The Family That Couldn't Sleep: A Medical Mystery

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The Family That Couldn't Sleep: A Medical Mystery PDF

From Publishers Weekly

An engaging nonfiction "medical mystery" starts with the strange case of an Italian Family whose members, upon reaching a certain age, succumb to a sort of sleeping disorder that causes not only insomnia but certain death. The cause of this disease is determined to be prions—infectious agents derived from proteins, not viruses—so Max explores other prion diseases, such as Mad Cow Disease and kuru, and delves into the history of prion research as a way of unraveling the mysteries behind the disease that's been plaguing the titular family for generations. Gardner lets the material do most of the heavy lifting by narrating in a plain, unadorned style that keeps his own contributions to the narrative minimal, the auditory equivalent of transparent prose. The pacing and fascinating subject matter keep the listener fully engaged throughout, resulting in an audiobook that will certainly be no cure for insomnia. In fact, it might even warrant an advisory warning: side effects may include sleepless nights, caused by a strong desire to get to the next chapter.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From The New Yorker

Beginning with the story of an Italian clan whose members die of a mysterious inability to sleep, Max traces science's tortuous path toward understanding prion diseases—a category that includes scrapie in sheep, B.S.E. in cows, and kuru, a disease spread by cannibalism which decimated one New Guinean tribe. Victims of fatal familial insomnia lose control of neuromuscular function, existing in a merciless limbo between sleep and wakefulness until they die of exhaustion. For a half century, prion diseases have baffled scientists, because the transmission of illness by proteins, which are non-living, was considered impossible. Max, who suffers from a distantly related neuromuscular disease, narrates recent advances in prion science with engaging clarity. But, as he reflects ruefully, "the neurologist can diagnose you but he can't cure you."
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From Bookmarks Magazine

Framed by the story of one genetically cursed Italian Family, The Family That Couldn't Sleep is a true medical mystery. D. T. Max, who conducted investigative research and interviews, has written a gripping, spooky, educational, and readable book with vast historical and geographic sweep, from 18th-century Italy and England to 1950s New Guinea. Its strong point is the dual focus on the Italian Family's genetic legacy and the scientific discovery of prion diseases. The book wanders when it strays from these subjects, and Max milks too much sympathy for his Italians. Yet if Max stresses that scientists still have a long way to go to alleviate the threat of prions to humans, he also gives reason for hope. Copyright © 2004 Phillips & Nelson Media, Inc.
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From Booklist

Just when you thought you were familiar with most of the really unusual medical ailments, along comes fatal familial insomnia (FFI), which has afflicted one Italian Family for two centuries. The disease strikes in middle age. Symptoms include profuse sweating, constipation, impotence, and sudden onset of menopause. Eventually the body, deprived of sleep, begins to shut down. Fifteen months after the first symptoms appear, the patient dies. The brutal thing about FFI is that, while a lot is known about its effects, very little is known about its cause or its treatment (if there is a treatment). The book is like a nonfiction version of a Michael Crichton novel: an enigmatic illness, a family in jeopardy, a race against the clock to find a cure. Max, a science journalist, uses FFI as a springboard to tell a broader story about the history of fatal diseases for which cures are desperately needed, such as Parkinson's and mad cow. It would be a mistake to call this book "entertaining"--it's too unsettling and scary for that--but it's certainly very timely and compellingly written. David Pitt
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
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Review

Advance praise
“The Family that Couldn’t Sleep is a riveting detective story that plumbs one of the deepest mysteries of biology. The story takes the reader from the torments of an Italian Family cursed with sleeplessness to the mad cows of England (and, now, America), following an unlikely trail of misfolded proteins. D. T. Max unfolds his absorbing narrative with rare grace and makes the science sing.” –Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma and The Botany of Desire
“Much has been written about prions and Mad Cow Disease–nearly all of it is worthless. Thankfully, from the world of journalism comes D.T. Max to set things right. Throw all those other “Mad Cow” books in the trash: This is the book to read about prions–or whatever you want to call them. It’s a riveting tale, told by someone with a very special understanding, derived in part from his own strange ailment. Find a cozy spot, clear your schedule and dive in.”
– Laurie Garrett, author of Betrayal of Trust and The Coming Plague

“D. T. Max deftly unfolds the mysterious prion in all its villainous guises. Although scientists do not fully understand these proteins–how they replicate and wreak such havoc in their victims’ brains–The Family That Couldn’t Sleep reveals their historical, cultural, and scientific place in our world. Prepare to be enlightened, entertained, and frightened.”
–Katrina Firlik, MD, author of Another Day in the Frontal Lobe
“A great book. D.T. Max has drawn the curtain on a cabinet of folly  and malady that will stagger your imagination.”
– Philip Weiss, author of American Taboo

“D.T. Max has combined the enthralling medical anthropology of Oliver Sacks with the gothic horror of Stephen King to produce a medical detective story that is as intelligent as it is spooky. The villain of The Family That Couldn’t Sleep is the prion, a tiny little protein that causes some of the most terrifying, brain-mangling, creepy diseases known to man. Always fascinating–how could it not be, given that its characters include cannibals, mad cows, madder sheep, a Nobel prize-winning pedophile, and, most poignantly, an Italian Family Cursed by fatal insomnia?–Max’s book is also a gripping account of scientific discovery, and a heartfelt meditation on what it means to be cursed with an incurable, and brutal, illness.” – David Plotz, author of The Genius Factory

From the Hardcover edition.

About the Author

D. T. Max was born and raised in New York City and graduated from Harvard in 1984. He has been an editor at Washington Square Press, Houghton Mifflin, and The New York Observer. For the past eight years, he has reported mostly for The New York Times Magazine. His work has also appeared in the Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, San Francisco Chronicle, and Chicago Tribune. He lives outside Washington, D.C., with his wife, their two young children, and a rescued beagle named Max.
From the Hardcover edition.

From AudioFile

Recently discovered organisms called prions cause diseases, but they're neither viruses, bacteria, fungi, nor parasites. Nor are they well understood. Grover Gardner's narration makes this story of one fatal neurodegenerative prion disease eerily understandable. In his delivery what might have been a dry recital of medical immunology becomes the real-life horror story of a Venetian family that has suffered for two hundred years from this inherited prion disease. Gardner's masterful use of inflection intensifies the horror of prion diseases and drives the listener to consider how we humans may be creating our own demise through our engineering of food. When suggesting that diseases in which brain cells are destroyed and the nervous system deteriorates, like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, might be prion diseases, Gardner speaks tentatively and yet hopefully that someday cures will be discovered. K.A.T. © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine
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