A 2022 Audie Award FinalistA Best Book of 2021 by Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Time, and The Washington PostThe bestselling author of Leonardo da Vinci and Steve Jobs returns with a "compelling" (The Washington Post) account of how Nobel Prize winner Jennifer Doudna and her colleagues launched a revolution that will allow us to cure diseases, fend off viruses, and have healthier babies.When Jennifer Doudna was in sixth grade, she came home one day to find that her dad had left a paperback titled The Double Helix on her bed. She put it aside, thinking it was one of those detective tales she loved. When she read it on a rainy Saturday, she discovered she was right, in a way. As she sped through the pages, she became enthralled by the intense drama behind the competition to discover the code of life. Even though her high school counselor told her girls didn't become scientists, she decided she would.Driven by a passion to understand how nature works and to turn discoveries into inventions, she would help to make what the book's author, James Watson, told her was the most important biological advance since his codiscovery of the structure of DNA. She and her collaborators turned a curiosity of nature into an invention that will transform the human race: an easy-to-use tool that can edit DNA. Known as CRISPR, it opened a brave new world of medical miracles and moral questions.The development of CRISPR and the race to create vaccines for coronavirus will hasten our transition to the next great innovation revolution. The past half-century has been a digital age, based on the microchip, computer, and internet. Now we are entering a life-science revolution. Children who study digital coding will be joined by those who study genetic code.Should we use our new evolution-hacking powers to make us less susceptible to viruses? What a wonderful boon that would be! And what about preventing depression? Hmmm ... Should we allow parents, if they can afford it, to enhance the height or muscles or IQ of their kids?After helping to discover CRISPR, Doudna became a leader in wrestling with these moral issues and, with her collaborator Emmanuelle Charpentier, won the Nobel Prize in 2020. Her story is an "enthralling detective story" (Oprah Daily) that involves the most profound wonders of nature, from the origins of life to the future of our species.
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A Text That Even An English Major Can Appreciate
Though I gave this a 5-star review, It's not perfect. But for the sheer breadth and depth of information on Doudna and this topic, the book deserves full credit. Also, this book discusses complex scientific information with clarity and insight so that even an English major (word perp) can enjoy the discussion of the process and have their curiosity satisfied about gene editing, not an easy task -- but one that Isaacson does quite well. I also love the evolution of discovery that Isaacson describes, and I love that he introduces the reader to all those participating as he tells this story, Doudna's story. He also describes the brutal competition of scientists and researchers and the dynamic of collaboration in that community. But he notes the change that occurred during and after the pandemic. As a reader, I had a true sense of how all the pieces fit together after I read this book. Isaacson addresses the "elephant in the room" in detail by discussing the potential benefit and horror of gene editing for humankind. He does this in a way with provocative questions and answers that reveals a careful and methodical researcher who has a good understanding of what's at stake. He distinguishes between "treatment and enhancement" with precision. Last, I love how he inserts Doudna's actions, reactions, and dialogue into this story in which she is the lead protagonist. He does a careful job of uncovering uncomfortable issues that occurred along the way of discovery. I'm left with the impression that Jennifer Doudna is a singular ethical and brilliant research scientist who has paved and continues to pave the way for young scientists, especially young women, to change the world, even as she has. In discussing the different facets of collaboration, before and after Mar 2020, I love that he emphasizes the importance of a cross-discipline approach and how various perspectives and experiences contribute to discovery. My only two complaints (and these may seem overly critical) ar...
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