Released January 2000 (Vintage) * 240 pages * ISBN 13: 9780679774006
Dancing Naked in the Mind Field by Kary Mullis is another book that I pull out to reread from time to time (joining Brotherhood of the Rose by David Morrell and The Bourne Identity
Dancing Naked in the Mind Field is an intimate look into the mind of one the most eccentric Noble prize-winning scientists of our time, Kary Mullis. His invention of PCR (polymerase chain reaction) underlies DNA fingerprinting, sequencing of the human genome, genetic engineering and innumerable other technologies that continue to reshape our world. He is fascinated by knowledge but skeptical of scientists.
Starting at the moment he solved the puzzle of how to make copies of DNA in a test tube (PCR), Mullis takes the reader back to his high school days of cooking up chemicals in his garage (sending a toxic cloud over the neighbourhood) and forward to the present. In the process he questions everything from the nature of the universe to the money behind the latest scientific pronouncements, and he does it in a way that is accessible to the layperson. Of course, he also describes an LSD trip and uses profanity from time to time (just so you know). Each chapter is its own little adventure so the memoir reads much more like a bunch of short stories than a linear narrative of his life.
I find it hard to describe Mullis’ writing style other than to say it is humorous and conversational. Here is an excerpt from page 123 when he first realizes that he has been bitten by brown recluse spiders and goes to the Merck Manual for guidance:
I checked out the Merck Manual, a reference book that no cabin should be without. Years ago I had been frightened by an exploding capillary in my eye. It had appeared as a pinhead of blood under the layer of eye skin called the conjuctival membrane and it had spread under the membrane across the white of my eye in the gruesome redness that only blood can express. The Merck Manual had calmed me down. The book said it happened once in a while and was not an indicator that it would happen again. The worst part was that it looked scary.
This time the Merck Manual was not so comforting. I seemed to have been in the company of Loxosceles reclusa, the brown recluse spider. The manual impersonally advised me that I was in for some serious shit.
The anecdote goes on for some pages (you can read it on Amazon by using “Look Inside” and searching for the last three words of the excerpt. If you want to know what it’s like to be on an acid trip (without actually doing the drug yourself), search “I’m taking acid” in “Look Inside” on amazon. If you enjoy those excerpts you’ll likely enjoy the book.
If you don’t care about science, Mullis will give you reason to. If you do care about science, Mullis will give you insight into the messy way in which science is really done and the flawed people who do it.
You can find Dancing Naked in the Mind Field at amazon.com, amazon.ca, and amazon.co.uk as well other online and bricks & mortar sellers.
Except for the fact that I like science, I couldn´t agree more with this review and have also read and lent the book way more than usual. Aside from entertaining, it is a crash course on how to arrive at safe conclusions thinking like this rare, lab cowboy genius.
Dr. Mullis´ fascinating, impeccable thought process can be followed step by step as he arrives at feasible conclusions moved by a unique, innate and incorrigible curiosity. Brilliant and wacky scientists seem to have this in common, yet Kary´s earnest, witty and downright funny chronicles are conveyed in a very interesting – albeit simple – writing style. A real treat.
Moreover, for students in this area it´s a chance of getting inside the head of a gigantic historical achiever in biochemistry, whose huge accomplishments include freeing innocent (also jailing) sex offenders, child molesters and rapists through the quick and affordable DNA testing his PCR discovery provided. And he is at it again with his immunotherapy research for infectious diseases – starting with influenza.
People who love this book like I do, will also enjoy “Surely you´re Joking, Mr. Feynman!”, By Richard Feynman, the Nobel Prize physicist.
It’s nice to run into someone else who has read this memoir (so often when I mention it I get a blank stare at the name Karry Mullis). I like that you say it’s a look at his thought processes–that’s exactly why I love it.