Hacking the Code of Life: How gene editing will rewrite our futures

Nessa Carey

Mar 2019 · Icon Books

About this ebook

'An excellent, brisk guide to what is likely to happen as opposed to the fantastically remote.' - Los Angeles Review of Books
In 2018 the world woke up to gene editing with a storm of controversy over twin girls born in China with genetic changes deliberately introduced by scientists - changes they will pass on to their own offspring.
Genetic modification (GM) has been with us for 45 years now, but the new system known as CRISPR or gene editing can manipulate the genes of almost any organism with a degree of precision, ease and speed that we could only dream of ten years ago.
But is it ethical to change the genetic material of organisms in a way that might be passed on to future generations? If a person is suffering from a lethal genetic disease, is it unethical to deny them this option? Who controls the application of this technology, when it makes 'biohacking' - perhaps of one's own genome - a real possibility?
Nessa Carey's book is a thrilling and timely snapshot of a cutting-edge technology that will radically alter our futures and the way we prevent disease.
'A focused snapshot of a brave new world.' - Nature
'A brisk, accessible primer on the fast-moving field, a clear-eyed look at a technology that is already driving major scientific advances - and raising complex ethical questions.' - Emily Anthes, Undark

Ratings and reviews

For my taste the book is written a bit too one sided. Instead of presenting the valid arguments pro and con, the con arguments are often ridiculed. Also, some things are strangely talked about in a roundabout way without using their proper names. E.g., chapter 6 talks about CAR-T cell therapies but insistently refuses to use the term "CAR-T" in the text. This kind of rubs me the wrong way. This book was clearly a case of unmatched expectations for me.

Good recount of topics surrounding CRISPR technology development and applications.

AÀA BOSS NETWORK

About the author

Nessa Carey worked in the biotech and pharma industry for thirteen years and is a Visiting Professor at Imperial College London. Her previous books for Icon are The Epigenetics Revolution (2011), described by The Guardian as 'a book that would have had Darwin swooning', and Junk DNA (2015), 'a cutting-edge guide to the ever-more mysterious genome' ( New Scientist).