Seth Mnookin is the Co-Director of MIT’s Graduate Program in Science Writing. His most recent book,
The Panic Virus: The True Story Behind the Vaccine-Autism Controversy, won the
National Association of Science Writers 2012 “Science in Society” Award and the New England chapter of the American Medical Writers Association’s Will Solimene Award for Excellence.
He discussed
five of the best books on vaccines with Sophie Roell at The Browser, including:
Do you want to add anything about David Oshinksy’s book, Polio: An American Story and why you chose it?
What I find so impressive about this book is that Oshinsky really does cover the whole history of a disease but does so in a way that you never feel you’re getting a Cliff’s Notes 
version. It’s a pretty unwieldy topic: you could write an entire book just about the year the polio vaccine was rolled out, or what happened since then, or you could write a book, as Paul Offit did, just about the Cutter incident. All the way through Polio you feel like you are getting all the details you would want or need. To combine that much information in a way that is not only accessible and exciting and readable but also scientifically rigorous, was a real, real accomplishment.
Read about
another book Mnookin tagged at The Browser.
--Marshal Zeringue
National Association of Science Writers 2012 “Science in Society” Award and the New England chapter of the American Medical Writers Association’s Will Solimene Award for Excellence.
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