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A review by tani
The Dance of Life: The New Science of How a Single Cell Becomes a Human Being by Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz, Roger Highfield
3.0
I picked this up on a whim because it talks about embryos and what we know about them, and what we don't know about them, and how all the things that we do know have been a slow and scientific slog. I didn't really know what to expect from the book, but it ended up being part memoir and part science writing. Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz speaks a lot of the challenges in her life, starting with her path to the science that defined her life, and progressing through the various inspirations that her research took.
To be honest, I found that the content here ranged from dry and overly technical to heart-touching and engaging. Some of the science was way too much for me. My biology background just wasn't really strong enough to deal with some of the technicalities of their experiments, and I ended up walking away with a rather vague understanding of what a number of them accomplished. I don't know that this was the fault of the writing, but I also didn't think it helped, especially in the beginning, when the book seemed the most torn between memoir and science.
I think that at the end of the day, this book had two purposes. One was explain the advances that Zernicka-Goetz and her team have made in understanding both human and mouse embryos, and what factors dictate that development. The other purpose was to really elucidate just how tedious and time-consuming the scientific process really is, and what it demands from the people who devote their lives to it. I think that the second purpose was more of a success for me than the first. I always vaguely knew that scientists fund a lot of their work through grants and that there are strict quality standards for publication, but I had no idea how much went into both of those things. I was somewhat horrified to hear of her early struggles with finding lab space, even after achieving funding, and how very much of a struggle it was for her progress in her early days. Then to have her work embroiled in academic infighting, not to mention the number of times she was forced to take additional years to really ensure her procedure was watertight... It's a crazy world out there in academia, I see.
I think what most hindered this book was the impersonal tone taken throughout it. Although there are many personal and devastating events detailed throughout the book, they're relayed almost clinically for the most part. For me, a more emotional telling probably would have done a lot to keep me going when the going got rough. Actually, my favorite chapter was the final one, in which she talks about the sacrifices that she made in order to achieve what she has, and speaks strongly toward the advances that still need to be made in the world of science, particularly in terms of equity between genders, races, etc. I think if she'd been able to bring that passion to the entire book, it would have been greatly improved for it.
As it was, this was very informational, and I did learn a lot, despite the limitations of my own foundational knowledge. I just wish it could have been a little more than what it was.
To be honest, I found that the content here ranged from dry and overly technical to heart-touching and engaging. Some of the science was way too much for me. My biology background just wasn't really strong enough to deal with some of the technicalities of their experiments, and I ended up walking away with a rather vague understanding of what a number of them accomplished. I don't know that this was the fault of the writing, but I also didn't think it helped, especially in the beginning, when the book seemed the most torn between memoir and science.
I think that at the end of the day, this book had two purposes. One was explain the advances that Zernicka-Goetz and her team have made in understanding both human and mouse embryos, and what factors dictate that development. The other purpose was to really elucidate just how tedious and time-consuming the scientific process really is, and what it demands from the people who devote their lives to it. I think that the second purpose was more of a success for me than the first. I always vaguely knew that scientists fund a lot of their work through grants and that there are strict quality standards for publication, but I had no idea how much went into both of those things. I was somewhat horrified to hear of her early struggles with finding lab space, even after achieving funding, and how very much of a struggle it was for her progress in her early days. Then to have her work embroiled in academic infighting, not to mention the number of times she was forced to take additional years to really ensure her procedure was watertight... It's a crazy world out there in academia, I see.
I think what most hindered this book was the impersonal tone taken throughout it. Although there are many personal and devastating events detailed throughout the book, they're relayed almost clinically for the most part. For me, a more emotional telling probably would have done a lot to keep me going when the going got rough. Actually, my favorite chapter was the final one, in which she talks about the sacrifices that she made in order to achieve what she has, and speaks strongly toward the advances that still need to be made in the world of science, particularly in terms of equity between genders, races, etc. I think if she'd been able to bring that passion to the entire book, it would have been greatly improved for it.
As it was, this was very informational, and I did learn a lot, despite the limitations of my own foundational knowledge. I just wish it could have been a little more than what it was.