Intuition
by Allegra Goodman
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Book Reviews of Intuition
Book Review: original and truthful novel about the world of science
Summary: 4 Stars
I liked the idea behind "Intuition", because it was the first novel I have ever encountered, which was so close to my own life and profession. Allegra Goodman managed to find the underappreciated niche and filled it with a remarkable book. The world of academic life sciences is rendered with precision in "Intuition"; it is obvious that the author took her time to really get into the work in the lab in a prestigious institute.
Marion Mendelssohn and Sandy Glass are two co-principal investigators of the lab where several dedicated postdocs and technicians work like crazy to get the groundbreaking results. The novel starts when one of the postdocs, Cliff, is reprimanded for pursuing the experiments with R-7 virus strain, which do not seem to work. Cliff is ordered to work with another postdoc, Robin (who is also his girlfriend), on her project (which also does not work although she has been trying for five years). Behind his back, Sandy and Marion discuss letting Cliff go.
Everything changes when suddenly Cliff's experiments start working and his model mice, which are injected with cancer cells and have developed tumors, after being treated with the virus, go into remission. Everyone is happy and excited, everyone has to help Cliff finish the experiments, Cliff becomes the star of the lab, gives interviews, his results are published in Nature... But Robin suspects that something might be wrong and decides to conduct her own small investigation...
I liked very much the characters in this novel - there are probably all the personality types one can see in the world of science, from the child prodigy, through the meticulous worker, the ironic pessimist, the pursuer of success, to the fame-devouring narcissist. They are from different countries and social backgrounds, which also reflects the real situation.
All the feelings the scientist might feel during the work - frustration, jealousy, tiredness, but also relief, pride and happiness after achieving the goal are also there. The work and living conditions of all levels of scientists are perfectly depicted. The non-so-scientific side of doing science is also introduced: the National Institutes of Health bureaucracy, grant writing, media attention, and, most importantly, scientific integrity, which is the main issue in this novel. There are only two things I am wondering about: how universal this story is, how many people will read it with interest equal to mine, how important the questions discussed really are to the general public; and how soon it will get obsolete - the progress in life sciences is enormously fast so in a few years this book may read like a fossilized record of past endeavors. Anyway, fortunately now postdocs earn more than seventeen thousand dollars a year...
There was enough suspense to keep the reader engrossed, and Goodman made sure that there is enough background to get even to the people who have no clue about science. The ending is very realistic though - I do not want to include a spoiler, but I just have to say that it is very much like life and not much like a novel, which I think is a good thing, but not everyone would probably agree with me.
Book Review: Not a bad little story
Summary: 3 Stars
Allegra Goodman has spun a little yarn about integrity -- or lack thereof -- in basic cancer research in Cambridge, Mass. She sets us up with a cast of scientific characters: some postdoctoral fellows, technicians, a lab manager, senior scientists, and the people who live in these characters' orbits. One of the fellows, Cliff, has been having a run of bad luck, and suddenly seems to have found that the virus he's working on seems to eradicate tumors in mice pretty well. This starts the usual cautious and then not-so-cautious enthusiasm in his funding-starved research group. When another fellow, Robin, who is also Cliff's now-ex girlfriend, fails to confirm his work, she at first doubts her own abilities in the lab, but later comes to doubt his results.
What she does with these doubts and how the others respond to her actions make up the bulk of the story. It's a nifty enough story, though I found the ending a little unsatisfying. But then I thought about it for a while and realized that the ending probably reflects what happens most often in questions of scientific misrepresentation. You'll just have to read the book to find out what I mean.
Minor points that annoyed me:
Goodman's characters were very stereotyped. OK, this annoyed me until I realized how often we run into those stereotypes in the lab (and I've been there, so I know). Still, she resorted to telling us her characters' motivations, instead of letting us see them ourselves, which is something that really annoys me, although I suppose it does move things along to not make the reader think too hard.
She seemed to delight in showing us just how much she knows about the inside of the lab and about the Boston and Cambridge area. The tubes are not just tubes, but plastic tubes with orange screw-caps. It's not just a subway station, but the Harvard Square T Station, on the Red Line. Very good, Ms Goodman, you get a gold star for science labs and Boston stuff. It was kind of fun, in a way, because I do know both areas, but it got a little irritating after a while.
Finally, although she seemed to nail most of the lab stuff, a few details seemed not quite right. For example, I'm pretty sure that labs would not, even in the mid-80s, store their culture media in beakers (which have very wide tops) with foil on top (which is easily compromised). This would make keeping the media sterile (crucial) very difficult.
But maybe I'm being too pedantic. It was fun to read and pretty quick, too, which must mean it was fun. So go ahead and read it for a grin, especially if you live near Boston or have worked in a lab (or both).
Book Review: A Stunning Achievement... Brilliant
Summary: 5 Stars
Allegra Goodman's "Intuition" is a stunning achievement, a novel that simultaneously explores the joy and darkness of scientfic inquiry, office friendships, and intimate relationships. Intuition centers on a series of possibly flawed cancer experiments at a Cambridge, Massachusetts research institute, the detection of the possible deception, and the actions and motivation of the data's champions and doubters. Goodman's characters, ranging from the directors of the laboratory, to postdoctoral investigators, government officials, competing scientists and the families of the novel's principal figures, are sharply drawn and affecting.
