The River details the scientific history surrounding the origin of AIDS. Through a well-documented tale, Hooper brings the reader to the conclusion that the OPV/AIDS(oral polio vaccine) theory is correct. Even thought the book clocks in at about 1070 pages, it's a page-turner. Its main premise is that AIDS began with polio vaccine manufactured using cells from monkeys. SIV morphed into HIV during cross-species contamination.

The tale reminds us that even with the best medical and scientific intentions, it is so human to screw up and make things worse. I don't blame the polio researchers involved in the AIDS fiasco, and I don't believe that is the intent of this book. After all, vaccines have helped rid the world of terrible diseases. Or at least they have slowed the spread.

Still, it's scary to imagine what evils we might be releasing with our animal organ transplants and other experimental medical techniques involving organic substances. We've unleashed Pandora's Box in order to save the world, and knowingly, we feel compelled to continue our medical inquiries.

One of the larger questions in the book concerns our use of Africans and other third world people, prisoners, and the mentally challenged in our medical experiments. This is a historical look and I don't know if this practice has continued. I do believe we still experiment on prisoners and our military, but I hope our use of other populations has slowed. (Not that any experimentation is right.)

I'm not that interested in history, but this book fascinated me. It is a bit pricey but I got it from the library. If you'd like to look at some free materials, there is a website with background material.