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A Crack in Creation: Gene Editing and the Unthinkable Power to Control Evolution Hardcover – June 13, 2017
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Not since the atomic bomb has a technology so alarmed its inventors that they warned the world about its use. Not, that is, until the spring of 2015, when biologist Jennifer Doudna called for a worldwide moratorium on the use of the new gene-editing tool CRISPR—a revolutionary new technology that she helped create—to make heritable changes in human embryos. The cheapest, simplest, most effective way of manipulating DNA ever known, CRISPR may well give us the cure to HIV, genetic diseases, and some cancers, and will help address the world’s hunger crisis. Yet even the tiniest changes to DNA could have myriad, unforeseeable consequences—to say nothing of the ethical and societal repercussions of intentionally mutating embryos to create “better” humans.
Writing with fellow researcher Samuel Sternberg, Doudna shares the thrilling story of her discovery, and passionately argues that enormous responsibility comes with the ability to rewrite the code of life. With CRISPR, she shows, we have effectively taken control of evolution. What will we do with this unfathomable power?
- Print length304 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherMariner Books
- Publication dateJune 13, 2017
- Dimensions6.5 x 1 x 9.25 inches
- ISBN-109780544716940
- ISBN-13978-0544716940
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Editorial Reviews
Review
One of Science News' "Favorite Books of the Year"
“The first book on CRISPR to present a powerful mix of science and ethics…This book is required reading for every concerned citizen—the material it covers should be discussed in schools, colleges, and universities throughout the country.”
—New York Review of Books
“Fascinating… When people refer to CRISPR now, they talk about wiping out disease, resurrecting woolly mammoths, and fashioning designer babies. Such implications fascinate and torment Doudna, and she writes about them movingly with Samuel Sternberg, a biochemist and former research colleague, in A Crack in Creation.”
—Bloomberg Businessweek
"An essential start to educating the public...reveal[s] the complex, interlocking, and thoroughly international nature of today’s bioscience...CRISPR heralds a new era of massively increased human control over life, one that will affect every person on Earth, directly or indirectly, and much of the rest of our planet’s biosphere. If humans are to have any chance of harnessing its benefits, avoiding its risks, and using it in ways consistent with our values and cultures, then we all — not just the scientists, ethicists, and patent lawyers — need to understand something about CRISPR and its implications. A Crack in Creation is a great place to start."
—Los Angeles Review of Books
"An invaluable account, by Doudna and Samuel Sternberg, of their role in the revolution that is genome editing...It is unusual to have a popular account of a great scientific breakthrough written by the protagonist, so soon after its discovery. Watson’s The Double Helix appeared 15 years after the work. We owe Doudna several times over – for her discovery, for her zeal to take it from the lab into the clinic, for her involvement in the ethical issues raised, for her public engagement work, and now for this book. It’s a fine weapon against the still far too large tribe of those who don’t believe in the power of very small things."
—Guardian (UK)
"[A Crack in Creation] opens with the stark observation that the revolution in gene editing launched by CRISPR 'offers both the greatest promise and, arguably, the greatest peril for the future of humanity.' The first half of the book is a history of CRISPR’s development and a lucid explication of how it works. The authors describe the electrifying atmosphere of a laboratory at the front edge of discovery, while generously distributing credit to the legion of scientists who preceded Doudna and Chapentier or have carried their work forward...The book’s second half is an examination of CRISPR’s great potential to eliminate or cure disease and improve human existence in myriad ways, and of the perils it poses for humanity’s future."
—Los Angeles Times
“A Crack in Creation is a powerful testament to the role of curiosity and tenacity in scientific research, and also an urgent plea from the celebrated biologist whose discovery enabled us to rewrite the code of life. The future is in our hands as never before, and this book explains the stakes like no other.”
—George Lucas, filmmaker
“Urgent, riveting, and endlessly fascinating, A Crack in Creation is a journey through the past, present, and future of one of biology’s most significant discoveries. Combining deep historical perspectives, personal narrative, and scientific data, Doudna and Sternberg bring the story of CRISPR and ‘gene editing’ alive with pointed honesty and clarity. This book is destined to become an instant classic. Read it and understand its implications if you want to understand our biological future.”
