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171 reviews for:
Woolly: The True Story of the Quest to Revive One of History's Most Iconic Extinct Creatures
Ben Mezrich
3.35 AVERAGE
171 reviews for:
Woolly: The True Story of the Quest to Revive One of History's Most Iconic Extinct Creatures
Ben Mezrich
3.35 AVERAGE
informative
medium-paced
adventurous
hopeful
informative
medium-paced
This book is about the current effort spearheaded by George Church and Stewart Brand to bring the woolly mammoth back from extinction. This is partly a crazy "we'll do it because w can" idea, but there is also an ecological advantage: putting heavy grazing animals like mammoths on the permafrost will lower the temperature of the permafrost, thus locking in all of the carbon currently sequestered in the permafrost and preventing a major acceleration of climate change.
This book has some interesting information in it, but unfortunately the whole thing would have worked better as a long-form essay in the Atlantic instead of taking up an entire book. It's like Metzger couldn't decide if he wanted to write fiction or non-fiction, so he wrote his non-fiction in a fictionish format. The chapters jump around in time and place, and the book devotes a lot of time to the childhoods of the scientists involved and random scenes in the frozen tundra that don't actually add anything useful.
3.5 stars. If you're looking for an in-depth, scientific study of the research going into this project, this book is not for you. If you want a lay-person perspective on this work being done, you'll enjoy this. Mezrich's writing style in this creative non-fiction book is pretty engaging, so this reads like a story, not like your typical science book. I do wish that the 'speculative' chapters at the end had not been there. I would have much preferred a summary of exactly where this project was at the time of publication of the book. I also would have enjoyed some pictures and maps.
Less a recounting of efforts to create a wooly mammoth and more a recount of a Harvard professor's life.
I was so intrigued by this book! I loved every minute of it. There’s something about genetic engineering that totally sucks me in.
I want to try more of Ben Mezrich’s audiobooks.
I want to try more of Ben Mezrich’s audiobooks.
First let me say, I have always had an interest in the idea of de-extinction, especially in the case of the woolly mammoth. While I was an undergraduate student taking developmental biology, we were given an assignment to review a scientific research paper and present it to the class. Of course I found one on the process of trying to resurrect the woolly mammoth. Like most people, I had seen Jurassic Park enough times to have fantastical thoughts about bringing back such ancient and magnificent creatures. I knew the process of de-extinction is a very real scientific breakthrough and could be done if viable DNA could be found. And there lay the problem for the woolly mammoth. At the time I was present my review of the studies being done at that time (circa 2012), no viable woolly mammoth DNA had been found. All the samples from fossils and specimens that had been excavated at that time were too degraded from exposure to thawing and re-freezing of permafrost, and thousands of years of UV damage. So even though the process was real and could be done, it didn’t look good for the woolly mammoth and it degraded DNA. My heart was crushed.
In addition to the hardship of finding viable DNA, there was always the question of why? Why should we resurrect extinct species? Just because we want to see if we actually can? Where will they live? Is there an environment in existence today that mirrors the one in which they lived in their time?
I loved this book because it brought new hope to the de-extinction of the woolly mammoth, and answered the “why” for the first time.
With the development of Pleistocene Park in Russia that hopes to keep the permafrost from thawing by populating the area with large herbivores, the woolly mammoth has an environment much like its own, and we have our “why”. Because woolly mammoths historically trampled and rooted up the ground in its habitat which kept the moss and grasses from forming a carpet over the permafrost which increases the rate of thawing. So, poetically scientists are hoping to save the future of our planet by bringing back creatures of the past.
Dr. George Church, and the members of his lab, are doing insanely impressive science in order to find ways around the obstacles of resurrecting the woolly mammoth. If we can’t find viable DNA, let’s write it. If we can’t isolate elephant stem cells, let’s make some. With progress as recent as 2016, it’s so exciting to think that this may actually happen. I had all but given up on the idea of this reality after that assignment in college, so when I read this book my mind was blown by the advancements that have been made. I’m rooting for you Dr. George Church, and I hope to learn someday soon that the woolly mammoth walks on this earth again!
In addition to the hardship of finding viable DNA, there was always the question of why? Why should we resurrect extinct species? Just because we want to see if we actually can? Where will they live? Is there an environment in existence today that mirrors the one in which they lived in their time?
I loved this book because it brought new hope to the de-extinction of the woolly mammoth, and answered the “why” for the first time.
With the development of Pleistocene Park in Russia that hopes to keep the permafrost from thawing by populating the area with large herbivores, the woolly mammoth has an environment much like its own, and we have our “why”. Because woolly mammoths historically trampled and rooted up the ground in its habitat which kept the moss and grasses from forming a carpet over the permafrost which increases the rate of thawing. So, poetically scientists are hoping to save the future of our planet by bringing back creatures of the past.
Dr. George Church, and the members of his lab, are doing insanely impressive science in order to find ways around the obstacles of resurrecting the woolly mammoth. If we can’t find viable DNA, let’s write it. If we can’t isolate elephant stem cells, let’s make some. With progress as recent as 2016, it’s so exciting to think that this may actually happen. I had all but given up on the idea of this reality after that assignment in college, so when I read this book my mind was blown by the advancements that have been made. I’m rooting for you Dr. George Church, and I hope to learn someday soon that the woolly mammoth walks on this earth again!
This book was fascinating. I listened to it in audiobook form and it was read by the author. Written in narrative fiction, it was interesting to read/listen too, even with all the science jargon. I would recommend this book to everyone.
As a true story, the beginning and middle part of the book successfully gained my attention. The way it is written reminds me of Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park. I was being introduced to real passionate and ambitious scientists. I am weak on resisting the charm of this kind of people, that makes me curious and keep turning the page.
It was fine. Until, i finally reached the ending, that leaves me with a “heh??” feeling. Somehow Ben Mezrich concluded the story poorly. I feel like from reading Jurassic Park, suddenly switched to National Geographic. Not that I don’t like reading National Geographic, it just impacted to the mood drastically.
I am just disappointed by his inconsistency on writing. He lost the narrative style and changed into informative style. I started assuming that he was on the deadline, he does not know how to finish his book, so he just copied and pasted from Wikipedia and made a few changes to make it authentic.
It was fine. Until, i finally reached the ending, that leaves me with a “heh??” feeling. Somehow Ben Mezrich concluded the story poorly. I feel like from reading Jurassic Park, suddenly switched to National Geographic. Not that I don’t like reading National Geographic, it just impacted to the mood drastically.
I am just disappointed by his inconsistency on writing. He lost the narrative style and changed into informative style. I started assuming that he was on the deadline, he does not know how to finish his book, so he just copied and pasted from Wikipedia and made a few changes to make it authentic.