Life as We Made It

How 50,000 Years of Human Innovation Refined—and Redefined—Nature

By: Beth Shapiro

Narrated by: Beth Shapiro

In 2020, the inventors of CRISPR, the revolutionary gene-editing tool, won the Nobel Prize for medicine. It seemed like the capstone of an astounding 50-year run: We have turned bacteria into factories for insulin, used viruses to insert genes for pesticide resistance into plants, and now learned to rewrite our own DNA.

Once, we humans could only observe evolution. Suddenly, we had conquered it. And yet, in Life as We Made It, evolutionary biologist Beth Shapiro argues that - despite how amazing our new technologies are - our ability to alter the course of evolution isn’t new. Humans have been reshaping the world around us for ages, from the first dogs to genetically modified Enviropigs. Indeed, she argues, resetting the course of evolution is what our species does, by domesticating, as with dogs and wheat; by hunting, as with wolves and mammoths; and by protecting, as with bison and mountain lions.

What is new is that where once we shaped evolution through brute force, we can now do it as artisans. That power comes not a moment too soon. If we are going to survive in the next few centuries, we must revise the book of life. Instead of rehashing arguments about genetic engineering, let’s embrace the fact that we can shape evolution to create a world in which we want to live. The question isn’t should we meddle, but how? Life as We Made It is an essential book for charting a better course into a risky future.

©2021 Beth Shapiro (P)2021 Recorded Books

A biotech optimistic view of the world

I believe technology is and will be the solution to the problems we humans have, some crwated by ourselves and others not. And one of the most powerful technologies of today and the future is in the field of biotech and genomics. Beth Shapiro seems to be a likeminded scientist in this field.
The book is also fun and easy to listen to and I like that the author is the voice to her own book.

Interesting

The information is fascinating. However the pace can be slow and some parts were dull enough that I wanted to skip ahead.
I learned a lot and have better understanding of the past, present and future of our long history of genetic engineering.

Personal experience and GE advocacy

This book has two parts. First personal stories in which Shapiro tells her first hand story of braving the mud of melting permafrost to hunt for mummified bison, and the harrowing tale of touching a woolly rhino tusk with her bare hands.

Second she makes a well researched if reserved case for GE crops and livestock.

The two are tenuously related at best. But both worth reading.

Interesting, Informative, Thought-provoking

I really liked this book. It is well-written and very informative. Sometimes nonfiction books can be difficult for me to finish; even when I find the content interesting, if the narrative is too bland I find myself not wanting to resume reading. However, this book kept my attention as I read, and I kept realizing I was excited to listen to more. The science/history was in-depth enough that I feel like I learned a lot without the blandness of a textbook. I recommend it!