A Dancing Matrix: How Science Confronts Emerging Viruses

by Robin Marantz Henig

Even as humanity reels beneath the assault of AIDS, epidemiologists are gearing themselves up for the plague's successor. It might be dengue fever, whose carrier, the Asian tiger mosquito, has recently appeared in the United States, or Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, which has been transmitted by contaminated human growth hormone. The next pandemic might be caused by any of a dozen viruses that were once confined to other species or territories but now place human beings at risk as we increasingly cross their boundaries.

Updated to include the latest research and developments, this fascinating and sometimes unsetting book sums up all that we currently know about viruses: what they are, how they spread, and how scientists are trying to outwit them. Interweaving theory and real-life medical drama, A Dancing Matrix is science reportage at its most suspenseful and informative.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction

Hardcover

First published February 9, 1993

About the author

I'm a long-time science journalist and a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine. In addition to my most recent book -- Twentysomething: Why Do Young Adults Seem Stuck?, co-authored with my daughter Samantha Henig -- I've written eight others, including Pandora’s Baby: How the First Test Tube Babies Sparked the Reproductive Revolution and The Monk in the Garden: The Lost and Found Genius of Gregor Mendel, a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award (and also, I'm tickled to report, a finalist for the Goodchild Prize for Excellent English from the Queen's English Society). My articles about health and medicine have appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Civilization, Discover, Scientific American, Newsweek, Slate, and just about every woman’s magazine in the grocery store. I am vice president of the National Association of Science Writers, and in 2010 I received a Career Achievement Award from the American Society of Journalists and Authors as well as a Guggenheim Foundation fellowship. I went to Cornell and have a master’s in journalism from Northwestern. I live in Manhattan with my husband Jeff, a political scientist who teaches at Columbia University's Teachers College, and have two grown daughters, Samantha and her older sister Jess Zimmerman.

Reviews

[Fan Liu · Rating 4 out of 5]

An elegantly written book that is incredibly relevant even though it was only published in 1993! The book first starts out why new viruses emerge and provides case studies of AIDS (which has yet to be eradicated in 1993). We see the work of policy as well, with figures like Anthony Fauci making critical contributions to AIDS even before the coronavirus pandemic. We learn about contemporary viruses that have shaped our current world, including arboviruses and new flus. The arbovirus was very interesting considering it was written before the West Nile outbreak. I appreciated how the book seemed to touch at many facets of virology, including whether or not the viruses could cause chronic diseases (see page 247). Finally, the book closes in an incredibly interesting consideration of future pandemics. I think that overall the book balanced scientific writing for the layman audience, but leaned towards people with more background in STEM as it could be perceived as “dry” to a layman.

[Amy Do · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is quite old (1993) and I'm sure a lot of it is outdated, but it was still worthwhile to see how similar previous pandemics have been to the recent COVID-19 one. At the end of the day, we don't know a whole lot about viruses, we can't predict how they transmit and mutate. However, we do see patterns that come up in different viruses and outbreaks. Maybe virology should be a mandatory subject for everyone in high school, because there is basic information that have been confirmed over and over, but still being misrepresented in the media.

[Remo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Este libro salió cuando la crisis de las vacas locas acababa de terminar en Reino Unido, y aún no había llegado la española. Aun así, parece muy actual, sobre todo leyendo los capítulos 7 La emergencia de un nuevo tipo de gripe y 8 Adelantarse al próximo SIDA. En los primeros capítulos nos hace una introducción a la biología (introducción bastante técnica para iletrados, además) y epidemiología (los virus simplemente están ahí, no "atacan", y solemos contagiarnos porque invadimos espacios ocupados por otras especies que los portan) de los virus. Dedica bastante a hablar del SIDA, que en aquella época era mucho más nuevo que ahora (el "Póntelo. Pónselo" tenía pocos años de vida en 1994), y sobre todo desmiente mitos como que el sida fue creado en un laboratorio (¿nos suena esto de algo?).
Al final, nos cuenta que los virus pueden usarse a nuestro favor, al hablar de terapias génicas contra el cáncer que son transferidas al interior de tumores por virus especializados, por ejemplo.
En conjunto es una lectura muy interesante, no tan completa como la que dan libros (muy) posteriores como el inmenso Contagio, pero instructiva aun así. Muy recomendable.

[Anlan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Because I read this from the present, it was a bit outdated. The narrative structure was engaging enough for readers without a biology, science, public health, or etc background.

[Mitchell Friedman · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting to read a book about emerging viruses from 1993 and realize that 19 years later many but not all the details are out of date, but not know which ones. Certainly this book had an optimistic spin on an awful lot of the subject. But it got lost in the weeds way too often and went back and forth between stuff I knew and stuff I had trouble following. And it was also a bit repetitive.

[Krista · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this book...partly due to the nostalgia factor (bought it when visiting Northwestern's campus as a high schooler).

[Broc · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good intro. to emerging viruses. Takes some complex subjects and makes them very understandable. Some very interesting insights.

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

A must read for virus lovers. You really come away amazed at the "beauty" of viruses and what they can do and how they work. Beautiful read.

[Helena Sheibler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Solid science, can't go wrong.

[Robert Kropla · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite informative and possibly frightening if you dwell on the possibilities.