Rating: 
Summary: Downright frightening
Review: This book is as scary as any nonfiction piece I have ever read. Extrapolating from the Mad Cow epidemics in England, Rhodes examines a whole new type of viral infections whose effects are ghastly in the extreme. It would be nice to be able to disparage this book by saying that Rhodes is simply another doomsday author trying to drum up fear just to sell books, but his Pulitzer Prize winning credibility makes the reader look at his message carefully. If he is right, humans may not be long for the planet. Is that a good thing - or a bad thing?
Rating: 
Summary: Cool Beans
Review: This book is incredibly fact filled, another great Rhodes masterpiece.
Rating:
Summary: Cannibalisam Bites a Big One
Review: This book tells the tale of cannibalism and its consequences. It begins in the highlands of New Guinea and takes the reader across space and time to the stockyards of England. It is essentially a history of the discovery and investigation of a new infectious agent--not a virus such as Ebola or HIV---but rather a renegade protein known as a prion. It is a compelling story and certainly an excellant book from the standpoint of history but it unfortunateley falls ill to that journalistic malady "sensationalitis". It suggests that England and perhaps the rest of Europe will suffer the biggest plague since the dark ages. However, I think this one gaff can be forgiven, since, on balance the book is a good read.
Rating:
Summary: If you read this book, you'll give up beefsteak forever!
Review: This is an important book, offering the complete story of "Bovine Spongiform Encephalitis," better known as "Mad Cow Disease." The research is impeccable, and the writing style is lively; there are points where author Rhodes brings the pacing of a good mystery story to his tale. Ultimately, however, the prose is incidental--it's the information that Rhodes provides that is so devastating. By the time the text is completed, one seriously may consider whether to eat meat again; indeed, some readers even may wonder whether it is safe to wear leather shoes. DEADLY FEASTS is not a fun read, but it is a far more worthwhile use of one's time than poring over most other books on the market.
Rating:
Summary: Bowl full of brains, brain full of holes
Review: This is the definitive new book on TSE's (Transmittable Spongiform Encephalopathies), which is the general term for diseases like: Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease
(CJD), kuru, scrapie, BSE (Mad Cow disease), and other similar conditions. The TSE's are 100% fatal and no one knows for sure what causes them.
This book runs through the history of how scrapie was first found in sheep in the 1700's, and kuru was found amongst the cannibals in New Guinea in the 1950's,
to Mad Cow disease which surfaced in the 1980's, and into the present day, where CJD (which affects humans) is on the upswing. CJD manifests itself in different
ways according to which strain it is, but the condition kills nerve cells in the brain and causes the victims to stagger and loose coordination. As the disease
progresses, symptoms can include dementia, inability to swallow, walk, or talk coherantly, and coma.
The various theories about what causes TSE's also put forth. There appears to be both an infectious component to the disease, and a genetic one. There are
dozens, if not hundreds of strains, affecting dozens, if not hundreds of animals. Humans exposed to the infectious agent, who have a genetic marker for that strain,
will go on to develop the disease after an incubation time which could be anywhere from 1 to 50 years. You can potentially be exposed to the infectious agent by a
number of different routes: not just eating beef, but also by eating any meat, or even by eating vegetables which have been fertilized by chicken manure. You could
get it by breathing the bone meal you spread on your garden, or by drinking milk or eating butter. You could get it from the sutures used to stitch up a wound, or
from a cornea transplant, or from a blood transfusion.
Who needs fictional horror, when the real world is so scary?
Rating:
Summary: Now What?
Review: This review refers to the abridged audio cassette version. While the entire three hours is gripping and keeps you listening in anxiety, in the end, you're left with a sense of "Now what?" There doesn't seem to be any shelter from this new virus; not even vegetarians are safe! I would have liked to have heard at least a starting point of what me and Joe Blow and Jane Doe could do to protect ourselves. If nothing can be done about it, then don't scare people. That's irresponsible. At least George Orwell could say, "Just kidding, the world isn't really under attack." I still gave it four stars for Rhode's ability to recount his research in an easily accessable language and for the subjects heuristic value.