—Siddhartha Mukherjee, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Gene and The Emperor of All Maladies
“The technology of gene editing will be the most important advance of our era, one that will create astonishing opportunities combined with frightening moral challenges. In the tradition of The Double Helix, one of the pioneers of the field describes the exciting collaborative and competitive hunt for the key breakthrough and what it portends for our future.”
—Walter Isaacson, bestselling author of Steve Jobs, Einstein, and The Innovators
“A Crack in Creation, by one of the most pioneering women in science, is both exhilarating and frightening. Jennifer Doudna and her co-author Samuel Sternberg challenge us to confront the possible dangers of gene editing, even as we embrace its incredible potential. This book is a roadmap to our future.”
—Arianna Huffington, bestselling author of Thrive and The Sleep Revolution
“Jennifer Doudna is the true pioneer who built the bridge between the basic science of CRISPR and its diverse applications in agriculture and medicine. Writing with Samuel Sternberg, she has crafted a beautifully written book with A Crack in Creation—a pure pleasure for both neophyte and expert. Now is the time to read about the revolution that could change our world.”
—George Church, Professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School and author of Regenesis
“We are developing ever more powerful tools that allow us to change the genetic makeup not only of life around us but also of ourselves. Describing the potential benefits of these tools as well as some of the risks and ethical issues they present to society, A Crack inCreation is a scientific thriller and a gripping read, framed as a personal voyage by a brilliant scientist who played a major role in developing what is currently one of the most promising and powerful ways of editing our genomes.”
—Venki Ramakrishnan, president of the Royal Society and winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry
"[A Crack in Creation] contribute[s] to a public understanding of CRISPR, explaining science in terms that are understandable for the general reader...Fascinating."
—Wall Street Journal
“An enthusiastic and definitely not dumbed-down account of gene manipulation that, unlike earlier methods, is precise and easy...an important book about a major scientific advance.”
—Kirkus Reviews, STARRED
“The authors describe the biological mechanisms in a way that nonspecialists can appreciate...excellent book.”
—Publishers Weekly
"A Crack in Creation chronicles the origin and potential application of CRISPR, the powerful new gene-editing technique that established Doudna as a household name in scientific circles...The first section begins with a history of gene-editing technology and how these research endeavors were largely propelled by the quest to eradicate genetic diseases...Reviewing the fundamentals will enable your imagination to unspool. You'll find yourself pausing to plot your own CRISPR-inspired science project—or science fiction scenario...In the second half of the book, the authors outline the staggering potential applications of CRISPR technology...The narrative between the lines that propels the book forward."
—Science
About the Author
DR. SAMUEL H. STERNBERG is a protein-RNA biochemist and author of numerous high-profile scientific publications on CRISPR technology. He runs a research laboratory at Columbia University, where he is assistant professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics. He lives in New York City.
Product details
- ASIN : 0544716949
- Publisher : Mariner Books (June 13, 2017)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 304 pages
- ISBN-10 : 9780544716940
- ISBN-13 : 978-0544716940
- Item Weight : 1.08 pounds
- Dimensions : 6.5 x 1 x 9.25 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #113,660 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #15 in Biotechnology (Books)
- #48 in Genetics (Books)
- #263 in Scientist Biographies
- Customer Reviews:
About the authors
DR. SAMUEL H. STERNBERG is a protein-RNA biochemist and author of numerous high‑profile scientific publications on CRISPR technology. He runs a research laboratory at Columbia University, where he is assistant professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics. He lives in New York City.
