Charlotte DeCroes Jacobs

After reading Charlotte Jacobs biography of Jonas Salk, I know much more about the man and his work. He had some flaws but he did remarkable work in vaccines for influenza, polio and HIV. After reading Jacob's biography, I want to learn about Salk's philosophy. I think Salk lived his life to the end as he recorded in one of his last thoughts: "How can I use my self or allow my self to be used in a way that might be able to influence the human future for the better?" Jacob's has done her research, this is a very worthwhile biography of Jonas Salk.… (més)

Jonas Salk: A Life by Charlotte DeCroes Jacobs is a very detailed and exhaustively researched biography of both the man and his work. For a scientist who arguably made the most important discovery of the 20th century in healthcare his life was not simply a tale of greatness and its many rewards. In fact, Jacobs does a phenomenal job through her consistently engaging writing of making Salk's uneven life trajectory into a smooth read.

There is something for most everyone in this biography. There is enough science in the discussion of his work to engage those with a strong interest in science yet not so much that this becomes bogged down. For lovers of biographies in general this is a well written and well structured work that could easily be a measuring stick not just for biographies of Salk but biographies as a whole.

Reviewed from an ARC made available by the publisher via NetGalley.… (més)