Walter Isaacson

"A gripping account of how the pioneering scientist Jennifer Doudna, along with her colleagues and rivals, launched a revolution that will allow us to cure diseases, fend off viruses, and enhance our children"--

Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race

The Code Breaker

Eneko Uruñuela

Her quest to understand RNA led her to that most fundamental question: How did life begin? She studied RNA molecules that could replicate themselves, which raised the possibility that in the stew of chemicals on this planet four billion years ago they started to reproduce even before DNA came into being.

Patricia Nelson

This is a good example of a book I read for book club that I might not otherwise have picked up, but I'm so glad I read it. I started it expecting a long (it's a big book) heavy tale that would require my closest attention and some coffee. What I found instead was what I feel is a well written book that somehow explains enough of the science to be able to understand the impact of each discovery and the way this technology has developed over decades. 
Although I learned about Jennifer Doudna, the book spent considerable time touching on the community of people who also helped push the science forward to the discoveries of CRISPR and the gene editing tools and understanding that led to the mRNA vaccines that are in use today. It gave me an inside look at the process and large amounts of collaboration (and yes, personalities and competition) in the scientific community on these cutting edge research topics. 
Not only will I take away new knowledge about the topic of gene editing and understand a bit better what may lie ahead for us, I will also spend time thinking about all of the moral and ethical questions that come up with using it. A favorite quote (p. 368) is "In a world in which there are people who don't get access to eyeglasses, it's hard to imagine how we will find a way to have equal access to gene enhancements. Imagine what that will do to our species".

matej yangwao

** spoiler alert **
           Science world is still male dominated industry where approx only 20 female scientist won nobel prize.

Book is starting with a biography, inspired by her father into exploring biology, further discovery in 2012 cas9, part of Crispr-cas9 which promise cure most of cancer disease and end humanity suffering. 

She definitely paved the way in the genetic arena as a female scientist 

>The CRISPR-Cas 9 initiative is a genetic modification tool that scientists use to edit and program genomes.

>Jennifer Doudna also signed up for Pfizer and BioNTech’s clinical trial of an mRNA vaccine that uses the CRISPR-Cas 9. An mRNA vaccine contains a protein made by isolating a specific piece of the virus’s genetic code, which is injected into a person and causes an immune response to occur, producing antibodies to help protect against infection.

>Someday we may consider it unethical not to use germline editing to alleviate human suffering.

Andrew John Kinney

Walter Isaacson has, in Code Breaker, made an excellent argument for the value of basic scientific research. When biochemists first understood what the "junk DNA" in bacteria were designed to do, it was to all appearances, an interesting but inconsequential discovery. The junk DNA was actually part of the bacteria's immune system; the bacteria used RNA to extract snippets of attacking virus' genetic code in order to remember them next time and attack the dangerous viruses. As time went on, other scientists realized that if bacteria could modify their own DNA, it might be useful to understand how they do it; and then it was a short step from that discovery to finding a way to use the method to create vaccines that employed messenger RNA to allow humans' immune system to recognize and fend off viruses. A 'short step' is a bit of an exaggeration; it took ten years of hard work for scientists to be in position to create the Pfizer, Moderna, Astra-Zeneca, and J&J vaccines in record time. But that's the pay off from basic research, and that's why countries should fund it, and support it through thick and thin. You never know when you are going to desperately need the skills of scientists like Doudna and Feng.

One area where I feel the book falls short is in emphasizing personal stories at the expense of explaining the science thoroughly. A topic like this would benefit from a chapter like Melville's on Cetology (well maybe not exactly like Melville's); what I mean is the author should have inserted a chapter that was the equivalent of an introductory college class on mRNA, gene editing, etc, with illustrations. What we get in terms of illustrations is many, many pictures of scientists - replace about half of those with illustrative drawings of the various natural and man-made processes for gene editing, and those who are so inclined (I would be one) could study those and come to a clear understanding of the science and technology involved. Walter Isaacson is at heart a journalist, and he loves human interest stories; I love them to a point, and Doudna's story is inspiring and a great example for women who are interested in science, but Mr. Isaacson would have benefited from the ministrations of a much stricter editor; all that human interest stuff could be cut by a third and the story would not suffer. In my opinion. But then, I am a STEM guy at heart, so my tolerance for human interest stories is inherently limited.....;-)

In addition, I think Isaacson spends far too much time on James Watson, who is not a factor in modern gene editing. His is an interesting and ultimately sad story that could be covered in a few pages. 

Isaacson goes on at length (if I knew how to underline those last two words in GRs reviews I would do it) about moral and ethical concerns of gene editing. The ethics side of the debate and comes down to this, I think: if we know, or we think we know, how to cure death sentence diseases like Huntington's, or the unnamed neonatal affliction that Doudna mentions, we should do that if the individuals are willing. My son had a wonderful grade school teacher whose husband died from ALS; if we could do in vivo DNA editing to save a person like that, assuming they were willing, why wouldn't we try to? 