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Doudna breaks the book into chapters based on different stages and effects of gene editing. The first 3 chapters don’t have much opinion or any sorts of argument. She just tells the story of how gene editing became a topic of research and how the first attempts at gene editing were unsuccessful until her work with CRISPR (a bacteria defense mechanism) found a cheap, reliable, and safe way to edit DNA in an incredibly accurate way. She begins talking about the ability to edit different foods DNA in a way that will eliminate much of our waste, increase nutritional value, and combat food shortages around the world. Dounda knows the amazing possibilities of CRISPR and how much good it can do for the world but knows that it’s an uphill fight against people who consider gene edited food to be dangerous. In her opinion the gene edited food is perfectly safe because no outside DNA was added, only changed within its own code. Changes that have occurred or could occur naturally by selective breeding or random mutation. After this chapter she looks at DNA editing in insects, animals, and humans. The first example she uses is mosquitos that have been modified so they can not contract or spread malaria. Eradicating malaria would be an amazing accomplishment for the entire world. She notes that close to 500,000 people die a year to malaria around the world. In her opinion this is a wonderful scenario that she believes should be put in place. On the other hand, other scientists have created germline edited mosquitos that only produce male offspring. Since these edits spread to their offspring all the male mosquitos born would impregnate female mosquitos and every mosquito offspring, they produce would only be male. This would eradicate all the mosquitos worldwide. Is eradicating a pest worldwide the right answer? Who decides if that is a power human should be able to control? Dounda believes for nature it would be okay, but if we take this step where will it end? Will we leap to reintroducing extinct species back into nature by using CRISPR to recreate them? It has been done and has been proven to be a viable option. She also brings up CRISPR edited animals. She compares things that would improve the lives of animals like cattle who are dehorned at a young age and things like designer pets. Should we just turn off the gene that makes cattle produce horns? Its been done in different labs around the world. Instead of burning the calf’s heads with hot metal we could simply turn off that gene and allow them to be born without horns. Is that more ethical than creating miniature animals like pigs? She talks about a lab in china that sells pigs who wont ever grow over 30lbs due to the gene for growth hormone being shut off. These pigs normally grow to around 200 lbs. but are stunted at 30 lbs. Aside from the extinct animals and designer pets, she believes there is a huge improvement for the world and for humans. There are labs that have created cattle that grow larger and produce up to 75% less greenhouse gas emissions. We would get more meat at the same time as we produce less waste for the environment. There are chickens, cattle, and pigs that are immune to most common diseases who require no antibiotics. Pigs that can digest phosphorus better and don’t put out phosphorus in waste which has contaminated some underground water and nearby streams. Finally, she comes to the use on humans. Some labs have already tested on human embryos which she believed to be unethical. She believes that use for therapy and curing of major diseases and cancers are not only possible but will be available within a few years and can end a lot of human suffering. She also mentioned the use for fixing individual issues is a completely different issue than changing germline DNA that will affect the course of human evolution. Some examples she included were deafness, some forms of blindness, and down syndrome as things that could be wiped out with germline editing. Will we agree that some of these uses are okay? In her opinion we are at a dangerous time in our thinking. We can decide now what is allowed and what is an ethical use of this powerful new tool.
This book has an incredible amount of credibility. Dr. Doudna was the lead scientist in the lab that discovered the use of CRISPR as a gene editing tool. She has firsthand experience and more knowledge on how the subject became what it is today than almost anyone else in the world. She is backed up by Dr. Sternberg who runs a research lab at Columbia university. This book uses research from many other papers and labs around the world. All examples she talked about including the hornless cattle, virus immune farm animals, and malaria free mosquitos are from reliable sources cited in the end of the book. As far as credibility goes, this is about as credible as you can be. One of the strengths of this book is actually a weakness in my opinion. Dounda is one of the most educated people in the world when it comes to biology and the use of CRISPR, so her explanations and examples are very in depth. This is great if you have basic knowledge of chemistry, biology, and gene therapy. If you lack an understanding of any of those subjects some of the explanations can be slightly hard to understand. As far as any real weaknesses go this book ahead of many smaller articles that have little to back them up.
This book can be found online in a few different places including Amazon. I purchase this book for $15.99 on the amazon website but it can also be purchased from audible as an audio book or an e-book and other websites like the Barnes and noble website. Much of Dr. Doudna’s work is published all over google. A quick search can find many of her experiments and experiments related to her research. Overall, this book was an interesting piece of literature and I believe it holds some of the most important and controversial scientific discoveries in our lifetime and maybe even in the history of human kind. We have the power to change our own evolution and the evolution of every living thing on the planet. This book explains how that became possible.
Doudna, J. A., & Sternberg, S. H. (2018). A crack in creation: gene editing and the unthinkable power to control evolution. Boston: Mariner Books.
The reason is not simply because of the authors’ pedigree — co-author Jennifer Doudna is credited as the chief pioneer behind CRISPR, the potentially world-changing gene-editing technique. The book’s impact is also buttressed by the authors’ scientific rigor, deeply felt passion, and understanding of the world-changing consequences of their research.
