Dancing Naked in the Mind Field

Rating:
Summary: Refreshing, provocative, original and immensely entertaining
Review: I had no idea someone like Kary Mullis could possibly exist, except as a fictional character. Kary Mullis - a brilliant scientist, hedonist (in a postive and loving sense), mystic and thinker, winner of the Nobel Prize for chemistry, seeker of consciousness altering insights through psychoactive chemistry experiments - I can only say this book has been my most enjoyable and interesting read of 1998.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting personality, worth knowing about
Review: The media is trying to sell this book on the basis of surfing, womanizing, and alien abduction. If that is what you're looking for, look elsewhere. All that is peripheral to this book. This is an interesting work which gives you a more human look at a Nobel laureate, a species of beast one reads about briefly in the newspaper. Mullis, is passionate, curious, and a man of scientific integrity. You may disagree with him, but he will delight you with his wide-ranging intellect. It appears that the book was first written by a professional writer, and then re-written by Mullis. I wish Mullis had written the whole thing himself. He reads best, when he writes in his own voice. Irascible, opinionated, but stimulating.

Rating:
Summary: This is a great book and a great personality
Review: No book this year was more interesting, more exciting, more refreshing and more stimulating than this one for me. It recharges your brain and leaves you in love with science and life. I disagree with some of his points of view, but it only enhances the magic of the book.

Rating:
Summary: Plenty Cool!
Review: Not only the guy is a genius but he is HILARIOUS! I was laughing out loud while reading the book. From his early lab work to the OJ Simpson trial the guy comes across with an easy and smart prose.

Rating:
Summary: A biochemist gives us a new view of some popular issues
Review: Kary Mullis won't win any friends in the FDA (or Glaxo, or...) with this book, but Americans who believe everything they "hear" about subjects such as AIDS and HIV should read this small but fascinating book. The man understands documenting claims and proving what you say. He's eccentric, certainly fidelity-challenged as far as women go, but he didn't get that Nobel prize in biochem for nothing. It is almost misleading to read his prose, because he takes concepts that are complex and renders them simple - because, to him, they ARE simple. No gobble-de-gook, and whether you agree with his world view, you cannot deny his important points. AND he'll make you laugh every once in a while, too.

Rating:
Summary: Darkly humorous essays on science and life
Review: Dancing Naked in the Mind Field is a collection of essays on semi-random topics. Kary Mullis, winner of the nobel prize in chemistry for inventing PCR, probably couldn't get away with saying most of this if he hadn't won a nobel prize. And he knows it and implies it.

Common subjects dealt with are explosions (the aspect of chemistry that got Mullis interested as a child) and hallucinogens and other drugs. Another common subject is stupid things that slide in science today and why they might be sliding. For example Mullis describes the success of his first published paper in Nature. As a grad student he published a theoretical paper on time travel. First Nature published it. Second it got a lot of press and he was referred to as "Dr Mullis" in news articles despite being a grad student. When he tried to publish on PCR he had to shop the article around and published in a less well read journal. This probably affects his views on other subjects: the hole in the ozone layer is a non-existent problem (as if we could noticeably change the atmosphere), HIV doesn't cause AIDS and might not exist (well we've never isolated HIV, there isn't a tube of it somewhere to study), colesterol doesn't cause heart disease, etc.

He backs up his unconventional views by pointing out the lack of scientific evidence to support other people's theories. As he points out "everybody knows" isn't a reference that should fly in a journal article.

And Mullis points out whether or not his hunches are testable. Alien abduction (which he experienced and describes) is not testable because the experiment can't be duplicated. Astrology being the major indicator of personality type can be studied and tested. Mullis also brushes on traveling through the astral plane as long as we are talking about popculture wierdness.

Dancing Naked in the Mind Field is good fast reading. The writing is always entertaining and very accessible with humor. The issues Mullis raises are good to think about, especially regarding scientific bias.

Rating:
Summary: think for yourself - educate yourself
Review: kary mullis is a genius, but genius alone is not enough to encapsulate his humanistic and respectful value system. the book is a series of vignettes from mullis' experiences -- including some science and a lot of life. it was a great pleasure to read, not particularly for literary value but, instead, for the direct uncensored access to his thoughts. mullis interposes no artifice, and has quite a lot to say.

Rating:
Summary: I loved this book
Review: I read some of the negative reviews of this book, and I think it's great that you pin-head science geeks don't like this book! You don't like it because Dr. Mullis isn't like you..he doesn't think with his head up his back side. Get over yourself and enjoy this book with Kary's refreshing look at science, the paranormal, global warming, etc. Maybe if you got out of the lab, and lived a little, you'd appreciate this book more.

Rating:
Summary: Only a couple of chapters in...
Review: ok, i am in love with kary mullis after reading this boook. it was all around amazing. he touches on lots of different subjects and the book doesn't really seem to follow any kind of pattern, its just lots of good bundles of thoughts. i think that kary gives new meaning to "thinking outside the box" and he probably lives outside the box. such an innovator. such a genius. if you are a dorky-science-fiend you'll love this book.... oh, and i would like to note here that anyone who reads and dislikes this book is not fit for life and obviously ignorant. everyone must love this book, i demand it. hehe :o)