The strength of Goodman's novel is that this story of the potential manipulation of research data and the perils fraught with whistle-blowing and defending the results of one's work could take place in any profession. Goodman accurately and delicately captures the tensions between idealists and pragmatists, the developers of products and research and those who market these results, and the personal and political complexities often intertwined in uncovering the truth. Goodman's work is all the stronger in that she captures each of her characters with sympathy, and because she avoids taking sides in this tale of moral and scientfic judgment.
Most fascinating about "Intuition" is that there are no outright heroes and villains-- all of Goodman's characters embody strengths and flaws. At the end, it is Goodman's depiction of human fallibility existing side-by-side with courage and intellect that makes this novel so special. Even the book's supposed protagonist, the whistleblower whose intuition uncovers the possibly flawed experimental protocols, is revealed as motivated by personal bitterness as well as integrity. And the researcher who is accused of fabricating results is similarly a mix of idealism, enthusiasm and keen ambition.
Similarly, the practices used to ascertain possible scientific fraud, ranging from internal laboratory oversight, to a peer investigation, a National Institutes of Health examination, and a Congressional inquiry are revealed as fallible and useful as the people who conduct them. Again, Goodman suggests that human conduct is patterned in shades of gray, rather than in black or white, while concluding, upliftingly, that most of us try our best even when we fail.
This subtle, powerful and complex human drama is an excellent and worthy addition to your reading list. "Intuition" will not disappoint.
Book Review: Was the beginning a fluke?
Summary: 2 Stars
The first 228 pages of this novel are so good, and the conclusion is so bad, that the two parts seem to have been written by different authors. In the first part, we see people engaged in research with live animals. It is research that has the potential to identify treatments for serious illnesses, and certainly the characters feel that their activities are thus justified. Nevertheless, the ethical questions raised by these kinds of experiments present themselves clearly. The narrator makes her distaste for the endeavor felt in her descriptions of the laboratory and the mice. The protagonist, Cliff, seems emotionally unsuited for this kind of scientific research in any event. We can see that he is too married to results. He is not focused sufficiently on the actual experiments. He wants to cure cancer. He wants to become a star. He lacks the patience for research. But all of that is very interesting. To see how someone with Cliff's temperament would deal with inevitable setbacks that attend such inquiries was something worth following up. Furthermore, the other characters provided excellent commentary on the complexity of the ethical issues. Nanette, who is a perfectly plausible character in the first part of the book, points out quite rationally that all of this talk of curing cancer and saving lives is metaphorical at best. The reality is that these post docs are spending their days in a grim laboratory torturing mice. One (well, some people) can justify such research on various grounds, but you have got to confront the thing for what it really is. All of this is so nuanced and delicately presented in the first part of the book that the subsequent crazy depiction of the confrontation with the NIH and Congress and the Secret Service (for Pete's sake) simply does not seem like it can have come from the same imagination. The whole controversy is ridiculous anyway. Scientists are supposed to question one another. This would not cause a big scandal. The fact that Robin could not duplicate the work would be taken very seriously in any real situation. That would be the first question. Can you make it happen again? and again? and again? They keep saying the the project is going well, but what can that mean if others cannot duplicate the work. So, on the whole, I say this is a very flawed novel. The first part is good though, and so I will give it a star for that. Stop when you get to Part V, though.Book Review: A Thriller about Intrigue in the Laboratory
Summary: 5 Stars
This novel is an intellectual thriller, an extremely readable, can't-put-down book about the uses and abuses of pure science.
The novel takes place in a laboratory in Cambridge, Massachusetts that is peopled by post-docs, all working on finding a cure for cancer. The lab is run by two people, very different in their styles and approach to research methodology. Sandy Glass is an oncologist, the 'voice' of the lab, the jovial fund-raiser who can shmooze anyone and never miss a beat in a conversation. He's looking for a quick winner in the research department. Marion is the chief research scientist. She is shy in public and leaves most of the public relations to Sandy. She understands that research is a long process and there are no quick winners in this game.
The post-docs are varied in personality and commitment. They each have their own projects which they obsess about to varying degrees. Success in their projects means funding and job security. No results means job insecurity and the chance of being let go.
All of a sudden, one of the post-docs gets some quick and amazing results. Sandy wants to milk this for all it's worth. Marion wants to proceed more slowly and be sure that the outcomes can be replicated. The question is: Are the results too good to be true?
The novel goes into the personal lives, motivations and backgrounds of all the key characters. The reader is privy to fascinating character studies along with an anthropological view of the inner workings of a research lab.
The book makes for fascinating reading. It brings up questions about ethics, what constitutes real science, what is a scientist's obligation to truth, and what is truth.
Allegra Goodman weaves a stunning tale of a research laboratory wrought with intrigue and a fascinating cast of characters.