Hmm, genuinely really good personal account of experiences in png researching kuru. Has really provided some lovely insights for my thesis, especially regarding the need for a kind of interdisciplinary approach marrying medicine with more cultural studies in order to really understand things like kuru. Also gives some cool understandings for how to think about Covid now, especially by bringing up Mad Cow, CJD, and AIDS. Much to think about...
I really didn't like his rehabilitation of Gajdusek. I know Klitzman worked under him but wow he really excused Gajdusek's pedophilia! He said Gajdusek violated a relative taboo, lmao like I just wanna ask Klitzman to his face, is pedaphilia good bc some cultures condone it? is pedophilia fine?? Also Klitzman has some wack ideas about what Marxism and Communism are, like, Bob, I'm sorry but Marx absolutely did not advocate for a return to the Stone Age, what on earth are you saying.
Four stars because it was written so nicely, but the content was kind of hmmm in some spots like questionable vibes, but overall I guess it reaches 4 stars for how enjoyable and useful it was to me