Insulin - The Crooked Timber: A History from Thick Brown Muck to Wall Street Gold

by Kersten T. Hall Narrated by Mike Cooper

Overview

Before the discovery of insulin, a diagnosis of Type 1 diabetes was a death sentence. One hundred years after a milestone medical discovery, Insulin - The Crooked Timber tells the story of how insulin was transformed from what one clinician called "thick brown muck" into the very first drug
to be produced using genetic engineering, one which would earn the founders of the US biotech company Genentech a small fortune.



Yet when Canadian doctor Frederick Banting was told in 1923 that he had won the Nobel Prize for this life-saving discovery, he was furious. For the prize had not been awarded to him alone-but jointly with a man whom he felt had no right to this honor.



Taking the listener on a fascinating journey, starting with the discovery of insulin in the 1920s through to the present day, Insulin - The Crooked Timber reveals a story of monstrous egos, toxic career rivalries, and a few unsung heroes such as two little known scientists whose work on wool fibers, carried out in a fume-filled former stable, not only proved to be crucial in unravelling the puzzle of insulin but ushered in a revolution in biology.

Editorial Reviews

Doody's Review Service

Reviewer: Alain Touwaide, PhD (Ronin Institute)
Description: The history of insulin is generally well known. However, it dramatically transformed in recent years with the development of synthetic human insulin. This book covers the entire span of insulin and diabetes history, with the works of Paul Langerhans and Claude Bernard and their impact on insulin and the treatment of diabetes.
Purpose: According to the author, the history of insulin "is not a tale of bold, lone geniuses or saints who set to work on improving the lot of humanity. Instead, it is a story of monstruous ego, toxic insecurities, and bitter career rivalry that at times resembles 'Game of Thrones' but enacted with lab coats and pipettes, rather than chain mail and poisoned daggers. Some of the cast involved deserve our sympathy, while others are just plain odious." Compared with the treatment of COVID-19 in very recent years, the discovery of insulin is a useful model for ongoing medical history. The purpose of this book is to explore the objective history of a major medical discovery, beyond the myths, Nobel Prizes, and glory.
Audience: The book will certainly attract many readers, including affected patients, as diabetes has reached the level of a pandemic. At a deeper level, this historical inquiry will be of interest to historians of medicine as it covers the history of insulin, beyond Banting's discovery and up to present time, through a well-researched investigation. More broadly, this is a book on the history of discoveries that offers a realistic view, a style that is surprisingly infrequent for science history books. Therefore, the audience for this book will be broad and include scholars in interdisciplinary fields and historical specialties, including intellectual, cultural, and general history.
Features: Per the author's own statement, the narrative is built on the model of a classical drama, in three acts. The first act is about the discovery of insulin by Fred Banting in Toronto and the 1923 Nobel Prize, which is the most well-known part of its history. This first act is ominous, as not all actors were happy. The second act takes place in 1940s U.K. and involves Richard Synge and Archer Martin, the chemists who developed a method to identify the chemical structure of insulin. They, too, were awarded a Nobel Prize (1952). This new development opened the way to genetic analysis and, in the third act of this book, to genetic engineering and the production of artificial insulin, which soon became an unprecedented source of revenue for Wall Street.
Assessment: This alternate take on the history of insulin and its mysterious title may dissuade potential readers. Whereas the "crooked timber" is derived from German philosopher Kant and his pessimistic view of humankind, the reference "from thick brown muck to wall street gold" may generate a feeling of a successful history made by audacious and creative scientists. This possible paradoxical vision would alter the contributions of this investigation, which might be termed as "history from below" — one that does not magnify its makers and takes them with their full personality, not just their scientific achievements. The result is a riveting story that reads like a novel for general readers, while also providing a well-documented history (with many endnotes and a bibliography) that generates a compelling case.

From the Publisher

"... comprehensive account of the modern medical history of the hormone..." — Jerome Groopman, New York Review of Books

"The lengthy bibliography and endnotes are a testament to the extensive research that has been carried out to produce this fascinating account." — Arpan K. Banerjee, Hektoen International

"The story of insulin over the past 100 years, as the historian of science (and former molecular biologist) Kersten Hall shows in this dense and fascinating book, is also a microcosm of developments in science more widely, and of changes in the politics and economics of healthcare. [...] The pleasures of this book lie mainly in the storytelling detail and the gossipy richness of the lives, friendships and feuds glimpsed in the hubbub of decades pursuing the improvement of human health." — Steven Poole, Daily Telegraph

"It is a good read and scholarly account." — Arpan Banerjee , Hektoen International Journal

"Insulin-the Crooked Timber is essential reading for anyone concerned with the history of insulin." — Social History of Alcohol and Drugs.

"Hall's The Crooked Timber expertly combines careful attention to the science with thoughtful consideration of its historical and philosophical dimensions." — Neelanjana Ray, History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences

Product Details

BN ID:	2940178505786
Publisher:	Tantor Audio
Publication date:	03/29/2022
Edition description:	Unabridged

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