books
Life Among The Tower Boys' Reviewed by Jeffrey L Fox
I
want to thank the organizers of C&ENfor inviting me to present this book review and, now, if we could have the lights dimmed, could I see my first slide? Assuming thatfirstsentence survives its journey past the sensibly critical eyes of C&EN's editorial staff, let me promise that it appears here only in blatant parody of an unwelcome device that runs through Candace Pert's "Molecules of Emotion," an alternately engaging and infuriating autobiographical excursion into her scien tific career. Who ever expected some one's life story to be presented as if a lec ture—part personal history and feelings, and part a didactic lesson on brain chemis try? The book is more successful in those segments that stray from this pedestrian format. In a similar vein, Pert's glib references to various colleagues as 'power boys" and to the National Institutes of Health as the "Palace" clashes with other more se rious subjects that run through the book. This characteristic unevenness proves distracting and damaging to the books overall effort. The story begins in the early 1970s when Pert plunged into a neurosciences graduate program, working in the labora tory of wunderkind psychiatrist-turnedbrain-researcher Solomon Snyder at Johns Hopkins University Medical School. Sny der, whom she calls "one of the Golden Boys," had worked with Julius Axelrod, a Nobel Laureate at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). They in turn were part of a small, but at the time exponen tially growing, group of researchers who set their minds on studying the then-new specialty of neuroscience, which aims at explaining how the brain and other com ponents of the nervous system work. Pert arrived at Hopkins with a biology degree from Bryn Mawr, where she was too squeamish to dissect her share of frogs. Soon after she joined Snyder and his ambitious entourage of bright young scientists, she began to work on an in toxicating problem—literally seeking to discover a natural receptor for opiate drugs such as morphine. The opiate re 32 FEBRUARY 9, 1998 C&EN
ceptor project soon pushed her past that early squeamishness into an energetic period of grinding and analyzing mam malian gut (an unexpected source of mo lecular components also used in the cen tral nervous system) and brain tissues.
Naloxone
"Molecules of Emotion: Why You Feel the Way You Feel," by Candace B. Pert. Scribner. 1230 Avenue of the Amer icas. New York. N.Y.. 10020. 199". 368 pages, $25 (ISBN 0-684-8318^-2)
Defying Snyder's admonitions to pur sue a more surefire thesis problem, Pert doggedly kept after the putative opiate receptor, eventually finding it by employ ing some nice chemical tricks involving use of drug stereoisomers and the mor phine antagonist naloxone. Snyder, con fronted with the raw but convincing data
from the no longer authorized venture, spluttered his approval and immediately renewed his commitment to the rescued project. Mainly for the success of those ef forts, Snyder and two other research ers—but not Pert—won the 1978 Lasker Award, an event that seems pivotal in her career. Not in the least inclined to play the old boys' game, Pert was out raged at being omitted from this award, often called the U.S. Nobel Prize, as near ly half of the basic research Lasker Award winners have gone on to win No bel Prizes. She did what was then un thinkable to the scientific establishment, let alone to a mentor who had just won such a prestigious award: She went pub lic with her feelings, boycotted the award ceremony, and intimated that cro nyism and sexism were largely to blame for her exclusion from the winners' cir cle. Moreover, by refusing to sign a criti cal nominating letter that came in the wake of the award, Pert contends that she helped to scuttle Snyder's chances for a Nobel Prize in Medicine. In the two decades since that epi sode, Pert has often done interesting re search while thumbing her nose at the scientific establishment. During much of that time, she also has courted public opinion in a way that few of her col leagues know how to do and that many of them both envy and disapprove. And although Pert spent much of this period compiling generally solid achievements in her neuroscience investigations, she also embarked on scientific adventures into cancer and AIDS research that have proven risky—no surprise—but also damaging to her credibility. Pert's fervent efforts to apply some of her neuroscience expertise and lore to the development of an antiviral agent to com bat the human immunodeficiency virus re sponsible for AIDS led her to leave NIMH in 1987 in a departure marked with some what more discreet allegations of crony ism and sexism than had been leveled ear lier during the Lasker fracas. Pert, the per petual upstart, catapulted into the start-up world of biotechnology, replete with brief case-carrying attorneys, corporate bou tiques, and occasional rides in limousines. For a short period, she ran her own com pany, trying to prove that a molecule known as peptide Τ would be a useful treatment for individuals with AIDS. So far, her enthusiasm for the soundness of this receptor-based peptide Τ approach to combating HIV has not overcome its shortcomings in the clinic.
