Grumpus's review

The Family That Couldn't Sleep : A Medical Mystery
by D.T. Max

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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2110310.The_Family_That_Couldn_t_Sleep_A_Medical_Mystery?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=blog_review" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="The Family That Couldn't Sleep : A Medical Mystery" border="0" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51ByDzPMXHL._SL160_.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2110310.The_Family_That_Couldn_t_Sleep_A_Medical_Mystery?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">The Family That Couldn't Sleep : A Medical Mystery</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/18150.D_T_Max">D.T. Max</a> 
 <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/8310103?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review"><h3>My review</h3></a>
 rating: 2 of 5 stars This is based upon the audio download from <a target="_blank" href="http://www.audible.com">www.audible.com</a>.
 
 Narrated by: Grover Gardner
 
 Like a smart consumer in the market for electronics, appliances or cars, I research my purchases by looking up recommendations on Consumer Reports. When I am looking for a good book to read, I turn to my trusted source for reviews—Goodreads. Based on member recommendations, I know going in that the book I choose will more than likely receive a higher than average rating from me. You guys have never let me down. . . well, until now. Don't worry, I won't hold it against you. :-)
 
 The title of this book and the medical mystery it implied intrigued me and I was excited to read it. It wasn’t long before I felt that the title of the book was a misnomer. The audio version on which I base this opinion, was just over eight hours long and I would be surprised if there was one hour of cumulative time on the discussion of the Italian family who “couldn’t sleep”. A more apt title would be something like, Prion Disease: A History of Discovery in Animals and Humans. But then, who's going to read that?
 
 The book dealt more with the study of prions—the smallest known infectious agent which is a naturally occurring protein molecule that lacks nucleic acid. It is these prions that are at the root of this family’s illness called Fatal Family Insomnia (FFI). It starts with sweating and constricted pupils the size of pin points and ultimately prevents family members with FFI from sleeping, leading to death. Members of this family have a 50/50 chance of passing this hereditary illness on to their offspring.
 
 The majority of the book discusses the history and pathology of such prion-related diseases such as mad cow disease in cows, scrapies in sheep, kuru in humans (cannibal-related), Creutzfeldt-Jakob syndrome and Alzheimer’s and NOT the subject of the book as titled.
 
 Everyone knows how horrible Alzheimer’s is with the loss of mind that accompanies it. Just imagine how awful it would be to have Alzheimer’s but you still know what is happening to you. That is what it is like for this family. FFI is horrendous and rare (only 40 families in the world have it) and it is this rarity that prevents the needed money being allocated to it for researching its cure.
 
 It’s a sad family story, but again, and disappointingly so, the "family" is minor player in the saga. It was an okay book if you’re looking for a medical mystery but it was not what I had signed on for. The author had me at the title but I still felt mislead on this one from the beginning.
 
 
 <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/146952?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">View all my reviews.</a>

Grumpus's review
rating:

bookshelves: audiobook, science
status: Read in November, 2007

This is based upon the audio download from www.audible.com.

Narrated by: Grover Gardner

Like a smart consumer in the market for electronics, appliances or cars, I research my purchases by looking up recommendations on Consumer Reports. When I am looking for a good book to read, I turn to my trusted source for reviews—Goodreads. Based on member recommendations, I know going in that the book I choose will more than likely receive a higher than average rating from me. You guys have never let me down. . . well, until now. Don't worry, I won't hold it against you. :-)

The title of this book and the medical mystery it implied intrigued me and I was excited to read it. It wasn’t long before I felt that the title of the book was a misnomer. The audio version on which I base this opinion, was just over eight hours long and I would be surprised if there was one hour of cumulative time on the discussion of the Italian family...more This is based upon the audio download from www.audible.com.

Narrated by: Grover Gardner

Like a smart consumer in the market for electronics, appliances or cars, I research my purchases by looking up recommendations on Consumer Reports. When I am looking for a good book to read, I turn to my trusted source for reviews—Goodreads. Based on member recommendations, I know going in that the book I choose will more than likely receive a higher than average rating from me. You guys have never let me down. . . well, until now. Don't worry, I won't hold it against you. :-)

The title of this book and the medical mystery it implied intrigued me and I was excited to read it. It wasn’t long before I felt that the title of the book was a misnomer. The audio version on which I base this opinion, was just over eight hours long and I would be surprised if there was one hour of cumulative time on the discussion of the Italian family who “couldn’t sleep”. A more apt title would be something like, Prion Disease: A History of Discovery in Animals and Humans. But then, who's going to read that?

The book dealt more with the study of prions—the smallest known infectious agent which is a naturally occurring protein molecule that lacks nucleic acid. It is these prions that are at the root of this family’s illness called Fatal Family Insomnia (FFI). It starts with sweating and constricted pupils the size of pin points and ultimately prevents family members with FFI from sleeping, leading to death. Members of this family have a 50/50 chance of passing this hereditary illness on to their offspring.

The majority of the book discusses the history and pathology of such prion-related diseases such as mad cow disease in cows, scrapies in sheep, kuru in humans (cannibal-related), Creutzfeldt-Jakob syndrome and Alzheimer’s and NOT the subject of the book as titled.

Everyone knows how horrible Alzheimer’s is with the loss of mind that accompanies it. Just imagine how awful it would be to have Alzheimer’s but you still know what is happening to you. That is what it is like for this family. FFI is horrendous and rare (only 40 families in the world have it) and it is this rarity that prevents the needed money being allocated to it for researching its cure.

It’s a sad family story, but again, and disappointingly so, the "family" is minor player in the saga. It was an okay book if you’re looking for a medical mystery but it was not what I had signed on for. The author had me at the title but I still felt mislead on this one from the beginning.

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