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4.16 AVERAGE
4.16 AVERAGE
4.5/5. Excellent on audiobook. Inspiring and fascinating.
Interesting and accessible history of the invention of CRISPR, the ethical dilemmas around gene editing, racism and sexism in science and society, patent wars, and COVID. Isaacson profiles Doudna and other scientists with deep insights into their motivations, strengths, and flaws, bringing out the warmth even in people after they do despicable things (though he describes Doudna as solidly aboveboard throughout). It provided insight into how allowing universities to benefit financially from patents both speeds up innovation and blocks open collaboration, a mixed bag for society. The section on using CRISPR to detect and later vaccinate against COVID was particularly timely.
This book was really hard for me to put down - it really tapped into my inner nerd and reminded me of how exciting and exhilarating science felt as a kid. I did feel like Isaacson romanticized benchwork (it is WAY more tedious than he made it sound) but I am okay with that because this book is about inspiration :). plus he certainly wasn’t shy about highlighting the competition and patent wars, one of the main turnoffs for young scientists considering a career in academia.
Some random thoughts:
- Learning about CRISPR and what we will be facing soon was exhilarating (and scary)
- Amusing that the “Lander camp” of MIT Broad were the villains of the story
- the coronavirus chapter was relevant but a drag
Some random thoughts:
- Learning about CRISPR and what we will be facing soon was exhilarating (and scary)
- Amusing that the “Lander camp” of MIT Broad were the villains of the story
- the coronavirus chapter was relevant but a drag
informative
slow-paced
challenging
hopeful
informative
inspiring
slow-paced
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
adventurous
informative
medium-paced
had been wanting to read an Isaacson biography for awhile, so, as a biologist at a pharmaceutical company working on gene therapies, I figured the one on CRISPR would be a good place to start. This was an oddly organized book: it felt like Isaacson really wanted to tell Doudna’s story, but most of the book is on CIRSPR more broadly. I think this was for the better. While undeniably intelligent and hard-working, it doesn’t seem like Doudna is the quirky, eccentric genius that we love to read stories about. The feeling I came away with was that she had a pretty normal up-bringing, got into chemistry and biology, worked hard, and executed – a powerful story, but not an especially thrilling one. So after a mediocre beginning to the book, the recounting of the discovery and manipulation of CRISPR technology was very interesting. Isaacson did a tremendous job of interviewing the key players multiple times, posing difficult questions, and organizing everything into a cohesive storyline. While perhaps too much in some cases, I also appreciated when the author would insert his own point-of-view into the text, particularly when there were competing narratives from individuals and a historian’s skill-set can help disambiguate between them. My main critique on the book would be the rather lack-luster final third or so of the book. Some of this section was a series of thought experiments on the potential uses of CRISPR; while perhaps interesting in small doses, there were too many and I was more interested in learning about CRISPR. The rest of the final third was about COVID-19. I think when this book was published in 2021, the author thought COVID would still be interesting, but in 2025, it isn’t really. Furthermore, I don’t think CRISPR has much of a role in testing, treating, etc. for COVID, so its inclusion felt forced and off-topic. Overall, I would recommend this for anyone who wants to learn more about the history of the CRISPR technologies, at any level of familiarity, but not necessarily as a book about Jennifer Doudna.
This is a 4.5 for sure. I loved the way Isaacson wrote the biological concepts and made this a human story. While it was hard to read and overall disappointing in how the patent battles played out, the writing kept me hooked. Only reason I wouldn't rate it a solid 5 stars is a I think it got repetitive at the end. Regardless I would highly recommend the read.
Great science book, not too over the top woven into relationships. Current leaders who show up
In the news from time to time.
In the news from time to time.
Parts of this book were definitely 5-star (the backstory of so many of the scientists involved in the development of CRISPR, the clear description of the underlying science pan open questions), but others were only 3-star for me (the long philosophical digression on the future of germline gene editing, the bit near the end suggesting that CRISPR had some major impact on the development of Covid diagnostics, vaccines and therapies, the deep optimism that ignores the ugly and increasingly loud anti-science voices that came to the forefront during the pandemic). This is the first Isaacson book I’ve read, and perhaps those diversions are part of his signature style, but I would have enjoyed the book more without them.