15 July 2006, UPDATED: Dr. Bialy Weaves a Nice Tale

Our Pal, Dr. Harvey  Bialy, former Scientific Editor of Nature Biotechnology, gives a nice autobiographical sketch about working in Cuba, Israel and South Africa -- simultaneously! -- before settling down in Mexico.

Man, we need more well-rounded, adventurous scientists like Dr. Bialy to rescue us from the myopia and bean-counting endemic in the scientific community today.

Also, before I forget, you may recall that the intemperate, haughty, undisciplined Professor John P. Moore at Cornell, has insinuated in print that Dr. Bialy was forced out of his Editorship due to his support of Dr. Duesberg. The above story puts an end to this ridiculous lie.

By the way, have you seen the review wars over Dr. Bialy's book at Amazon? Hmm, What happened to 'ole John's review where he pimps his own website?  Has it vanished?!!?

UPDATE !!!

I sent the url for this post to Prof. Moore, and within 30 minutes came back the one word answer of "Boring." Of course I immediately sent this to my pal doc B., and within 5 minutes I received this blind copy of his email to the now apparently muzzled, puppy prof.

Date: Jul 14, 2006 4:09 PM

Subject: Hank informs me you find being publicly corrected (2x)* "boring"

*(2x)

once by amazon monitors for placing an "inappropriate review"

second by me in giving the "truth" to your shabby insinuation about my departure from nbt

You are much 'more' strange than me, much.

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UPDATE TO THE UPDATE !!!

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The "puppy prof" could not have been that bored because he spent considerable time composing a new review at almost 4 times the length of the previous. Quite a feat for someone who so obviously has not, and cannot, read the book he so desperately wants to destroy. Here it is (while it lasts):

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Missing the point on Duesberg, June 25, 2006

Reviewer:

John P Moore, PhD (New York, USA) - See all my reviews

The author completely misses the point when writing about Peter Duesberg. Perhaps because the biographer and his subject are old and close personal friends, the result is a hagiography, not an objective review of Duesberg's flawed and ultimately failed scientific career. An objective book would have discussed why it was that Duesberg adopted foolishly contrarian and scientifically inaccurate positions on oncogenes and, a few years later, on HIV and AIDS. Were Duesberg's thought-processes at this critical time in his career purely science-based? Or were they, as many of his scientific contemporaries believe, driven by his jealousy over the far greater career successes of his then-rivals in cancer virology (Bishop, Varmus, Gallo, Baltimore, for example)? A competent reviewer of Duesberg's career would have explored such a critical issue. One can only presume that the author quite deliberately elected not to do so, because to concede that personal jealousies drove his hero's public posturings would be to also concede what is generally accepted within the scientific community: that HIV does indeed cause AIDS. The point here is that Duesberg's perceived (but, nowadays, not real) stature as a professional scientist underpins the activities of a small group of individuals, including the author, that, bizarrely, deny that HIV causes AIDS. A few of the AIDS denialists, like Duesberg, are scientists whose careers fizzled out; others are zealots with extreme political views (both on the far-right and the far-left) who find AIDS denialism politically convenient; yet more are deeply troubled individuals with disturbing behavior patterns who deserve pity and professional help. Again, an objective book on this general subject area would explore issues such as these, in particular the role played by Duesberg in the AIDS denialism movement. The author utterly fails to do so, and as a result, his book is simply not worth reading. The definitive book on Duesberg therefore remains to be written, although he's probably not an interesting enough subject for a serious, professional biographer to tackle.
John P. Moore, PhD
Professor of Microbiology and Immunology,
Weill Medical College of Cornell University, New York

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And being a true gentleman and scholar, our pal the doc wrote him the following thank you note:

To: "John P. Moore" [email protected]

Date: Jul 15, 2006 1:40 PM

Subject: wow...thanks..this one is even better and will sell even mas libros..i hope it is also not deemed inappropriate

but i do miss the "moral truths"

anyway good luck with this one

and remember the amazon monitors are watching you

Comments

[Michael]

Let me see if I can help the "Puppy Prof" out a bit.

Perhaps Dr. Moore found Hank's post "Boring" because he has been publicly corrected so many times that it is no longer a novel experience.

[Charles]

This back and forth with John P. Moore is positively hilarious. A sure sign of someone's insecurity is to affix the letters Ph.D. after his name in a context like an amazon.com review. Priceless!

Does Moore ever appreciate how much his shrieking, feckless, witless, poorly written screeds tell us about him more than anything else?

His bombastic temper tantrums are a source of great amusement, especially since they have the exactly opposite effect that poor Moore intended - i.e., they actually help sell more, not fewer copies of Bialy's book!!!

Come now say his name out loud - john pee more........ sort of reminds me of that old Johnny Cash song, 'A Guy Named Sue."

[George]

JC made it famous, but it was given him to record by his friend Shel Silverstein who wrote it. A bunch of his rare and wonderful songs for children can be found at "bialy/s".

My favorite is the one on the homepage that is hyperlinked as "Alternate Theme Music".

I wonder if JP has ever listened to it, and if he was perhaps reminded of his own "deadly entrapment"?

[Michael]

I can't wait to read the biography yet to come on the great Master of Modern Science John Peamore, replete with all of the wondrous scientific findings and advancements that this great man has wrought. Perhaps Dr. Bialy should write this one as well. I am sure Peamore would agree that it would not be a hagiography of an old personal friend, and therefore at least be much more objective than Bialy's Duesberg thing. Perhaps Dr. Bialy could touch upon the fury that really drives Dr. Peamore, the hunt for the elusive HIV "denialist" virus that threatens Peamore's very existence. Bialy could also write of the envy Peamore harbors over those that have trampled harder on truth, and cashed in for far more Payola than even Peamore could ever dream of, such as Dr. David the YOYO Ho. And maybe Peamore's childhood heros, the 23 medical doctors that were brought up for trial at Nuremburg, could be touched upon as well. I would love to own the very first copy autographed by both the writer and his subject.

[HankBarnes]

Amateur pop psychologist/professional Amazon reviewing gadly, J.P. Moore, asks rhetorically about Dr. Duesberg's motivations for lambasting the AIDS orhtodoxy:

"Or were they, as many of his scientific contemporaries believe, driven by his jealousy over the far greater career successes of his then-rivals in cancer virology (Bishop, Varmus, Gallo, Baltimore, for example)?"

I will elaborate upon this once I break this momentary flu that is bedeviling me this weekend. I blame my kids, er, a new virus called the Human-Phlegmball-Barnes Pathogen (HPBP).

Will somebody, anybody, begin genomic sequencing on this little bugger to cure me?:)

HankB

[Lawstud6]

Hank:

The Moore guy, let's just ignore him. He gets a vicarious thrill everytime you smack him. Time to move on to better things.

LS

[noreen martin]

Hank, like the new look. Do you think that we could get a pin or how about bumper stickers? I am gonna look into the calendar idea.
Good night!

[HankBarnes]

Hey Noreen,

I'm still tinkering with it a bit. It kinda encroaches too much on Groucho. My able squad of techno-geeks should have it fixed sometime today.

Best,

Barnes