Book Reviews

Master Manipulator: The Explosive True joined by Dr. Diana Schendel, a career separation between Congress, CDC, FDA, Story of Fraud, Embezzlement, and government scientist, and Coleen Boyle, NIH, and big pharmaceutical producers. Government Betrayal at the CDC, by Ph.D., of Agent Orange cover-up fame. James O. Grundvig, hardcover, 296 pp, The story’s tension is provided by the James F. Coy, M.D. $17.33, ISBN 151070843X, New York, N.Y.: increased awareness of the mercury- Fruitland Park, Fla. Skyhorse Publishing, 2016. autism connection by tens of thousands of victims, and the economic needs of the The Kingdom of Speech, by Tom Wolfe, As Sir Francis Bacon wrote, vaccine industry. As Grundvig summarizes, hardcover, 183 pp, $26, ISBN 978-0-316- “Knowledge is power.” I commend this CDC had a choice to either do a full- 40462-4, New York, N.Y.: Little, Brown and book to anyone seeking understanding. blown study to prove or disprove a link, Company, 2016. James Grundvig, coincidentally of or to report “no adverse effect.” Based on Scandinavian (Norwegian) descent, extensive research, Grundvig exposes the Groundbreaking journalist and best- worked for 30 years in engineering as details of making the latter choice. selling novelist Tom Wolfe, author of The a project manager, developing skills As early as 1992, a renowned scientist Bonfire of the Vanities, A Man in Full, and he would use to research how, who, wanted Merck to minimize mercury in I Am Charlotte Simmons, now applies where, when, and why, after his son was Scandinavian vaccines, and single-dose his virtuosity to the source of all of diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. mercury-free vaccines were introduced humanity’s achievements. As he describes Very skillfully, using a technique there. CDC exploited Denmark’s low it, the inspiration came from surfing resembling a mixed genre of cynical autism rate, not mentioning that its the internet and coming upon a web romance novel weaving in and out of the vaccines had been mercury-free for many node about “The Mystery of Language macabre, Grundvig introduces characters years; used Merck’s creative data, not Evolution.” The article announced that in “Erecting the Monolith,” builds his case mentioning that it concerned adults, not heavyweight evolutionists—linguists, bio­ in “The Cult of Vainglory,” and treats us children; mingled government scientists logists, anthropologists, and computer to exposure of the horrific problem of with industry; published questionable scientists—are giving up on answering “Cracks in the Monolith.” studies in non-prestigious journals the question of where language comes He begins the story at a meeting in from and how it works. Puerto Rico at which data on the danger without allowing opposition; and used CDC’s public relations techniques instead “The most fundamental questions of aluminum to the human body is about the origins and evolution of our discussed. He notes that the meeting was of science. Cracks were bound to appear in the foundation of the “Monolith” that linguistic capacity remain as mysterious not open to the press—shortly after a as ever,” they wrote. The biggest name in meeting in Maryland that discussed the would not withstand the strain. the history of linguistics, Noam Chomsky, dangers of mercury to the human body Grundvig is quite kind to characterize concluded that despite an explosion got some bad press. A third meeting the CDC as suffering from R.O.T. (redundant, of research on the problem in the last that soon followed in Norcross, Ga., obsolete, and trivial information). My 40 years, what it had produced was a known as the Simpsonwood Retreat, was characterization would be more like private. There, officials from government corruption. Among the incriminating colossal waste of time by some of the agencies mingled with pharmaceutical details is the “Lilly Rider” inserted by Rep. greatest minds in academia. industry people. They needed to Dick Armey “at the twelfth hour” into Wolfe writes: “Now, that was odd…. formulate the message that vaccines do the Homeland Security Act of 2002. This I had never heard of a group of experts not cause autism, and finding the right protects the producers of thimerosal coming together to announce what messenger became the priority. The (mercury) from tort liability. Government abject failures they were.” candidate would need to play ball, be a at all levels of the Executive Branch appears Wolfe then delves into the theory of foreigner, be known in CDC (Centers for culpable. evolution, including a far-from-flattering Disease Control and Prevention) circles, Grundvig describes how our villain portrait of Charles Darwin. He notes and work from a script. continues to thrive in anonymity, safely that the originator of the theory was Using the literary tragedy technique outside the U.S., awaiting a justice that is actually Alfred Wallace, a self-taught of introducing the main character