Rating: 
Summary: Superb: provocative, thorough, absorbing.
Review: This is an excellent book. Hooper has done a rare and difficult thing. He brings together an enormous amount of original investigative reporting, an exhaustive study of the existing scientific literature and a deep knowledge of Africa in order to develop a clear, coherent and quite compelling theory of the origin of HIV. The book presents that theory in great detail, compares it to its various alternatives, and tests them all against the evidence. He builds a remarkable case, piece by piece, in a clear and readable manner. Although the frustrations (and sometimes the pleasures) of 10 years of research against the tide occasionally show through the prose, the tone throughout is careful, deliberate, fair and even-handed. At every step he acknowledges the strengths and weaknesses of his own theory and others. Hooper is obviously no crackpot. Rather, he displays all the virtues of the great scientists who populate the book: intellectual independence, an imagination disciplined by the facts, a terrific work-rate, and a deep and abiding passion for the truth. He also retains another, which many of them seem to lose along the way: humility. The book is an original and important history of the golden era of virology, a window on the world of contemporary scientific politics, and, above all, a tour de force of sustained thinking and research on one of the most important questions of our time. Read this book.
Rating:
Summary: Reads like a literary mystery
Review: Though a long, complex, and technical book, THE RIVER held my daily interest until I had finished it. A masterpiece of investigative journalism written by a man with high interpersonal intelligence who understands the human side of science and its pitfalls. Hooper discusses other possible dangers of cross-species transfer of viruses in the use of transplanted animal parts in humans. Science, Hooper demonstrates, must include careful documentation, followup, and open, honest discussion. A rush to solutions can be more dangerous than the original problem. A must read for anyone in public health or concerned with the AIDS epidemic.
Rating:
Summary: well explained, documented, and plausible
Review: What led me to get this book is that I have still not heard anything convincing as to what caused the AIDS pandemic. Particularly, the "monkey bite" or "sexual transmission during intercourse with monkeys" explanation doesn't seem to make much sense to me, nor do any of the many "conspiracy theories" out there. So I figured, I see what this author has to say and whether or not it makes any more sense in explaining where AIDS came from than what I've come across so far.
The sheer number of pages in this book has originally scared me a little, and I was also concerned whether or not I'd be able to understand the scientific background this author bases his theory on. So I started the book almost reluctantly, but after the first 100 pages or so, I was completely hooked. It is voluminous, but easy to read and, despite its actually dry subject, a surprisingly suspensefull read. The points made appear to be well researched and backed up, and all is explained in a fashion that can be followed by a non-scientist. And even more importantly, the book presents a theory of the origin of AIDS that is at least as plausible, if not much more so than any other I've ever come across. I would even go as far as to say that if the theory presented in this book has been or were to be proven wrong, it would still be a very worthwhile read as a throught-provoking fiction thriller. In any case and at the very least, it is a testimonial of incredible research and writing skills, not to mention invested effort, and worthwhile a closer look.
Rating:
Summary: LOTS OF PAPERCLIPS
Review: When I read a book that tells me new and important things about the world that I have been living in, i note the pages with important info with paperclips. This book is easily a 100-200 paperclip book. Only other books that compare to this in my large library, devoted to the history of the USA since 1933, are THE MAKING OF THE ATOMIC BOMB by Richard Rhodes and THE ORIGINS OF THE KOREAN WAR by Bruce Cumings. I have yet to finish the book, I am only finished with chapter 39[out of 58], but these 535 pages were consumed in two evenings, late. The fascination for me was learning about a set of medical research activities of which I was unaware. From my high school biology I had learned that vaccines were cultured in eggs. What a shock to learn that live polio vaccines were cultured from the cuisinarted kidneys of wild primates. As of page 535, my only complaint is that I would have liked Hooper to have spent a chapter, with photos, illustrating the mechanism[s] of vaccine production. As Hooper has developed the recounting of his odyssey, so far, it seems to me clear that there have been a number of knowledgeable medicos who looked the other way when confronted with the Koprowski procedures, a number of medicos who buttoned their lips after the loose scientific procedures went astray. In closing, I want to add that I passed this book by for weeks because I felt that there was nothing new that I could learn about viral diseases[HIV, AIDs]. And then I read a squib in a newspaper recently where the CDC was recommending that live[oral] polio vaccinations be discontinued as the entire method of polio vaccination. When I read that, I immediately ordered this book. Vaccines as a business. As a claim to gold and glory. A perfect sidelight history on the postWW2 era. Indispensable for understanding the investigative process as it pertains to causation. The best investigative book of the decade.
Rating: 
Summary: Well written and extrememly convincing, but . . .
Review: While this book was well written and very convincing, it has since been proven wrong. Modern experimental evidence conducted and obtained since the book was published (and because it was published) has all but debunked Hooper's theory. For those interested, I suggest going to a medical or collge library and reading the following paper for a good review of the scientific data: "CHAT oral polio vaccine was not the source of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 group M for humans." Clinical Infectious Diseases 2001;32:1068-1084 Hooper's work is an excellent example of how, if one is not careful, one can interpret data to mean anything one wants it to.
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