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Title: The Genome War: How Craig Venter Tried to Capture the Code of Life and Save the World by JAMES SHREEVE ISBN: 0-375-40629-8 Publisher: Knopf Pub. Date: 06 January, 2004 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $26.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 5 (5 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: A complex story well told
Comment: This is a ferciously well-written account of the race to map the human genome, one of the most sordid and expensive races in the history of science. Virtually alone amongst the books available out there on the genome race, this book tells the story from the point of view of Craig Venter. Not only that, but James Shreeve had a complete fly-on-the-wall view of the inner workings of Celera, allowing Shreeve to give a full-blooded account of the implosion of Venter's dream, that of becoming the Bill Gates of Biotech.
Shreeve has done the impossible by pulling the threads of this immense story into a tight coherent narrative. At the end of the story, we understand how Venter ended up in the embarassing situation of negociating a so-called "tie" in the race for the human genome. Shreeve has a novelistic eye for detail in painting memorable portraits of the many people involved in the story. The science is vividly introduced when needed, but the complex financial and political moves are also explicated with authority. This is very very good writing.
Although Craig Venter has often been demonized amongst scientific circles, it was always an open question whether Venter was the devil incarnate, or an incredibly naive scientist who made one stupid faustian bargain after another. While there is no doubt that Venter is a brilliant man, Shreeve' account portrays Venter as a financial masochist, a victim of financial forces beyond his understanding.
In the preface, Shreeve explained that he had originally wanted a balanced account of the race as he tried to get access to the head of the public Human Genome Project, Francis Collins. He was refused. Because of that, Shreeve has structured the book as a character study of Venter, where we are privy to all his inner trials and tribulations. From being embedded in the private side of the race, Shreeve introduces a subtle bias in the account. The private researchers at Celera are fun and daring, even glamorous, whereas the public scientists are inefficient, stodgy, yawningly boring white-lab coats, especially when they talk about the ethical stuff. In my experience, it's been the opposite. I know researchers who have come back into academia because industry research was so achingly boring.
One big gripe I have with this book is that Shreeve glides over why the public project was so fixated on trying to keep the map open, free and accessible. Shreeve makes the leaders of the public project sound like shrill ideologues, constantly harping on over some kind of utopian ideal. This subtle bias ignores the heavily documented, though much ignored, literature over the pathological behaviour of the pharmaceutical industry. A commercial monopoly over the human genome would have been a disaster for public health (as opposed to rich men's health), and Celera came close to destroying the fragile consensus in academia science.
Apart from this gripe, I do recommend that you read this book if you want a sophisticated guide to one of the most fascinating collisions between commerical and public science, as well as a superb study of scientific ambition.
Rating: 5
Summary: A zesty story of a great struggle for discovery
Comment: The business, science and controversial politics affecting genome studies are outlined by James Shreeve in The Genome War: How Craig Venter Tried To Capture The Code Of Life And Save The World, a history of the race to map the human genome. From the efforts of both private and government industries to unravel the complete genetic code of life to accounts of individual ambitions and motivations for participating in the project, The Genome War offers a zesty story of a great struggle for discovery.
Rating: 5
Summary: Informative and exciting
Comment: This book has it all: brilliant, extraordinary personalities; big egos and big visions, high stakes political and business maneuvering, scientific breakthroughs and feats of technical virtuosity - all making up a very thrilling and important story. James Shreeve relates a complex history of a monumental scientific achievement in a way that is lucid, engaging, informative and exciting. Once you start this book, it is hard to put down. Craig Venter personal story is incredible and intriguing enough, but there are several other interesting and gifted individuals in both the private and public sector chronicled in the book whose genius, dreams and hard work lead to the mapping of the human genome.
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Title: The Common Thread: A Story of Science, Politics, Ethics and the Human Genome by John Sulston, Georgina Ferry ISBN: 0309084091 Publisher: Joseph Henry Press Pub. Date: 15 October, 2002 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: Cracking the Genome: Inside the Race to Unlock Human DNA by Kevin Davies ISBN: 0801871409 Publisher: Johns Hopkins Univ Pr Pub. Date: October, 2002 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
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Title: The Gene Masters: How a New Breed of Scientific Entrepeneurs Raced for the Biggest Prize in Biology by Ingrid Wickelgren ISBN: 0805071741 Publisher: Times Books Pub. Date: 09 October, 2002 List Price(USD): $26.00 |
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Title: How to Win the Nobel Prize: An Unexpected Life in Science by J. Michael Bishop ISBN: 0674008804 Publisher: Harvard Univ Pr Pub. Date: June, 2003 List Price(USD): $27.95 |
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Title: Digital Code of Life : How Bioinformatics is Revolutionizing Science, Medicine, and Business by Glyn Moody ISBN: 0471327883 Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Pub. Date: 23 January, 2004 List Price(USD): $34.95 |
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