Hello, I’m Paul Franks, a Leeds-based, retired History teacher, and I’ve written a conspiracy-thriller called ‘A Dive Into Darkness’. In this original podcast series, I’ll tell you everything you need to know about the book and its four-year writing process, from inspiration to publication, and beyond.
In Episode Three of ‘A Dive Into Darkness’, ‘The River’, I will introduce you to the book which led me down a very deep, 8-month long, rabbit hole.
As I said in Episode Two, in June 2020 I discovered a Youtube video that examined the theory that HIV had been the product of flawed polio vaccine trials in Central Africa in the 1950s. The main proponent of this theory, Edward Hooper, produced a 1000+ page book called ‘The River.’
The product of nearly a decade of research, writing, redrafting and editing, ‘The River’ was published in 1999. Although it led me down a rabbit hole, there is no denying ‘The River’ is a mighty tome, diligently researched, with over 100 pages of notes and references.
This is how one reviewer described it on Amazon: ‘The origin of the AIDs epidemic has been one of the major scientific riddles of our time. Edward Hooper's The River is a brilliant piece of scientific journalism that attempts to offer some worthwhile answers and, in doing so, raises some uncomfortable questions. "The biotechnological advances of the last 25 years hold out tantalising promises of human advancement and happiness, but they also confront us potentially with the greatest dangers our species has ever faced." Hooper certainly manages to clear the ground, demolishing a lot of the standard hypotheses on how the AIDs epidemic started. Instead, he produces one that has, at the very least, the merit of being directly falsifiable, however controversial and productive of litigation. In doing so, he raises important questions about the public ethical accountability of scientists, the use of human beings in experiments and the use of animals as the source for vaccines and transplants. If he is right, the attempt in the 1950s to tackle one major epidemic, polio, has inadvertently produced another even greater plague; and even if he is wrong, he has raised some important questions. This is not just a scientific investigation, of course; it is an important human story and Hooper's interviews with many of the scientists involved in tracing the origins of the epidemic are smart and humane. This is a crucial book that no one interested in the issues it raises can afford to ignore.’
The heart of Hooper’s hypothesis is that HIV was a man-made creation, and the reason it struck such a chord with me was because, in 2020, the origins of Covid were being hotly debated, with many professionals unwilling to accept the official bat-cave theory, instead preferring to focus on a lab-leak hypothesis. I spent 8 months exhaustively trying to find evidence that supported Hooper’s theory 100% and connected all the dots. At the end of those 8 months, I just could not find that evidence. Edward Hooper was, I am afraid to say, a useful idiot for the ‘HIV causes AIDS’ mafia. Although he did not agree with the official HIV origin myth, that wild-living chimpanzees in southern Cameroon were a natural reservoir of the closely related simian immunodeficiency viruses (SIVs), he still believed absolutely that AIDS was caused by a deadly virus called HIV. However, by the end of February 2021, I had incontrovertible proof that the scientific basis for ‘HIV causes AIDS’ was a house made of sand. However, by then I had already written one book, and had started work on a second. Neither of them was called ‘A Dive Into Darkness.’
Thank you for listening to Episode Three of ‘A Dive Into Darkness.’ I hope you enjoyed it.
In the next episode, I will tell you about my first book, Race!, written in less than four months, during the summer of 2020.
Till the next time, goodbye and happy reading.
‘A Dive Into Darkness’ is available both as an ebook and paperback, with Barnes & Noble and Amazon.
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-dive-into-darkness-paul-franks/1145527746?ean=9781917129855
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dive-Into-Darkness-Paul-Franks-ebook/dp/B0D32DP97S
http://www.aidsorigins.com/wp-content/uploads/The-River-by-Edward-Hooper-2021-edition.pdf ‘The River’
‘Origins of AIDS’ documentary.
Share this post