Hacking the Code of Life

How Gene Editing Will Rewrite Our Futures

By: Nessa Carey

Narrated by: Karen Cass

Just 45 years ago, the age of gene modification was born. Researchers could create glow-in-the-dark mice, farmyard animals producing drugs in their milk, and vitamin-enhanced rice that could prevent half a million people going blind every year.

But now GM is rapidly being supplanted by a new system called CRISPR or "gene editing". Using this approach, scientists 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 even more 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 technology that will radically alter our futures.

©2019 by Nessa Carey. (P)2019 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Bang ! Crack ! Swashbucklers will save us ..

Info-audicted, finally someone raising the roof. Here's the arthritis cure & how it is done.

Enjoyable listen

As a farm wife I am increasingly shocked by the general publics ignorance about “GMOs”. I appreciate this opportunity to educate myself further about this very important topic.

okay book

lots of info here. if this topic is unfamiliar then it is worth reading.

A brief dip of the toe

I cannot say that this was bad, but it was not exactly what I expected. In 4 2/3 hours, the book manages a brief overview of gene editing and its potential impacts on life in the future.

After a brief introduction, the author focuses on gene editing using CRISPR; no surprise here. She does not really say much about how CRISPR works, and spends more time on patent battles than on the scientific details. While she discusses some of the ways genes have been edited or could be edited, and the purpose of such changes, this is really quite perfunctory.

The book simply seems to lack a clear purpose and focus, and so one bounces from one idea to the next without an overarching narrative. It was okay, but not great.

The narrator was good, with no major missteps.

Not captivating nor intriguing story at all.

Content is good, updated, talks about innovation and in depth in the topic. However, Not captivating nor intriguing story at all.