Doudna and Samuel Sternberg’s “A Crack in Creation” is two books in one. The first third is a short primer on genetic engineering and the scientists who’ve advanced the science over the years. While the attention to detail and footnote-rich documentation is commendable, the lay reader will be forgiven if she skips through some of the dry backstory to get to the good stuff in the remaining two-thirds of the book. Because few of us have yet to reckon with the significant issues raised by the recent breakthroughs in CRISPR research, which only came to light in 2012.
As the authors write:
“Many experts predicted that CRISPR would be a research biologist’s dream come true, enabling experiments that one could have only fantasized about doing before. I imagined that it would democratize a technology that had once been the privilege of the few. … Now, CRISPR seemed to be on everyone’s lips and the topic of every conversation. And yet it was still only the tip of the iceberg. …
“As I sat on the plane flying back to San Francisco after that first trip to Cambridge, I could already see a new era of genetic command and control on the horizon—an era in which CRISPR would transform biologists’ shared toolkit by endowing them with the power to rewrite the genome virtually any way they desired. Instead of remaining an unwieldy, uninterpretable document, the genome would become as malleable as a piece of literary prose at the mercy of an editor’s red pen.”
Doudna’s initial worries centered on whether scientists would prematurely use CRISPR without proper oversight or consideration of the risks and whether bad actors might use the technology for nefarious purposes. So she took the first halting steps to begin a public dialogue about the implications of CRISPR research, first by organizing a roundtable of 17 scientists in January 2015 and then a larger gathering later that year to discuss gene therapy and germline enhancement. Those discussions continue to this day.
Meantime, other researchers and entrepreneurs got busy. Entire companies have sprung up with the mission of conquering such genetic disorders as cystic fibrosis, sickle cell disease and Duchene muscular dystrophy. The reader roots along with the authors in cheering on what amounts to the beginning of what might be called “the precision genetic medicine revolution.”
It’s helpful that the authors translate scientific arcana into everyday language, as when they mention that a snippet of DNA being modified by CRISPR is “roughly one one-thousandth the width of a human hair” or that a molecule “acted like a set of GPS coordinates” to guide the replacement DNA to the right spot or when referring to an enzyme as a “motorized hedge clipper.”
Many readers will be interested in not today’s practical applications in the lab but in what tomorrow may herald. Count me in the latter category, as I just finished writing a suspense novel with CRISPR at the centerpiece. What’s so fascinating about the technology’s future prospects? The authors write:
“In the future, parents may be offered the option of selecting for traits that go beyond disease susceptibility and gender and cross into areas like behavior, physical appearance, or even intelligence. The list of known associations between certain gene variants and a diverse list of traits continues to grow, and as the PGD technology improves further, what’s to stop fertility clinics from consulting this genetic information so they can offer their consumers even more choices when it comes to selecting the most desirable or ‘best’ embryos?”
Entire conferences and mountains of newsprint will be devoted to dissecting the implications of CRISPR usage on early stage human embryos in the decades ahead. The door has just been cracked ajar.
Where does Doudna, the progenitor of CRISPR, come down on the ethical scales?
“I don’t believe there’s an ethical defense for banning germline modification outright, nor do I think we can justifiably prevent parents from using CRISPR to improve their chances of having a healthy, genetically related child, so long as the methods are safe and are offered in an equitable manner. … [But we also need to] redouble our commitment to building a society in which all humans are respected and treated equally, regardless of their genetic makeup. …
“Advances in gene editing are enabling us to rewrite the very language of life—and putting us closer to gaining near-complete control of our genetic destiny. Together, we can choose how best to harness this technology There’s simply no way to unlearn this new knowledge, so we must embrace it. But we must do so cautiously, and with the utmost respect for the unimaginable power it grants us.”
Well said. The authors smartly observe that society as a whole needs to be in on the decision on whether to move forward with certain aspects of the gene-editing revolution, and that scientists need to demystify the technology so the public can “understand their implications and decide how to use them.” Let the robust debate begin.
Top reviews from other countries
Tras una introducción que explica el libro, hay una primera parte ardua. Está llena de nombres técnicos incomprensibles y de nombres de científicos que aportan al avance; todo ello sazonado con un tono un tanto presuntuoso de la autora, que hace que uno dude si seguir leyendo o no. Pero desde la segunta parte "The Task", el tema se va haciendo más interesante y comprensible.
Recomiendo su lectura, ya que es un tema que nos incumbe a todos como sociedad. No enterarnos es hacernos cómplices de lo que suceda en este campo.