Rating:
Summary: Now What?
Review: This review refers to the abridged audio cassette version. While the entire three hours is gripping and keeps you listening in anxiety, in the end, you're left with a sense of "Now what?" There doesn't seem to be any shelter from this new virus; not even vegetarians are safe! I would have liked to have heard at least a starting point of what me and Joe Blow and Jane Doe could do to protect ourselves. If nothing can be done about it, then don't scare people. That's irresponsible. At least George Orwell could say, "Just kidding, the world isn't really under attack." I still gave it four stars for Rhode's ability to recount his research in an easily accessable language and for the subjects heuristic value.
Rating:
Summary: Do Vegans Worry About Mad Eggplant Disease?
Review: When I was an undergrad--way back in the late '70's--we were told that no concrete evidence of cultures that practiced cannibalism existed. This was back when "primitive" societies were depicted as being pure and uncorrupted by modern woes, like MTV and carjackings. But, in fact, cannibalism has been a thriving tradition among some peoples, and has only recently been wiped out. (Maybe.) And among those who ate nervous system tissue (which would NOT be my first choice, had I been born a cannibal), kuru sometimes reared its ugly head. Kuru is yet another variation of the encephalopathy that turns the consumer's brain into sponge, which is eventually fatal. Rhodes, always a riveting storyteller, spins the tale of research into kuru, and its parallel prion-based diseases like Mad Cow and scrapie. He also examines the cut-throat academic dispute that led some early researchers (Prusiner) to the Nobel Prize and led others, equally deserving, into oblivion. Now, Mad Cow is in the news again. It seems we in the U.S. weren't safe, after all! Our meat processing industry has, for years, chosen to ignore warnings that selling "downer" cattle for human consumption is just WRONG. Also, we have been tweaking the diets of many food animals--not just cattle--with brain tissue-based protein, so who knows where it will turn up. We may be reading about Mad Chicken disease in a few years. It seems that the public is either in complete denial that this is a problem, or else convinced that this is the plague of the 21st Century. I don't think we'll know for another generation, when the effects will have started to appear. Not only that, but Chronic Wasting Disease, which affects deer and elk, has already infected at least two (that we know of) hunters who ate venison. As much as the media tries to play up the issue, and as much as the "authorities" try to play it down, we do have a problem that won't go away for awhile. I think that, for those of us who are confirmed carnivores, we really should patronize ranchers who can offer "organic" products. That may also have the effect of increasing the number of smaller agribusinesses. And we should be informed about this. Rhodes offers a primer on the subject that is as fascinating as it is chilling.
Rating:
Summary: First, Last and Foremost
Review: When Richard Rhodes published Deadly Feasts in 1997 it all seemed doubtful and futuristic. His investigations followed the development of this horror from the first, to 1997, and predicted the future (now). Rhodes insisted that if practices weren't changed the US would be plagued by infected cattle. Practices weren't changed, and recently cattle from the US were banned from most of the countries to whom we export. And practices still haven't changed. If you want to read more about the future I'd suggest you read this book. Despite the passage of years there's not a better source of information about Mad Cow Disease, the protection of the US food supply, regulators bought and paid for by the regulated industry, and what the future holds for all of us.
Rating:
Summary: First, Last and Foremost
Review: When Richard Rhodes published Deadly Feasts in 1997 it all seemed doubtful and futuristic. His investigations followed the development of this horror from the first, to 1997, and predicted the future (now). Rhodes insisted that if practices weren't changed the US would be plagued by infected cattle. Practices weren't changed, and recently cattle from the US were banned from most of the countries to whom we export. And practices still haven't changed. If you want to read more about the future I'd suggest you read this book. Despite the passage of years there's not a better source of information about Mad Cow Disease, the protection of the US food supply, regulators bought and paid for by the regulated industry, and what the future holds for all of us.
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