Ann K. Finkbeiner

When first diagnosed: understanding and communicating about HIV. Preventing transmission of HIV infection: understanding how HIV is spread. HIV infection and its treatment.

A provocative inside look at the elite scientists who have worked behind the scenes to influence American science and policy for half a centuryThey call themselves Jason. Their group is a child of the Manhattan Project by way of the cold war, and they count among their ranks scientific stars like Freeman Dyson and Murray Gell- Mann, and among their mentors Edward Teller and Hans Bethe. They've inherited a mission from the Manhattan Project—to counsel the government on the military uses of pure science—and have gathered every summer since 1960 to solve highly classified problems for the Department of Defense and the intelligence community. Aside from a brief media firestorm during the Vietnam War, they've worked in utter secrecy with unparalleled freedom.Fiercely patriotic and stubbornly independent, the Jasons have been directly responsible for breakthroughs ranging from the electronic battlefield to the "Star Wars" missile defense technologies to the national system for predicting global climate. But their mission to keep a vigil over applied science has led them into both moral dilemmas and political stews. In this spellbinding and meticulously researched history, science writer Ann Finkbeiner reveals the critical scientific advances—and the unintended consequences—of the Jasons' shadowy work as well as the fascinating personalities of the Jasons themselves.

For a parent, losing a child is the most devastating event that can occur. Most books on the subject focus on grieving and recovery, but as most parents agree, there is no recovery from such a loss. This book examines the continued love parents feel for their child and the many poignant and ingenious ways they devise to preserve the bond. Through detailed profiles of parents, Ann Finkbeiner shows how new activities and changed relationships with their spouse, friends, and other children can all help parents preserve a bond with the lost child. Refusing to fall back on pop jargon about "recovery" or to offer easy suggestions or standardized timelines, Finkbeiner's is a genuine and moving search to come to terms with loss. Her complex profiles of parents resonate with the honesty and authenticity of uncomfortable emotions expressed and, most importantly, shared with others experiencing a similar loss. Finally, each profile exemplifies the many heroic ways parents learn to live with their pain, and by so doing, honor the lives their children should have lived.