I personally believe we need an international agreement that restricts efforts at editing heritable traits to elimination of diseases like the above. It would be easy, if common sense prevailed, to come up with such a list of diseases. All that said, what is my confidence that China or Russia would abide by such an agreement? Essentially zero. But the EU would comply, the Anglophone world would, Japan and Korea and Taiwan and Singapore would. The main reason for such restrictions is not to prevent Russia from, as Putin says, designing "super soldiers", it is because we currently understand the human genome so incompletely, that it is reckless and unwise to try to go after anything but diseases where if we do nothing, the result will be death. In those dire cases there is almost nothing to lose, and often those diseases are triggered by a small number of genes, making them far easier to cure. Other characteristics, like intelligence or height are so broad-based genetically, that trying to enhance them is almost certain to be a fools errand, or worse, given our lack of knowledge. We should be very wary of unintended consequences when it comes to genetic modifications. What I just said above, in one paragraph, Isaacson took about 70 pages to say, hence my mild impatience with his approach to that area of discussion.

Overall, I am glad I read this book. Popular science books, which this could be called, do real good. If you are not educated on the basic science of DNA and RNA and gene editing, or even if you are, but perhaps it was long time ago, a primer which simplifies and explain concepts is entirely right and fitting, despite scientists' general scorn for such books. That scorn is misplaced; the general population desperately needs to understand and appreciate science more than they do at present, and if popular science books can do that we need many, many more of them. Maybe if we focused on science education more than we do, of which popular science books are a component, we might have fewer conspiracy theories about vaccines (among other things) in the US. One of the reasons I wanted to read this was that I was truly astonished in December of last year when it was announced that vaccines were ready for roll-out, and I wanted to understand how it was done so quickly. The COVID vaccines are just the first of such CRISPR-inspired cures that are coming in the next few years, so even if you don't read this book, pay attention to the work being done in this area.

Bouke van der Bijl

Great read about the characters that made CRISPR possible, with a nice end part of the book focusing on RNA and the mRNA vaccines (although I could read a whole book about just that!). This book should've just been a book about CRISPR however, Jennifer Doudna might have been the most forefront character but it wasn't a book about her. 

The book does fall into repetition sometimes, even within the same chapter. I also started noticing a bunch of typos towards the end, so maybe it was rushed out? And I skipped over the whole patent dispute chapter because that's just boring

Lord Aragorn

A wonderful book. Great to read about how progress is made in science, with all the twists and turns. Inspirational to read about Doudna, Charpentier, and all the others pushing the boundaries of our understanding of CRISPR. Isaacson's story telling is very engaging and hope to read more of his works.

Keven Wang

I have never listened to Walter’s book. This turned out to be a great listen. Chapters are concise.

I didn’t like the first part of the book (there are 9) which talks more about Doudna growing up and the scientific explanations of what DNA and RNA and how they work. However, the book gets so much better with part two as it delves into the academic world, the competition in it (with its good and bad implications), and collaboration. As someone who is an academic, I could relate to some of the situations described and that made the book so much more enjoyable. I would definitely recommend it.

McKlayne Marshall

Amazing!! Walter Isaacson has done it again. So rich and relevant to our times. He has painted such an incredible picture of what the future looks like with recent advances in biotechnology.

The bestselling author of Leonardo da Vinci and Steve Jobs returns with a gripping account of how Nobel Prize winner Jennifer Doudna and her colleagues launched a revolution that will allow us to cure diseases, fend off viruses, and have healthier babies. When Jennifer Doudna was in sixth grade, she came home one day to find that her dad had left a paperback titled The Double Helix on her bed. She put it aside, thinking it was one of those detective tales she loved. When she read it on a rainy Saturday, she discovered she was right, in a way. As she sped through the pages, she became enthralled by the intense drama behind the competition to discover the code of life. Even though her high school counselor told her girls didn’t become scientists, she decided she would. Driven by a passion to understand how nature works and to turn discoveries into inventions, she would help to make what the book’s author, James Watson, told her was the most important biological advance since his co-discovery of the structure of DNA. She and her collaborators turned ​a curiosity ​of nature into an invention that will transform the human race: an easy-to-use tool that can edit DNA. Known as CRISPR, it opened a brave new world of medical miracles and moral questions. The development of CRISPR and the race to create vaccines for coronavirus will hasten our transition to the next great innovation revolution. The past half-century has been a digital age, based on the microchip, computer, and internet. Now we are entering a life-science revolution. Children who study digital coding will be joined by those who study genetic code. Should we use our new evolution-hacking powers to make us less susceptible to viruses? What a wonderful boon that would be! And what about preventing depression? Hmmm…Should we allow parents, if they can afford it, to enhance the height or muscles or IQ of their kids? After helping to discover CRISPR, Doudna became a leader in wrestling with these moral issues and, with her collaborator Emmanuelle Charpentier, won the Nobel Prize in 2020. Her story is a thrilling detective tale that involves the most profound wonders of nature, from the origins of life to the future of our species.

Kuba Milcarz

This one was sort of about everything. I don’t know if it was a biography or Doudna or history of CRISPR or how some group of people used it to fight COVID-19. It was a mess, but a very informative mess.

Vivian

The Code Breaker is such a gripping combination of biography and science book that it reads like a thriller.

