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| The Wisdom of Whores: Bureaucrats, Brothels, and the Business of AIDS | 
 enlarge | Author: Elizabeth Pisani
Publisher: W. W. Norton
Discount Category: Book
Selling Price: $25.95
Buy New: $14.78
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Customer Ratings:  8 comments
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 288
Shipping Weight (pounds): 1.6
Dimensions (inch): 9.3 x 6.5 x 1.4
ISBN: 0393066622
Dewey Decimal Number: 614.599392
EAN: 9780393066623
Publication Date: June 2, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Brand new item. Over 4 million customers served. Order now. Selling online since 1995. Order with confidence. Code: B20090107232017T
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Telling it like it is October 17, 2008
Having recently returned from Malawi where I spent the last two years working in HIV prevention as a Peace Corps Volunteer, I found Elizabeth Pisani's book to be an excellent analysis of the politics driving the mismanagement of HIV prevention and treatment funding around the globe, and an interesting insightful read as to the real situation on the ground. I read this book because I was considering an HIV prevention project in China, and she has extensive experience in SE Asia as well as in China. I found all the information in the book to be relevant and very current for all countries dealing with HIV issues.
My only negative comment would be that she references her website often but the resources are not there.
I would encourage anyone involved in HIV projects to read this book. It has just the right balance of facts and human stories without being depressing. It tells it like it is.
Funny & Interesting August 13, 2008
Very funny, very well written book on kind of a dry subject!
Definitely worth reading, because as the quote goes:
Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket.
books don't get better than this June 25, 2008
4 out of 5 found this comment useful.
I read a lot, on a wide variety of topics. If it has words on it, I'll try to read it, even if I _don't_ know the language, I'll try to decipher it. But some books are much more rewarding than others, and this is one of the most rewarding books I've ever read.
The other reviews cover the topic well: she's a great writer, a person who really cares about people and not just people who are like her, a scientist who can understand numbers and make them make sense to others. She has a wide-reaching understanding of how AIDS is transmitted, and how that transmission is partly biologically determined and partly culturally determined. And she can convey that complex and detailed understanding in a simple way. Repeatedly, so if you miss it the first time, you get a lot of additional chances. And with hilariously shocking illustrative stories, so there's no remote chance of boredom ever setting in.
I know there's no way she's going to slog through bureaucracy for a second cause -- that would be unfair to ask of anyone. But I hope global warming/climate change/peak oil/etc. gets someone half as brilliant as Pisani. Hopefully several someones.
Great science meets great journalism June 23, 2008
3 out of 3 found this comment useful.
For sheer accuracy of synopsis, maybe "The Wisdom of Whores"'s subtitle ought to be "Practical Epidemiology, What We Know About Solving the AIDS Crisis, and How the Politics of International Aid Complicate Matters." Though Pisani probably wants to sell a copy or two.
This is one of the few books I've read that actually lives up to its jacket blurbs. One author describes it as not only a work of science, but also a page-turner. And indeed it is. Pisani holds a Ph.D. in epidemiology, and you can tell from reading The Wisdom of Whores that she has the chops to do serious data analysis. It's data analysis in the service of a practical end, namely figuring out the most efficient ways to stop AIDS. Pisani has been on the ground interviewing prostitutes and junkies for a couple decades now, so she's learned a bit about how the disease actually spreads.
Part of the answer is just common sense: HIV spreads when an infected person's blood comes in contact with an uninfected person's blood. When heroin users share needles, the risk of HIV's spreading rises. Unprotected sex is riskier than protected sex. Unlubricated sex is riskier than lubricated sex, because the risk of causing tears is higher. Uncircumcised men are at higher risk than circumcised men. Prostitutes and their johns are at higher risk than non-prostitutes, because they have more partners.
This much should be common sense; the fact that this common sense often doesn't translate into policy is where the "bureaucrats" in the subtitle come in. The Bush administration and many other nations have changed the conversation: we don't talk about the actual mechanics of sex and drug use, in part because prostitutes and drug users are considered wicked, and it helps no politicians to aid the wicked. From a public-health perspective, most of our effort ought to be focused on the populations that are most at risk: addicts, gay people, and prostitutes. But that doesn't sell. What sells is to talk about "neutral" topics: pretend that consumers of prostitution come home to their innocent wives and unwittingly give them the disease, which then spreads to their kids. When you frame the issue as "AIDS hits everyone," surely you can get votes. Likewise with international aid: if you tell your voters that "poverty and gender disparities" cause AIDS, you can sidestep the icky topics of sex and heroin injection.
Once the money flows, there's a great risk of corruption and waste. Fortunately, Pisani tells us, there are a lot of people on the receiving end of that money who are really trying to do right by the world's taxpayers. And there are organizations like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation that seem to disburse funds more efficiently and measure programs' effectiveness better than a lot of governments do. And the governments are learning from their mistakes, in no small part because the epidemiologists on the ground are pushing back on them. Pisani never takes the step that a lot of libertarian fanatics do, namely jumping from the observation that foreign aid can be wasteful to the conclusion that all foreign aid should end. That's because Pisani isn't a libertarian fanatic. She's a hardworking, nose-in-the-details scientist who, like a good disciple of Herb Simon, tries to assume as little as she can before she starts gathering data.
Indeed, the big takeaway from The Wisdom of Whores is that reality is complicated, and that the only way to actually help solve the AIDS epidemic is to dig into the details and be honest about how the disease actually spreads. Don't let ideology, for instance, blind you to the virtues of free condom distribution. Don't let ideology stop needle-exchange programs. At the same time, don't let ideology convince you that needle-exchange programs always work: look at the data first. This book is what happens when a truly scientific worldview merges with the passion of an activist.
Genuinely enjoy getting the facts straight June 19, 2008
2 out of 2 found this comment useful.
I am seldom found without at least one book close at hand, and end up trying to give books away in order to keep my shelves from collapsing. But I'm not ready to give this one away, I intend to read it again in a while. What I might do, however, is to order a few extra copies and have them delivered to people I know. Why just this one? Because it is one of those books that you come across once in a while, that works on more than one level. It is a book that keeps me turning the pages, with the energy that comes from a genuinely engaging story. Then there is the author's solid knowledge of the topic, and her ability to present it in an accessible way. This is a writer who knows her tools: she knows how to structure a presentation and how to juggle angles to keep it interesting, all in a style that gets the message across clearly and simply, with a strong personality and sense of humor. But the main reason why I want to gently blackmail my friends into reading it by buying it for them, is the information it contains and the message that it spells out. It is an important book. It untangles the facts about HIV and HIV prevention from the myths, which is good. It also shows clearly how ideological/religious/political/economical agendas often play a bigger role than science, which is depressing ... but essential to know. Getting the facts straight, about the infection and about the HIV/AIDS industry, is vital. And in my mind, Elizabeth Pisani is exactly who you should turn to for those facts
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