Splendid Solution

Jonas Salk and the Conquest of Polio

By: Jeffrey Kluger

Narrated by: Michael Prichard

The riveting story of one of the greatest scientific accomplishments of the twentieth century, from the co-author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Apollo 13.

With rivalries, reversals, and a race against time, the struggle to eradicate polio is one of the great tales of modern history. It begins with the birth of Jonas Salk, shortly before one of the worst polio epidemics in United States history. At the time, the disease was a terrifying enigma: striking from out of nowhere, it afflicted tens of thousands of children in this country each year and left them, literally overnight, paralyzed, and sometimes at death's door.

Salk was in medical school just as a president crippled by the disease, Franklin D. Roosevelt, was taking office, and providing the impetus to the drive for studies on polio. By the early 1950s, Salk had already helped create an influenza vaccine, and was hot on the trail of the polio virus. He was nearly thwarted, though, by the politics of medicine and by a rival researcher eager to discredit his proposed solution. Meanwhile, in 1952, polio was spreading in record numbers, with 57,000 cases in the United States that summer alone.

In early 1954, Salk was weighing the possibility of trials of a not-yet-perfected vaccine against, as the summer approached, the prospect of thousands more children being struck down by the disease. The results of the history-making trials were announced at a press conference on April 12, 1955: "The vaccine works." The room, and an entire nation, erupted in cheers for this singular medical achievement.

Salk became a cultural hero and icon for a whole generation. Now, at the fiftieth anniversary of the first national vaccination program, and as humanity is tantalizingly close to eradicating polio worldwide, comes this unforgettable chronicle. Salk's work was an unparalleled achievement, and it makes for a magnificent listen.

©2005 Jeffrey Kluger (P)2005 Tantor

Critic reviews

"The book is well researched and accessible, made all the more tense and gripping by the author's depiction of the pre-vaccine world." (Publishers Weekly)

fascinating

if you are a science nerd like me, this is a riveting historical account of one of medicine's great advances... personal tales woven into the public ones which became an international one.

Very Interesting to me indeed!!!!

As a member of the health care team as a pharmacist and one who was a child of the age group most susceptible to Polio during this period in the 1950's, I found this story fascinating. It brought back forgotten memories of that time such as the memory of getting both the Salk vaccine by injection and then later the Sabin vaccine via a sugar cube. I vaguely remember the fear in my parents at that time and the issues in Idaho with some children getting Polio from Cutter's vaccine. Ironically later in my life after pharmacy school, I went to work for Lilly Pharmaceuticals for 26 yrs. During my years with I became aware of Lilly's involvement in Polio vaccines, but I learned much more about their actual role by listening to this audiobook.

Fascinating

There is so much information in this book regarding the research that went into finding how to overcome polio. I enjoyed learning from this book. I recommend it highly.

Highly recommended

Have to choose a title for a school book report? Look no further. I stayed up well past my bedtime listening to this book (yes, even mommies have bedtimes); I was absolutely fascinated by it. Science and history rolled into one.

Kluger does a wonderful job of making the story about more than just the bench research; in fact, there is actually very little science in the book. This is a story about how a dreaded disease attacked people and how people - laymen and scientists -- pulled together (and apart) to conquer the disease.

Get this book. You will not be disappointed.

Fantastic Race to End Polio: The Vexing Vaccine!

Would you consider the audio edition of Splendid Solution to be better than the print version?

This book provided a peep-show into the politics, money, and egos that mash against each other in the ivory towers of academic medicine.

From a scientific perspective, there are always inherent risks with medical interventions and vaccinations are no exception. However, this story provides a real world, poignant account of the disease alternative. A must read for all those non-scientist mothers who are choosing to not vaccinate their children.