Orbiting Dicta

The scariest film I saw in 2008 was Let the Right One In, the brilliant Swedish vampire movie.  The economy is pretty scary, too.  But the scariest of all was reading Melody Petersen’s new book, Our Daily Meds, a Sarah Crichton book from Farrar, Straus and Giroux. The subtitle sums it up: “How the Pharmaceutical Companies Transformed Themselves into Slick Marketing Machines and Hooked the Nation on Prescription Drugs.” I suggest getting it with one of those gift certificates that will be rolling in and the read it all the way through.  Petersen is an investigative reporter who has written for the New York Times, the Philadelphia Inquirer, and the San Jose Mercury News.  She received the Gerald Loeb award for Business Journalism. She is also a certified public accountant, so do what she says: follow the money!