Book review of "Bodies in flux: scientific methods for negotiating medical uncertainty" by Christa Teston (2017). University of Chicago Press.

Abstract

At the time of this writing, the New York Times reports that more than 10,000 people have died from the coronavirus worldwide. Healthcare systems across the globe are struggling to keep up with the number of cases being confirmed each day. Over 50 studies on the virus were published in January 2020 as scientists worked to better understand it and potentially develop a vaccine (McFall-Johnsen, 2020) but there has not yet been a vaccine developed. While this is not the only global health crisis happening in early 2020, it is likely the one to which many readers have paid closest attention. We cannot know now the impact the spread of the coronavirus will have on the globe and yet individuals and organizations are currently working to transform uncertainty about the virus into evidence that governments and the public can use to make actionable decisions. While the book under review here does not deal with the coronavirus specifically, it does engage with issues of key importance related to the coronavirus: those of medical certainty and those of medical uncertainty.