 |
Cracking
the Genome : Inside the Race to Unlock Human DNA by Kevin Davies Hardcover - 288 pages (February 2001) Available at: This book has 48 sample pages available for viewing at Amazon.com |
Amazon Editorial Review:
What makes science happen? The confluence of politics, commerce, and the age-old
quest for knowledge is nowhere better seen than in the ongoing Human Genome
Project. Kevin Davies, founding editor of Nature Genetics, picks apart the
personalities and technologies involved in the great sequence race in Cracking
the Genome: Inside the Race to Unlock Human DNA. Written not long after
President Clinton's premature announcement in 2000 of the Project's completion,
it assesses the state of public and private genomic knowledge during what Davies
calls "halftime." He is in a unique observational position; as a
prominent scientific journalist, he has had unparalleled access to the
scientific figures involved. Through interviews with HGP director Francis
Collins, rogue scientist-entrepreneur J. Craig Venter, and many other scientists
and insiders, Davies illuminates the often-tortured processes that contributed
to the speedy sequencing of most—but not quite all—of our genes in just a few
short years. Shifting styles characterize the different storylines:
technological, political, and intensely personal tales unite under the author's
direction without ever alienating the reader. The book is a bit softer on Venter
than many scientists (who may perceive him as traitorous or, worse, too hasty to
publish) would like, taking the position that his shotgun approach and
competitive spirit improved the project without sacrificing quality. Conversely,
Davies sits out the gene-patenting controversy, offering all sides a fairly
equal voice, but never quite finding sympathy with any of them. Summing up his
subject, Davies reports:
If the double helix is the prevailing image of the twentieth century, just as the steam engine signified the nineteenth century, then the sequence—the vast expanse of 3 billion As, Cs, Gs, and Ts—is destined to define the century to come.... The childhood of the human race is about to come to an end. These are strong words, but few other fields provide a stronger basis for such hope. Cracking the Genome gives us the chance to catch up with the present while the future races on. —Rob Lightner
Philologos Comment:
The title says it all. B+
Link of interest:
Watch NOVA program Cracking the Code of Life online in 16 short segments.