'The Wisdom of Whores' by Elizabeth Pisani - Book Review

Elizabeth Pisani's The Wisdom of Whores is a fascinating mixture of autobiography, exotic seedy adventure, and policy analysis. It is a witty, humorous page-turner that covers AIDS from angles most readers will have never considered. The Wisdom of Whores' strengths far outweigh its failings, and I highly recommend it.

Elizabeth Pisani is an epidemiologist who has focused her career on the study of HIV/AIDS. Her experience in HIV work varies from UN HIV bureaucratese, to the slums of Indonesia's cities. As such, she knows quite a few things you and I don't.

In Wisdom of Whores, no sexual behavior is overlooked, no drug culture ignored, no local Indonesian bureaucrat malfeasance glossed over, no AIDS misconception safe from Pisani's wrath. However, her detailed accounts of drug and sex aren't meant simply to shock you or capture you in a cheap pornographic sort of manner. They are integral to the development of both her and our knowledge of the spread of HIV and the subcultures most at risk.

One of the key takeaways from Wisdom of Whores is that despite the Western media accounts that we are all at risk, and that HIV does not discriminate, in fact HIV does discriminate. Certain behaviors and certain people are more likely to catch the virus. Pisani admits to perpetuating the myth about the “general population” being at risk as a means to increase public support and funding for HIV research, treatment, and prevention. Nonetheless, she emphasizes that the problem today is not about lack of funds, and that in some cases excessive funds corrupt legitimate HIV work.

Although Pisani shatters many myths, her work is far from perfect. She exhibits more than a little self-obsession. Her dismissal of those with whom she disagrees is often blunt, sarcastic, not academically rigorous, and disrespectful. Her ending does not give much of a plan of action for correcting the misconceptions surrounding HIV and improving the various faulty HIV initiatives she cites.

Nonetheless,Wisdom of Whores is an entertaining, informative, and unique book. An added plus: if you carry around a book with "Wisdom of Whores" emblazoned on its cover, it's sure to spark conversations.