In Cold Pursuit: Medical Intelligence Investigates the Common Cold

Gilmore, J. Barnard

ISBN 10: 0773731199 / ISBN 13: 9780773731196

Published by Stoddart, Toronto, 1998

About this Item

8vo, 326 pp.

Seller Inventory # 115775

Bibliographic Details

• Title: In Cold Pursuit: Medical Intelligence Investigates the Common Cold
• Publisher: Stoddart, Toronto
• Publication Date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0773731199
• ISBN 13: 9780773731196
• Binding: hardcover
• Edition: 1st.
• Condition: Fine copy in fine dust jacket
• Dust Jacket Condition: Dust Jacket Included
• Seller catalogs:
  • Medicine

About this title

From the Author

The Common Cold makes for interesting reading indeed.
If I, as author, could write an anonymous review of my own bookhere is what I might write: In Cold Pursuit is deeper than it first appears to be. At first it appears to be simply an engaging history of one branch of medical research and an interesting detective story about how it was finally decided that viruses lead to colds. It slowly becomes clear however that this far oversimplifies the truth about colds. Colds turn out to be remarkable things. Perhaps even friendly things. But I mustn't give away too much of the story.

Because the author is a Psychologist and not an M.D. I assumed (incorrectly, it turned out) that the book would show that colds have a significant psychosomatic component. But as the opening pages of this book make clear, the story of colds is a continuous stream of suprises and contradictions. Fascinating contradictions to be sure, but "final answers" tend to be few and far between in this book, as they are in most of working science. That doesn't make the story any the less satisfying or interesting as it goes along, but it does mean that unavoidably the reader will need to reach the last page of the book before it becomes clear how much more than just the common cold has been explored here. This is not to say that every part of every chapter needs to be read to appreciate the interest of this topic. Nor is it to say the chapters of the book all have to be read in order. I found on a second reading that I had just as much fun starting in the middle and jumping back and forth as I did reading it through the first time.

Different findings described in this book will speak to different readers on different readings. Perhaps it is not giving too much away to say that doing research on the nature of colds and their means of transmission (or perhaps safer: and their means of activation) can often be fun at the same time that it is serious and important. For instance this book reports some surprising data from kissing studies done with married couples suffering colds. Mothers and their babies also offered some surprising data about colds. And there is plenty of adventure to report too, including cold research carried out inside patrolling nuclear submarines, in isolated Antarctic stations, and in the shadow of active volcanos.

This book gives us a serious and sympathetic look at colds, at science, and at some of the politics and serendipities that shape scientific research. It has a friendly, literate writing style, and it brings a reassuring message about colds and human health.

In Cold Pursuit also includes a good index together with helpful endnotes that often contain wry commentary on the text. (The penultimate endnote gives the author's email address for those who may want to write to him.) I found this book to be perfect for times of relaxed reading, particularly when I was home with a cold.