"Intuition": Proof that it's not the mind that matters

"Intuition"
by Allegra Goodman
Dial Press, 416 pp., $25.41

The brilliant young writer Allegra Goodman ("Kaaterskill Falls," "Paradise Park") turns an insightful eye on the hothouse world of the medical research lab in her new book, "Intuition." Goodman quickly sets her scene: the Philpott Lab in 1985, with one of the "postdocs," Cliff, in trouble with the two lab directors, Marion Mendelssohn and Sandy Glass.

Cliff, who had been instructed to stop experimenting after two years of failed trials with a virus (RSV) to see whether it could transform cancer cells into normal cells, has disobeyed his instructions. It's not that he believes so strongly in his research; it's that he "could not bear to jettison work that had taken so much time."

When another colleague discovers that some of the tumors in Cliff's research mice have shrunk, however, Cliff's career suddenly takes a new turn. The virus variant he was using, R-7, apparently has gotten results; Cliff pursues the research with new vigor. And his results are viewed quite differently by lab directors Mendelssohn and Glass. Mendelssohn, cautious and brilliant, is skeptical and wants to see more data; Glass, self-confident and excitable, wants to announce to the world that a potential cure for cancer has been found.

Soon, the media are exulting in R-7 results, with widespread coverage in both the scientific and popular press (including a People magazine feature). But are Cliff's findings sound? His unsuccessful researcher girlfriend Robin, resentful and competitive, breaks up with him and then is unable to replicate his results in the laboratory. There are accusations, secret photocopying of Cliff's data and a campaign to discredit Cliff that leads in surprising directions.

After one interview, Glass tells Cliff it's all very simple: "Journalism has nothing to do with the truth ... we are selling exactly one thing here. We are selling R-7. Not you. Not your career."

The net of Robin's inquiry spreads wider, out of her hands, even into the House of Representatives' Subcommittee on Science and Technology. As the situation escalates, it becomes ever clearer that intuition is not enough; in science, it is empirical evidence that rules the world.

The novel's denouement probes the question of whether Cliff's intuition has overruled his evidence, and nearly everyone's life changes as that issue is settled.

With a minimum of jargon and a maximum of insight, Goodman shows us inside the tightly knit world of the research community. A wealth of subsidiary characters (not the least of which is Mendelssohn's brilliant husband, Jacob) rounds out the story in ways that always admit a certain ambiguity. It's a perplexing, deeply involving story, one that is likely to provoke both thought and argument.