Douglas Starr's book Blood: An Epic History of Medicine and Commerce was announced as the winner of the science and technology category of the 1998 Los Angeles Times Book Prize last Friday (23 April). Starr was one of five finalists in the science and technology category:
The Baltimore Case: A Trial of Politics, Science and Character
- Daniel J. Kevles
“Daniel Kevles performs a signal service by applying his historian's acumen to the mountain of documents accumulated by all those investigations, and to his own detailed interviews with the participants, to give us an orderly narrative of the whole affair. He did so, he says, because it seemed to him likely to ‘throw some light on science in late-twentieth-century American society’.” Jon Turney, Nature 395, 30–31 (1998).
Phantoms in the Brain: Probing the Mysteries of the Human Mind
- V. S. Ramachandran &
- Sandra Blakeslee
“Phantoms in the Brain is structured around the life histories of patients with unusual, often bizarre, neurological disorders. The narrative structure of biography has undoubted pedagogic value, but the worst examples of the genre come uncomfortably close to modern-day equivalents of a travelling freak-show. To their credit, this pitfall is skilfully avoided by Ramachandran and Blakeslee, who keep the ideas they are seeking to communicate centre stage.” Raymond J. Dolan, Nature 396 639–640 (1998).
Taking Wing: Archaeopteryx and the Evolution of Bird Flight
- Pat Shipman
“Shipman makes an outstanding analysis of the contribution of Archaeopteryx to discussions about the origin of flight.” Jose Luis Sanz, Bernardino P. Perez-Moreno & Francisco J. Poyato-Ariza, Nature 393, 32–33 (1998).
Blood: An Epic History of Medicine and Commerce
- Douglas Starr
“While the value of a barrel of crude oil has fallen to $12, an equivalent amount of blood is now worth around $60,000. How this came about is lucidly recounted by Douglas Starr in this history of blood transfusion. The book is accessible to a wide-ranging audience.” Fred S. Rosen, Nature 398, 303–304 (1999).
Mendel's Dwarf
- Simon Mawer
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Starr book wins Los Angeles Times prize. Nature 398, 776 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1038/19707
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/19707
