The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race
By Walter Isaacson
Read by Kathe Mazur
Unabridged
Format :
Library CD (In Stock)
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2 Formats: CD
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2 Formats: Library CD
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Available on 03/09/2021
ISBN: 9781797117041
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Available on 03/09/2021
ISBN: 9781797117041
Runtime: | 16.08 Hours |
Category: | Nonfiction/Biography |
Audience: | Adult |
Language: | English |
Summary
Summary
AARP Magazine Editors’ Pick of Best Nonfiction Books of Winter
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 co-discovery 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 a thrilling detective tale that involves the most profound wonders of nature, from the origins of life to the future of our species.
Editorial Reviews
Editorial Reviews
“A vital book about the next big thing in science—and yet another top-notch biography from Isaacson.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“When a great biographer combines his own fascination with science and a superb narrative style, the result is magic…[An] important and powerful work.” —Doris Kearns Goodwin, #1 New York Times bestselling author
“A heroine who will be for the ages; a worldwide cast of remarkable, fiercely competitive scientists; and a string of discoveries that will change our lives far more than the iPhone did. The tale is gripping. The implications mind-blowing.” —Atul Gawande, #1 New York Times bestselling author
“An urgent, sober, accessible, and altogether brilliant achievement.” —Jon Meacham, Pulitzer Prize–winning author
Details
Details
Available Formats : | CD, Library CD |
Category: | Nonfiction/Biography |
Runtime: | 16.08 |
Audience: | Adult |
Language: | English |
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