The Year of the Genome; A Diary of the Biological Revolution

by Gerald Weissmann

• ISBN13: 9780805072921
• ISBN10: 0805072926
• Format: Trade Paper
• Copyright: 2003-05-01
• Publisher: Holt Paperbacks

Summary

Over the course of one year (2000-01), celebrated essayist and research physician Gerald Weissmann documented the modern age of enlightenment, charting its scientific marvels and new plagues. His diary of 'the year of the genome' takes us on a literary exploration of laboratories and beyond to see the impact on human life and culture of Dolly the sheep, mad cow disease, RU 486, the Human Genome Project, AIDS drugs, and a score of other current developments. Whether calling on Ralph Waldo Emerson to explain Craig Venter's drive to unravel the genome or tracing the effect of Rachel Carson's legacy on the spread of malaria around the world, Weissmann is an invaluable interpreter of the genetic revolution.

Author Biography

A recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and two Rockefeller residencies at Belaggio, Gerald Weissmann is a professor of medicine and the director of the Biotechnology Study Center at New York University School of Medicine. His essays and reviews have appeared in The New Republic, the London Review of Books, and The New York Times Book Review, and have been collected in six volumes, most recently Darwin’s Audubon.

Table of Contents

“Connecting dots in the time-honored manner of the essayist, Weissmann is at his best when tracking the context of medicine within its historical context . . . An information-packed source that provides cultural context.” —Booklist

“Weissmann’s juggling with the balls of global politics, biology, medicine, and culture in the framework of history is breathtaking.” —Bengt Samuelsson, chairman, Nobel Foundation