To this mix of laboratory and clinical research activities, Pert has recently add ed another ingredient, one that comes under the heading "new age" or "alterna tive" medicine. Her book's subtitle, "Why You Feel the Way You Feel," pro vides fair warning to hard-hearted read ers that there are hard-hat emotional deconstruction sites lying ahead. Like many other volumes in the selfhelp section of bookstores, this book tends to fall short of meeting its own subtitle's promise. When the author en ters the territory where self-help lan guage prevails, she writes more about feelings and less about how those feel ings take form. That peptides such as the endorphins are genuine "molecules of emotion" is not in doubt. On several levels, they do indeed satisfy the definition inherent in the b o o k s subtitle. Moreover, in a didac tic sense, the book more than meets one of its promises as it describes important developments involving research on neu ropeptides, their specific receptors, and where they seem to play important roles in the brain and throughout the nervous system. In achieving this goal, the book also provides an insider's frequently unflatter ing scrutiny of a select group of principal investigators in this field. Most of them appear very clever and ambitious, but some are also portrayed as reckless and unscrupulous. But in a take-no-prisoners form of fairness, many of Pert's own blemishes are made just as visible as any one else's. As the book moves beyond solid de scriptions of basic neuroscience and col orful portrayals of its practitioners, its momentum falters and its scientific story line becomes less satisfying. Does mere awareness of those peptides and some of their many physiologic activities begin to address the entreating "why" of Pert's
Hardbacks Fossil Hydrocarbons: Chemistry a n d Technology. Norbert Berkowitz. xiii + 351 pages. Academic Press, 525 Β St., Suite 1900, San Diego, Calif. 92101-4495. 1997. $89. Functional Monomers and Polymers. 2nd Ed. Kiichi Takemoto, Raphael M. Ottenbrite, Mikiharu Kamachi, editors, xi + 537 pages. Marcel Dekker, 270 Madison Ave., New York, N.Y. 10016-0602. 1997. $175. Handbook of Fiber Finish Technology. Philip E. Slade. xii + 522 pages. Marcel Dek
subtitle? A visit to the local multiplex cin ema or to the romance section of any bookstore suggests that our collective clutch on why we feel what w e feel is far from being satisfied. Perhaps the prob lem is that, when the going is rough, few of us really want an intellectually satisfy ing answer to that question; w e just want to feel better. For those whose emotional quest is particularly urgent, somehow knowing that a major portion of the secret they are seeking lies wrapped neatly in neuropep tide packages seems just a trifle misleading and probably disheartening. For those whose quest is less than urgent, discus sions about neuropeptides being mole cules of emotion is likely to be no more than idle chitchat. To be sure, many ath letes now talk knowingly about their "en dorphin highs." Nevertheless, Pert's valu able but superficial insights fall some w h e r e short of meeting h e r book's seemingly promised but preposterous goal—explaining human feelings. In the end, though, it is probably not fair—it may even be impertinent—to hold the author to task for falling short of such a goal. After all, the "power boys" working in and outside the "Palace" have not fully delivered either: For all the powerful tools at their disposal, they have not yet cured cancer and AIDS, have not sorted out the inner workings of all those molecules of emotion, and are only beginning to investigate serious ly alternative practices in medicine such as acupuncture. Thanks in part to Pert and other researcher renegades like her, they're trying. Jeffrey L. Fox is a freelance science writer in Washington, D.C., who writes frequently about microbiology and bio technology. While a senior editor at C&EN during the early 1980s, he often wrote about developments in the neuro sciences. Λ
ker, 270 Madison Ave., New York, N.Y. 10016-0602. 1997. $175. Handbook of Organic Conductive Mole cules and Polymers. Vol. 1. ChargeTransfer Salts, Fullerenes and Photoconductors. Hari Singh Nalwa, editor, xii + 807 pages. John Wiley & Sons, 605 Third Ave., New York, N.Y. 10158. 1997. $215. Handbook of Organic Conductive Mole cules and Polymers. Vol. 2. Conductive Polymers: Synthesis and Electrical Properties. Hari Singh Nalwa, editor, xiii + 865 pages. John Wiley & Sons, 605 Third Ave., New York, N.Y. 10158. 1997. $215.
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34
FEBRUARY 9, 1998 C&EN
Handbook of Organic Conductive Mole cules and Polymers. Vol. 3. Conductive Polymers: Spectroscopy and Physical Properties. Hari Singh Nalwa, editor, xiii + 870 pages. John Wiley & Sons, 605 Third Ave., New York, N.Y. 10158. 1997. $215.
More Chemistry and Crime: From Marsh Arsenic Test to DNA Profile. Samuel M. Gerber, Richard Saferstein, editors, xii + 204 pages. American Chemical Society, 1155—16th St., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036. 1997. $28.95.
Handbook of Organic Conductive Mole cules and Polymers. Vol. 4. Conductive Polymers: Transport, Photophysics and Applications. Hari Singh Nalwa, edi tor, xiii + 703 pages. John Wiley & Sons, 605 Third Ave., New York, N.Y. 10158. 1997. $215.
