The Family That Couldn't Sleep

A Medical Mystery

By: D.T. Max

Narrated by: Grover Gardner

Length: 8 hrs and 45 mins

Publisher's summary

For 200 years, a noble Venetian family has suffered from an inherited disease that strikes their members in middle age, stealing their sleep, eating holes in their brains, and ending their lives in a matter of months. In Papua New Guinea, a primitive tribe is nearly obliterated by a sickness whose chief symptom is uncontrollable laughter. Across Europe, millions of sheep rub their fleeces raw before collapsing. In England, cows attack their owners in the milking parlors, while in the American West, thousands of deer starve to death in fields full of grass.

What these strange conditions, including fatal familial insomnia, kuru, scrapie, and mad cow disease, share is their cause: prions. Prions are ordinary proteins that sometimes "go wrong", resulting in neurological illnesses that are always fatal. Even more mysterious and frightening, prions are almost impossible to destroy because they are not alive and have no DNA. And the diseases they bring are now spreading around the world.

In The Family That Couldn't Sleep, essayist and journalist D. T. Max tells the spellbinding story of the prion's hidden past and deadly future. Through exclusive interviews and original archival research, Max explains this story's connection to human greed and ambition, from the Prussian chemist Justus von Liebig, who made cattle meatier by feeding them the flesh of other cows, to New Guinean natives whose custom of eating the brains of the dead nearly wiped them out.

The biologists who have investigated these afflictions are just as extraordinary. They include Daniel Carleton Gajdusek, a self-described "pedagogic pedophiliac pediatrician" who cracked kuru and won the Nobel Prize, and another Nobel winner, Stanley Prusiner, a driven, feared self-promoter who identified the key protein that revolutionized prion study.

©2006 D.T. Max (P)2006 Tantor Media, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Very timely and compellingly written." (Booklist)

Objective and engaging

I read Dr. Prusiner's book before this one. Prusiner is a brilliant scientist and his book is worth a read if you are interested in Prion diseases, but it becomes difficult to appreciate the science behind his ego.
This book, on the other hand is much more objective and engaging. The author is obviously a better writer and has done enough research to provide accurate descriptions of the science without feeling like a scientific paper. He gives credit where credit is due to numerous researchers, including Prusiner; but is also sure to mention their short comings both scientifically and personally (where appropriate). The added story telling and patient perspective gives another layer, providing emotional depth to the interesting science.

Fascinating, haunting and sometimes humorous

There is a family of disorders that eat away the brains of their victims, whether they are humans or livestock. I know, sounds depressing, but the search for the cause of these disorders is utterly fascinating. There are enough personal stories to make it feel a bit like a novel at times, but it is actually a true scientific detective story. There are brilliant and odd scientists, conflicted and disorganized governments, and some deeply sad and touching personal stories. There are also enough ironic and even humorous moments to keep things from ever feeling too heavy. I particularly liked hearing that a researcher had for years kept a flock of infected sheep on the roof of a London hospital. I've been passionate about reading up on these prion diseases for years, and I still found lots in this book that was new to me. I've shared this book with people who were unfamiliar with prions, and they have found it captivating and easy to understand.

Fascinating overview on the history of prions, its victims and researchers

Excellent narration and scientific approach to prions and the various diseases both in animals and humans.

Both Entertaining & Educational

This book not only tells the story of fatal familial insomnia, but it also explains the history and research on proteins that won't properly fold. The whole book is superbly interesting and much of the science is explained in ways that are easy to understand.

An engaging overview

The story follows an Italian family through several generations dealing with hereditary prion disease. The narration is excellent.

Quite informative

I know others have put down this book because it isn't just about the life of the family that couldn't sleep. True, it is a book about prions, and tells of all of the research in many fields and into many disorders. But, scientific though it is, it really is facinating and quite easy to follow along with and understand. The reader does have a bit of an annoying habit of ending every sentence the same way with a strange inflection, but you'll get used to it, or at least learn to ignore it.

Good listen

Thorough and informative, interesting despite the somewhat random topic. Covers the entire gamut of "prion" self-replicating proteins and the damage they have wrought upon both man and beast, and the brains of those unfortunate enough to become afflicted. Narrator is somewhat nasal but carries the narrative well.

Great book

One of my all time favorites! I’ve listened 3 times, soaking up all of the information. Recommended by This Podcast Will Kill You.

Very good book

This was a great book. It had very good information and was well written. Fascinating biological information was expressed thoughtfully. I have a degree in biology and still felt that the information was in depth, but would be appropriate for any listener.

I lost sleep over this one!

Wow, I had no idea how much prions affected our world! From cannibals, to mad cows, to inherited conditions. Mad cow hit the head lines and we all learned some, but this book exposes and explains the stories behind the headlines, and why these diseases are so scary. Nothing graphic, good language, highly recommend this book to all interested in disease, science, and a good listen.