by not likely to come from the government British naturalist who suffered an attack an event at the beginning of the end, that produced him. Issues left for the of malaria while studying the flora and Grundvig reveals that Poul Bak Thorsen’s reader to probe include the lack of fauna of a volcanic island off the Malay trail has been uncovered on his first vaccine safety testing. Archipelago. During the paroxysmal day on the job of the director of Aarhus Grundvig states that the “Weapon­ fevers, he came down with a fervid University in Denmark. More than $1 ization of Government” is about “taking desire to record the revelation that had million in grant money from the American over your lives at a very young age…and occurred to him about how evolution CDC has gone missing. vaccines are the first place to start.…” He works. He wrote up a 20-page manuscript Grundvig introduces the data- speaks of the “Vaccine Deep State,” (a term “on the tendency of varieties to depart massaging players, led by Dr. Thorsen, we are hearing a lot lately), which has no indefinitely from the original type,” the

Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons Volume 22 Number 4 Winter 2017 125 first description ever published of the that the creature can take advantage of earth. We have the animal kingdom, evolution of the species through natural the organ’s full power.” the vegetable kingdom, the mineral selection. He sent it with a cover letter to Based on these, there are two main kingdom, and now regnum loquax, the Charles Darwin, with a humble request to features of humanity that cannot be kingdom of speech, inhabited solely by pass it along to others if he felt it worthy. explained by natural selection, Wolfe Homo loquax. And people still do not Darwin was aghast. This outsider, explains: the skin, and the “organ of even know quite what speech is. a barely educated “fly catcher,” had speech.” “To say that animals evolved into independently come up with his idea! Man has been called the “naked ape.” man is like saying that Carrara marble Darwin rushed his Origin of Species into Other primates, even in the tropics, have evolved into Michelangelo’s David,” Wolfe print, and managed to establish his own hides or coats of hair that protect them states. Wallace and Everett provided the priority despite gentlemanly gestures to the point of making them waterproof. intellectual ammunition to demolish that appeared to generously give some But the virtually hairless back of humans Darwin and Chomsky, and Tom Wolfe’s credit to Wallace. makes them highly vulnerable to wind, biting wit uses it to deadly effect. His Wolfe obviously lacks respect for cold, and rain. This cannot possibly have inimitable style is speech at the pinnacle Darwin’s cosmogony or “Theory of an advantage. For time immemorial, of its power. Everything.” He compares it with that of mankind has been using animal hides or A reviewer of the German translation the Algonquians, the Apaches, the Tlingit other things to clothe himself. writes that science has made colossal natives of the American Northwest, and Then there was the fatal flaw: speech progress in the past 150 years but has even Rudyard Kipling’s Just So Stories. He and the capacity for abstract thought. foundered on the most pressing question observes that the Egyptians visualized After Darwin failed to explain the origin of human history: What is the origin the dung beetle as the creator, and the of speech in his book, The Descent of Man, of human speech? Researchers from Navajo Indians cast the biting midge in the subject of the origin of language Charles Darwin to Noam Chomsky, he that role. A later cosmogony was “a dead “entered a dark age that was to last for states, have never stopped announcing ringer for the Navajos’,” Wolfe writes, seventy-seven years,” Wolfe writes. The grandiose successes that amounted except that the creator was even smaller, to nothing, defaming critics instead of namely, a single, undifferentiated cell—or silence ended with Noam Chomsky, “four or five” of them. It’s the only theory who introduced a radically new theory admitting their own errors, and generally recent enough that people knew the of language in the 1950s. Man was born describing the emperor’s new clothes in name of the storyteller: Charles Darwin. with a built-in “language organ,” Chomsky the scintillating colors. But speech, the Darwin did try to explain everything, proposed. The organ contained a “deep foremost accomplishment of mankind, including speech. Animals, after all, have structure” and a “universal grammar.” is not to be explained either with the their forms of vocal communication, Chomsky is a philosophical giant, a theory of evolution or with scientific some of them quite complex. Their “genius of geniuses,” writes Wolfe. His systemizing. vocalizations had to evolve into human output of linguistic papers climaxed Wolfe does not reach the conclusion speech—somehow, despite the lack