Issacson did an excellent job explaining the science materials (CRISPR, cas-9, COVID test, mRNA vaccine, etc.) that are clear for the general public to follow and understand (I haven’t touched chemistry or biology since high school graduation). 

I was very much impressed by the bitter rivaries, races to publish and patent lawsuits in the science commmunity. I didn’t realize the competition could be so fierce, albeit understandable to a certain degree. Instead of just focusing on Doudna, Issacson also highlights other scientists along the way. It’s clear any major scientific discoveries or inventions are a generational/team effort built on forerunners’ contributions.

The chapters on gene-editing and its moral implications are very thought-provoking - ”someday we may consider it unethical not to use germline gene editing to alleviate human suffering”. And the last part of the book touches on coronavirus which is timely and helps me to understand how the CRISPR based tests and different kinds of vaccines work. 

Overall an engaging and worthwhile read. The only thing missing is that I haven’t got a good sense of what kind of person Doudna is, since so little of her personal life was revealed. Then again this is the first biography written by Issacson that the main figure is still alive, so I understand the likely need for personal privacy.

Aaron Bach

I’m usually a big fan of Walter Isaacson biographies, but this one was only so-so. The character of Jennifer Doudna is inspiring and the topic of gene editing is simultaneously fascinating and challenging, but (a) Isaacson’s tendency to shift into the first person for (what feel like) newspaper essays on the validity of gene editing and (b) the way in which Isaacson regular rehashes material (often using the same descriptions, commentary, and one-liners he’s used before) is very distracting. All in all, it feels like this book should have focused more on Doudna and less on Isaacson’s editorializing.

Omar Fernandez

I would have liked to learn more about Jennifer Doudna herself, but the book did a great job walking through her contributions to the RNA and CRISPR fields. Isaacson did a great job and walking through the scientific accomplishments in the field, Doudna's role in them, and the controversies around the advancement in gene editing. I also enjoyed how Isaacson tackled the issue of academic research and corporate ambitions, including the pros and cons of academic laboratories collaborating with or focusing on starting corporate enterprises. 

All in all, a very engaging and interesting book. I'm a big fan of Isaacson's work, from biographies on Da Vinci (my favorite), Steve Jobs, Einstein, and his book The Innovator's, so I knew to expect something interesting here.

Emily S

I don’t tend to be one for biographies, but when it’s the biography of CRISPR (predominantly focused on the one-and-only Jennifer Doudna), I’m all in.

Whew, the amount of words I could say about this book. It really went on a journey with me. For a few weeks, exceedingly few pages were read as I was struggling with scientific confidence and read “I’m not good enough” between the lines. And then there were other weeks when all I could think was “this is what it’s all about.”

But this is a book review, I guess, so here is a more coherent thought: if you want to know about CRISPR and its impact on the world, this is a fantastic resource. I’m amazed at how technical it gets even though it’s written by a non-scientist. I love how it gives credit to every scientist involved in this crazy discovery, INCLUDING THE INCREDIBLE GRAD STUDENTS AND POSTDOCS who generally never get acknowledged on the world’s stage for their work. I love that *I know people in this book* and that as much as I want to fangirl about the fact that THEY ARE SO COOL TO BE IN A BOOK, I also just know that they’re doing exactly what they’re meant to be doing, and that’s enough for them.

Finally, I love that this story opens with Jennifer Doudna reading James Watson’s The Double Helix as a middle schooler and being transfixed by the wonder of science. I am excited to see this book (and Jennifer’s story) do the same for the children in this generation, especially the girls who now see people who look like them doing amazing things in science.

Shreerag Plakazhi

Well researched, reads like a thriller at times, and filled to the brim with so much gossip. Who knew academia was filled with so much back stabbing! Also a good intro to the topic of Gene Editing and layouts much of the moral arguments in favour and against it without picking a side. High recommendation!

WALTER. ISAACSON

The best-selling author of Leonardo da Vinci and Steve Jobs returns. In 2012, Nobel Prize winning scientist Jennifer Doudna hit upon an invention that will transform the future of the human race: an easy-to-use tool that can edit DNA. Known as CRISPR, it opened a brave new world of medical miracles and moral questions. It has already been deployed to cure deadly diseases, fight the coronavirus pandemic of 2020, and make inheritable changes in the genes of babies. But what does that mean for humanity? Should we be hacking our own DNA to make us less susceptible to disease? Should we democratise the technology that would allow parents to enhance their kids? After discovering this CRISPR, Doudna is now wrestling these even bigger issues. THE CODE BREAKERS is an examination of how life as we know it is about to change - and a brilliant portrayal of the woman leading the way.

The Code Breakers

Vijayasarathy Muthu

Picked this book, just for Walter Isaacson. 

Amazing book! It should be read by anyone who wants to get a glimpse of how technology will affect our lives in the future. 

An inspirational story about Nobel Prize winner Jennifer Doudna and her colleagues. 

The book was well researched, interesting to read. It followed her academic achievements up to the latter which was about the creation of CRISPR. The stories behind the Nobel Prize was most intriguing part of the book.


The Code Breaker Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race

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