The Trembling Mountain: A Personal Account of Kuru, Cannibals, and Mad Cow Disease

by Robert Klitzman

Kuru, like Mad Cow disease, is caused by a rare, infectious crystal protein that invades and colonizes human cells, destroying the nervous system of its victims. There is no known cure. It flourished in one of the remotest places on earth, Papua New Guinea, among the Fore, a people living in the Stone Age, who until recently practiced ritual cannibalism, consuming the brains of their forebears during funerary feasts. Robert Klitzman helped establish the links between these rituals and kuru. What he discovered has provided keys to understanding the mysterious Mad Cow Disease, which may become the world's next major epidemic. Robert Klitzman was 21 years old when he was invited by the Nobel prize-winning scientist Dr. Carleton Gajdusek, then at the National Institutes of Health, to conduct original research on kuru. Seizing the chance to travel to the other end of the world, Klitzman embarked on an adventure that would change his life.

Genres: Nonfiction, Science, Memoir, Biology, Sociology, Medical

344 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

Reviews

[Ellen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hmm, genuinely really good personal account of experiences in png researching kuru. Has really provided some lovely insights for my thesis, especially regarding the need for a kind of interdisciplinary approach marrying medicine with more cultural studies in order to really understand things like kuru. Also gives some cool understandings for how to think about Covid now, especially by bringing up Mad Cow, CJD, and AIDS. Much to think about...

I really didn't like his rehabilitation of Gajdusek. I know Klitzman worked under him but wow he really excused Gajdusek's pedophilia! He said Gajdusek violated a relative taboo, lmao like I just wanna ask Klitzman to his face, is pedaphilia good bc some cultures condone it? is pedophilia fine?? Also Klitzman has some wack ideas about what Marxism and Communism are, like, Bob, I'm sorry but Marx absolutely did not advocate for a return to the Stone Age, what on earth are you saying.

Four stars because it was written so nicely, but the content was kind of hmmm in some spots like questionable vibes, but overall I guess it reaches 4 stars for how enjoyable and useful it was to me

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting read. Now I want to know if the influx of Parkinson's and other tremor and dementia related diseases are possibly at times misdiagnosed. Thinking to the time I was a manager for McDonald's eating up to 35 hamburgers a week, wondering if somehow, sometime I could get mad cow. I recommend this read.

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book when I was going through my phase of fascination with mad cow disease and its associated prion diseases. I didn't, and still don't understand half of the science that goes on, but am both horrified and intrigued by the different forms and their impact on humans (perhaps similar to the way that people are fascinated by zombies).

[Seacalliope · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting account of how difficult it can be to conduct research, although lighter on science than I wish. I also found it disquieting the way he minimized the crimes of one of the scientists widely cited in prion research, Gajdusek. It's a little hard to be entirely interested in an author's personal tribulations when they excuse a child molester.

[Gudi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really, I dont know exactly what to say about this book, other then you learn a whole helluva a lot about different cultures and just how long something can live in the ground waiting for a host body.

[Michelle Heizelman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great read about the culture in which cannabilism arose.

[LOL_BOOKS]

I RLY ENJOYED THE PRION DISEASE/CANNIBALISM TRIFECTA OF THE FAMILY THAT COULDN'T SLEEP, SAVAGE HARVEST, AND THE TREMBLING MOUNTAIN.