of in 2002 with his theory of recursion. stated by John the Evangelist: “In the evidence; it was self-evident. Darwin Recursion consists of “putting one beginning was the Word.” But in my view, became obsessed with trying to fill in the sentence, one thought, inside another he comes perilously close. in a series that, theoretically, could be details, but ultimately was unsuccessful. Jane M. Orient, M.D. endless.” He asserted, as Wolfe explains, In an essay entitled “The Limits of Tucson, Ariz. Natural Selection as Applied to Man,” that “Every language depended on Wallace stated that he did not present recursion—every language. Recursion anything that “in any degree affects the was the one capability that distinguished Shadow Men: an Encyclopedia of Mind truth or the generality of Mr. Darwin’s human thoughts from all other forms Control, by Anthony Napoleon, Ph.D., great discovery.” Except, writes Wolfe, of cognition…recursion accounted for soft cover, 334 pp, $24.95, ISBN 978- Wallace had systematically demolished man’s dominance among all the animals 1-62137-728-3, Virtualbookworm.com the point that was dearest to Darwin’s on the globe [emphasis in original].” Publishing Inc., 2015. heart, namely, that human beings are Then along came the equivalent of merely the most highly evolved species a fly catcher: Daniel L. Everett, a former For those remaining few who of animals. Wallace clearly implies that Chomskyite, demolished the Chomsky believe they are in full control of their there is a cardinal distinction between theory by a 25,000 word article in own thoughts, Shadow Men will be man and animal, following from the three Current Anthropology entitled “Cultural a revelation. Napoleon is a forensic cardinal assumptions in Darwinism: First, Constraints on Grammar and Cognition psychologist who has examined the who, “natural selection can expand a creature’s in Pirahã.” Everett lived in the jungle what, how, and why of the widespread powers only to the point where it has in the vast Amazon with a small tribe use of psychological operations (PSYOPs) an advantage over the competition in of people and managed to learn their on everyday people. His extensive the struggle for existence—and no language. It was definitely not recursive. research and references keep this book further.” Second, “natural selection can’t He eventually wrote one of the handful of from being dismissed at first glance as produce any changes that are bad for popular books ever written on linguistics: conspiratorial bunk. the creature.” And third, “natural selection Don’t Sleep, There are Snakes, an account The book is well-organized and clear can’t produce any ‘specially developed of his and his family’s 30 years with the about its ultimate point: to explain the organ’ that is useless to a creature…or of Pirahã. reasons behind, and methods of social so little use that it is not until thousands Wolfe concludes that speech should engineering. Napoleon prepares the and thousands of years down the line be recognized as a fourth kingdom of reader for the meat of the book with a

126 Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons Volume 22 Number 4 Winter 2017 few chapters supporting his view of why Napoleon’s theories about cultural accomplishments, the reward center we are susceptible to mind control. He change through social engineering are just craves the substance or addictive explains how a direct external control, provocative. Many of his examples are behavior. Neurotransmitters such as for example physical force, becomes spot-on. The next time you see a direct- dopamine play a role, but Lewis does internalized by the use of symbolic to-consumer televised pharmaceutical not think that attempts to chemically displays of such force. Citing scientific ad, look and listen carefully. As the voice- manipulate the brain are the answer. research on “mirror neurons,” he concisely over is listing the drug’s deleterious and He believes that what is learned can be presents the neuro-biology of how we sometimes fatal side effects, the drug- unlearned, and he writes a great deal can be made to conflate symbolic displays takers are happily picnicking, jogging, about neuroplasticity. of virtual reality with our objective reality. frolicking, or otherwise looking perfectly “It all comes back to feedback,” he Sadly, he predicts that physicians healthy. Mission accomplished: the writes. He explains how addiction takes may become virtual in the near future, impact of the side effects is thoroughly over the “motivational springboard for noting that doctors rely more heavily diluted. habit formation.” on “the numbers” and not the fading The book is fascinating and Lewis frequently speaks about how art of arriving at a clinical impression by disturbing. The information can be these neural circuits and mechanisms, touching and looking at the patient. overwhelming if not read in smaller which we need for survival, were The “shadow men” are