Life Script: How the Human Genome Discoveries Will Transform Medicine and Enhance Your Health

From Publishers Weekly By now a familiar name to readers of the New York Times "Science Times" section, Wade, who has written and edited books under the Times aegis, here tells the increasingly familiar tale of the biologists whose race for knowledge, wealth and scientific celebrity led to the first sequencing of the human genome. His stated aim is to describe the "dawning of the genomic revolution," which represents "a new starting point for science and medicine, with potential impact on every disease." In clean prose, an evenly paced narrative economy and a welter of carefully marshaled facts, Wade hits his mark admirably. After lucid chapters on the race itself, Wade settles into the implications of its conclusion. Through genotyping, Wade recounts, doctors will be able to match drugs to patients and isolate disease-causing variant genes. Someday, Wade surmises, the scalpel could be replaced by the use of therapeutic cells and proteins, and our life spans considerably enhanced by the careful manipulation of genes. Although he dismisses most criticism as "invocations of eugenics" or "effectively luddite," Wade warns that the true dangers of genome engineering "lie in the question of what changes should be permitted, if any, other than those directly related to health." Without dumbing down the issues or clogging them with data, Wade allows readers to ponder such questions for themselves. Agent: Peter Matson, Sterling Lord Literistic (Sept. 6)Forecast: Wade's name will be familiar to some, and reviews will make it so to others. This book may not fly off the shelves, but it may prove to be one of the more solid genomic fortune-telling books around, and should sell as such.Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc. From Library Journal This awe-inspiring account of how the human genome was decoded and its effect on health, medicine, and society is culled primarily from articles that appeared in the New York Times. A former contributor to Nature and Science, Wade is currently a reporter for the Times and the author of four books, including The Science Times Book of Genetics. Intended for the general reader, this volume initially recounts the drama behind the race between the public (academic) and private (commercial) sectors competing to be the first to sequence the human genome. The other half of the text explores how this achievement will perplex ethicists, aid medical research, and ultimately benefit humanity for decades to come. Wade weaves the history of genomics (the study of genes and their function) into the practical and imminent results of the genome project, namely, curing disease and delaying aging. This riveting book is not a typical consumer health title and would have benefited from a glossary. However, its vital information and first-rate storytelling surely deserve a place in large public libraries and large consumer health collections. Gail Hendler, New York Univ. Medical Ctr. Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.