Panic in Level 4

May 26, 2008
"Buffy the Vampire Slayer"'s James Lurie brings his rich, honeyed baritone to Prestons book of essays on radical science. The book is rather uneven. The first chapter is an overly self-referential account of Prestons own laboratory encounter with the Ebola virus he made famous in "The Hot Zone"; the other essays are more traditional portraits of scientists on the frontier of discovery. Lurie conjures an engaging and credible Russian accent when speaking for two immigrant mathematicians who are racing to determine all the digits of pi. But he is inconsistent and strained when attempting a genetics researchers British accent. Still, listeners will enjoy the way both Preston and Lurie uncover the humanity of great researchers, whether they are attempting to save hemlock and chestnut trees from fast-encroaching diseases or help those suffering from Lesch-Nyhan syndrome, a rare condition that causes its victims to compulsively consume their own flesh. "A Random House hardcover (reviews, Apr. 21). (June)" .

October 1, 2008
Adult/High SchoolPre-ston gets to the heart of these nonfiction essays by placing himself in the center of the story. The "panic" of the book's title refers to his own when his biohazard suit was breached and he feared he may have been exposed to one of the deadliest known viruses. Two of the pieces involve the brothers Chudnovsky, mathematicians so closely dependent on one another that they refer to themselves as The Mathematician. The author was able to disappear as an interviewer to the extent that he became part of the brothers' portrait. At one point, one Chudnovsky says to the other: "The interviewer answers our questions]. The interviewer becomes a person in the story." Preston used this skill of blending into his accounts to his advantage. Whether he was strapping on gear to climb mammoth hemlocks with arborists trying to understand the diseases killing the great trees of the world or acting as an off-road driver for a couple of men with the disease of self-cannibalization, Preston fit in like a good supporting actor who also happened to be the cameraman, writer, and director. Teens will find these stories compelling. The author has the eyes and language of a fine novelist, but he has the mind of a scientist who is trying to understand some of the most fascinating mysteries of our age."Will Marston, Berkeley Public Library, CA"

Copyright 2008 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 21, 2008
The title of New Yorker
contributor Preston’s new collection refers to the subject of his bestselling The Hot Zone
: a series of rooms in a government biohazard laboratory where scientists work with virulent pathogens like the Ebola viruses that would be devastating in the hands of terrorists. The essays (all from the New Yorker
) cover such scientific matters as a profile of controversial über-genome mapper Craig Venter; a gene that leads people to cannibalize themselves; and two Russian-Jewish émigré scientists who built a monster computer in their cramped apartment to puzzle out patterns in the value of pi. Preston’s essay on the destruction of large swaths of eastern U.S. forests by insect parasites accidentally brought into the country from abroad is the shortest but most compelling. Preston might have done more to update his pieces; for example, the Marburg virus was found in bats last year, supporting his hypothesis that they are the reservoir for Ebola. But Preston’s fans will enjoy his showing how few degrees of separation there are between far-flung areas of scientific endeavors. Illus.