a brilliant idea makes a great book. Kluger lays out the entire process of funding, scientific conferences, personality conflicts and personal hierarchy within scientific circles. It's brilliant in that it shows both the strengths and the weaknesses of the system. Further, I found reading the book caused me to take stock of my own preconceived notions and thought processes to think about what great new ideas I might be ignoring because they didn't fit my own preconceived notions. A great book for anyone who is interested in understanding a little more about what goes on behind the scenes in scientific circles, or who would like to understand the process by which the Salk vaccine was vetted and developed.

A real non fiction page turner

Kluger writes a riveting account of the search for an effective immunization for an annual epidemic plaguing society through the first half of the twentieth century. He skillfully weaves the story of Salk's quest within its social background. Reading it brought me back to my childhood in the 1950's and my parents' anxieties each summer as newspapers published counts of local and national polio cases.

A biography of Dr. Salk and his search for the vaccine

In 2005 the U.S. celebrates its 50th anniversary of the first national polio vaccination program which helped eradicate the disease in this country: it's hard to believe a generation is growing up without ever having known the ravages of polio. New York Times writer Jeffrey Kluger's Splendid Solution: Jonas Salk And The Conquest Of Polio is both a biography of Dr. Salk and his search for the vaccine and a social history of polio. Chapters based on exclusive interviews with his friends and colleagues and access to his private papers provides new details on Salk's life and career, setting this life in context of both his times and contemporaries.

Compelling Read - Gripping, fascinating and powerful

"Splendid Solution" is a splendid book. From the opening page, the reader is swept into the world of Jonas Salk and the race to find a vaccine to prevent polio. If you're a baby boomer, you'll remember getting the Salk or Sabin vaccine -- and marvel that our largest generation of children were protected by the efforts of Dr. Salk and his research team. If you're a parent of a baby boomer, you'll relive the horrors of summers in the 30s, 40s and 50s when the scourge of polio raced through the nation - striking at every level of society - even a future president - FDR. Like "THE HOT ZONE" -- this is a riveting read! Highly recommended!

Thrilling Medical Tale

This is wonderfully compelling story of the race to cure polio, a disease that--if you're old enough to remember--lingered in the minds of terrified mothers and children everywhere fifty years ago. It also offers an indepth look into the life of Jonas Salk, a fascinating man whose drive to cure this disease was remarkable. Well-told, exciting--tough to put down. For fans of the The Great Influenza and The Greatest Generation.