NMR Spectroscopy: Processing Strategies. Peter Bigler, xviii + 249 pages. John Wiley & Sons, 605 Third Ave., New York, N.Y. 10158. 1997. $99.
Hydrocarbon Resins. R. Mildenberg, M. Zander, G. Collin, editors, xii + 179 pages. John Wiley & Sons, 605 Third Ave., New York, N.Y. 10158. 1997. $140. Hydrogen Bonding: A Theoretical Per spective. Steve Scheiner. xix + 375 pages. Oxford University Press, 198 Madison Ave., New York, N.Y. 10016. 1997. $85. Infrared and Raman Spectra of Inorganic and Coordination Compounds. Parts A & B. 5th Ed. Kazuo Nakamoto. xiii + 387 and 384 pages, respectively. John Wiley & Sons, 605 Third Ave., New York, N.Y. 10158. 1997. $64.95, $69.95, respectively. Introduction to Pharmacology. Mannfred A. Hollinger, xiv + 291 pages. Taylor & Francis, 1900 Frost Rd., Suite 101, Bristol, Pa. 19007. 1997. $89.95 hardcover; $29.95 papercover, £5995. Ion Properties. Yizhak Marcus, vi + 259 pag es. Marcel Dekker, 270 Madison Ave., New York, N.Y. 10016Ό602. 1997. $135. Ligand-Receptor Energetics: A Guide for the Perplexed. Irving M. Klotz. xi + 170 pages. John Wiley & Sons, 605 Third Ave., New York, N.Y. 10158. 1997. $44.95. Mathematica® in the Laboratory. Samuel Dick, Alfred Riddle, Douglas Stein, editors, xviii + 320 pages. Cambridge University Press, 40 West 20th St., New York, N.Y. 10011-4211. 1997. $74.95 hardcover, $2995 papercover. Methods in Enzymology. Vol. 277: Macromolecular Crystallography. Part B. Charles W. Carter Jr., Robert M. Sweet, ed itors, xxxiii + 664 pages. Academic Press, 525 Β St., Suite 1900, San Diego, Calif. 92101-4495. 1997. $99. Methods in Enzymology. Vol. 289: SolidPhase Peptide Synthesis. Gregg B. Fields, editor, xxxi + 780 pages. Academic Press, 525 Β St., Suite 1900, San Diego, Calif. 921014495. 1997. $110. Microwave-Enhanced Chemistry: Funda mentals, Sample Preparation, and Ap plications. Η. Μ. (Skip) Kingston, Stephen J. Haswell, editors, xxviii + 772 pages. American Chemical Society, 1155—16th St., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036. 1997. $109.95.
Nanostructured Materials: Clusters, Com posites, and Thin Films. ACS Symposium Series 679. Vladimir M. Shalaev, Martin Moskovits, editors, ix + 268 pages. Ameri can Chemical Society, 1155—16th St., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036. 1997. $99.95. Organic Chemistry: An Intermediate Text. Robert V. Hoffman, xii + 322 pages. Ox ford University Press, 198 Madison Ave., New York, N.Y. 10016. 1997. $49.95. Organic Electroluminescent Materials and Devices. Seizo Miyata, Hari Singh Nal wa, editors, χ + 487 pages. Gordon & Breach Science Publishing Group, Amsteldijk 166, 1st Floor, 1079 LH Amster dam, the Netherlands. 1997. $180. Pharmacokinetics: Processes, Mathemat ics, and Applications. 2nd Ed. ACS Pro fessional Reference Book. Peter G. Well ing, xiv + 393 pages. American Chemical Society, 1155—16th St., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036. 1997. $99.95. Photonic and Optoelectronic Polymers. ACS Symposium Series 672. Samson A. Jenekhe, Kenneth J. Wynne, editors, xii + 566 pages. American Chemical Society, 1155—16th St., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036. 1997. $144.95. Pollution Prevention through Process In tegration: Systematic Design Tools. Mahmoud M. El-Halwagi. xv + 318 pages. Academic Press, 525 Β St., Suite 1900, San Diego, Calif. 921014495. 1997. $59.95. Poly(ethylene glycol): Chemistry and Bio logical Applications. ACS Symposium Series 680. J. Milton Harris, Samuel Zalipsky, editors, xi + 489 pages. American Chemical Society, 1155—16th St., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036. 1997. $134.95. Polymer Colloids: A Comprehensive In troduction. Robert M. Fitch, xxiv + 346 pages. Harcourt Brace & Co., Foots Cray High St., Sidcup, Kent DAI4 5HP, U.K. 1997. $80. Polymers and Copolymers of Higher α-Olefins: Chemistry, Technology, Ap plications. B. A. Krentsel, et al. viii + 375 pages. Hanser/Gardner Publications, 6600 Clough Pike, Cincinnati, Ohio 45244-4090. 1997. $147.50.^
