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Life at the Speed of Light: From the Double Helix to the Dawn of Digital Life by J. Craig Venter
scheu's review against another edition
5.0
A great short book that serves as both a summary of the last several decades of work in molecular biology as well as an outline of the work done by Venter and his colleagues to create the first "synthetic" life (put in quotes as anucleated cells were used so it wasn't completely synthesized). It's been several years since I got my degree in molecular biology so I appreciated this book as a refresher.
phronk's review against another edition
3.0
The history, scientific achievements, and speculation in this book are mind blowing, but that can be hard to see through the dry, rambling writing. Gifted popular science writers can communicate complex science in a way average people can at least feel like they understand, but unfortunately, Venter can't quite do it. I feel like key details are left out, which instead of dumbing it down enough to understand, just makes it harder to follow. More straightforward chapters resemble shopping lists more than stories, jumping from item to item with no particular order or direction.
But you know, the material covered is so incredible, that the book partially succeeds despite itself. It's still worth reading for that.
But you know, the material covered is so incredible, that the book partially succeeds despite itself. It's still worth reading for that.
urlphantomhive's review against another edition
3.0
Read all my reviews on http://urlphantomhive.booklikes.com
As a master student in Biomedical Sciences I'd heard about J. Craig Ventor (and especially his contributions to sequencing the human genome) multiple times in class. So, when I saw this book coming up I was immediately interested.
I somehow had always thought that he would be able to communicate about his science in a very interesting and understandable way. I don't know why I had this believe, but this book disappointed me a bit on that account. I was looking for a book that would be a nice way to introduce people with little or no knowledge about but a huge interest in molecular biology to the subject, but I don't think this book would be right for them. It's at once - I believe - far too specialistic for laymen and too simplistic for the people who do know about it.
It was however, for me, still interesting as synthetic biology is a subject I haven't really learned a lot about. About halfway I did start to get a bit annoyed as it became more and more of an 'Oh, look at me and my team we're so amazing' story as he sums up all his successes and publications in Science. The last chapters were a bit weird as he jumps from synthetic biology to teleportation. Not as good as I anticipated but still enjoyable for people with some background information on (molecular) biology...
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!
As a master student in Biomedical Sciences I'd heard about J. Craig Ventor (and especially his contributions to sequencing the human genome) multiple times in class. So, when I saw this book coming up I was immediately interested.
I somehow had always thought that he would be able to communicate about his science in a very interesting and understandable way. I don't know why I had this believe, but this book disappointed me a bit on that account. I was looking for a book that would be a nice way to introduce people with little or no knowledge about but a huge interest in molecular biology to the subject, but I don't think this book would be right for them. It's at once - I believe - far too specialistic for laymen and too simplistic for the people who do know about it.
It was however, for me, still interesting as synthetic biology is a subject I haven't really learned a lot about. About halfway I did start to get a bit annoyed as it became more and more of an 'Oh, look at me and my team we're so amazing' story as he sums up all his successes and publications in Science. The last chapters were a bit weird as he jumps from synthetic biology to teleportation. Not as good as I anticipated but still enjoyable for people with some background information on (molecular) biology...
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!
vegebrarian's review
3.0
This book may be deserving of 5 stars but I won't ever know. It's not for the casual reader unless you are well versed in biology, which sadly I am not. I understood about 30% of what I was reading (and that is being generous to me). The last few chapters were much more accessible than the first. I particularly enjoyed reading of the students involved in "open source biology", the speed of vaccination creation for communicable diseases and finding life of Mars. The digital sequencing of our DNA was described with amazing detail, perhaps too much detail to hold my interest. Venter and his team are doing amazing work and I think that the future of our species will only benefit from his discoveries.
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