those corrupt doses. Napoleon leaves the reader with “bequeathed to us by evolution.” He has individuals behind the scenes who a 12-step deprogramming program. The a chapter headed “A Brain Designed for have an insatiable desire for wealth and first step is accepting the fact that all of us Addiction,” as though evolution were a power and thus must control the rest of are vulnerable to mind control. purposeful, intelligent entity capable of us. They inhabit the industries necessary designing anything. I found his emphasis for control, e.g., banking, government, on evolution to be a distraction. The Marilyn M. Singleton, M.D., J.D. data management, and the media- point is that these neural circuits exist, Redondo Beach, Calif. entertainment complex. Napoleon and we need to learn how to help the provides a lengthy psychological patient turn them to good rather than to assessment of the typical shadow man. The Biology of Desire: Why Addiction destruction. The concept that “what fires He cautions the reader that the shadow Is Not a Disease, by Marc Lewis, Ph.D., together, wires together” makes practical men succeed as long as we, their victims, hardcover, 238 pp, $26.99, ISBN-13: sense. remain unaware that we are being 978-1-61039-437-6, New York, Public Lewis briefly acknowledges the manipulated. Affairs, 2015. disagreements about the existence of free An example of a common PSYOPs will, which has no locus identified in the technique is “free floating fear,” an With the current opioid epidemic, neural circuits. Perhaps the “breakdown of amorphous, intangible, ever-present and the appalling failure of recovery and will” reflects a corresponding breakdown anxiety-provoking state of mind. Once rehabilitation programs, fresh thinking in communications between the left this is cultivated, the government offers on the subject is urgently needed. Marc prefrontal cortex and the motivational salvation in “protections” that result in Lewis, a neuroscientist and professor core, he suggests. The question of free giving up many constitutional rights in of developmental psychology, has his will is, however, very pertinent in deciding exchange for a sense of safety. own personal story of recovery from whether addiction is a disease. The discussion on “labeling theory” is addiction. His previous book, Memoirs G.K. Chesterton writes in his book particularly apt in today’s political climate of an Addicted Brain: A Neuroscientist Orthodoxy, “Evil is a matter of active in which identity politics has become the Examines His Former Life on Drugs, was choice, whereas disease is not. If you say norm. A label becomes a simple way to said to be the first to blend memoir and you are going to cure a profligate as you characterize people, eliminating the need science in addiction studies. cure an asthmatic, my cheap and obvious to engage or make an effort to explore In addition to his own story, Lewis tells answer is, ‘Produce the people who want the complexities of their character. the story of five patients with different to be asthmatics as many people want Mind control aside, the volume of well- addictions: heroin, methamphetamine, to be profligates.’” One may be cured of documented factual information about alcohol, binge eating, and cocaine. He a malady by being a passive patient. But religion, world history, and American explores what in their early lives led them changing anything in the moral realm history is the book’s unexpected bonus. to the trap of addiction, how it affected requires an active will. Chesterton’s Numerous illustrations break up the their lives, and how they ultimately theology and Lewis’s neuroscience will at dense information and add to the depth managed to escape. least agree that on this basis addiction is of analyses. The chapter on America’s Rather than as a disease, he sees not a disease. Founding Fathers, complete with detailed addiction as a type of learned behavior. I think this book may help patients, forensic psychological profiles, is worth It rewires the brain, and uses some of the the families of addicted patients, and the price of the book. same neural circuits that are involved their physicians understand a little better Anyone who has read the best-selling in love. The circuits involve the ventral what the experience of addiction is like. classic, The Creature from Jekyll Island: striatum, the orbitofrontal cortex, the It offers a message of hope, as well as a Second Look at the Federal Reserve by amygdala, the dorsal striatum, and the what may prove to be some very useful G. Edward Griffin will recognize and prefrontal cortex. These parts of the therapeutic approaches. appreciate the detailed information brain might be the locus of what Freud about the history of financial institutions might have called the libido, but instead Jane M. Orient, M.D. and the Federal Reserve. of love or the satisfaction gained from Tucson, Ariz.

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