My Life Decoded by Craig J. Venter

If you want a book that will blow your mind while spelling out what exactly is "biotechnology" and how it all came into being than this is the book for you. Venter is a controversial figure indeed, as is anyone who has huge ambitions and actually carries them out.

No matter where you stand on the "Gene wars", I can't recommend this book enough. Venter's account is personal, detailed, and compelling. You can tell he is a guy who genuinely cares about the science, and cares about changing the world.

I think this youtube video does a pretty good job of capturing some of what you can expect to read.

Michael Crichton - Next

Michael Crichton's Next is a novel which highlights some of the current issues of genetics from the creation of transgenic animals to gene patenting.

The novel taught me things which I had not before thought about, including the question, what is a gene? Turns out scientists are still battling for one final definition.

Crichton's novels are entertaining and educational works, and he concludes Next leaving the reader with his stated opinions. Namely, Crichton opposes gene patenting as he feels anything occurring in nature, like a tree or a leaf, cannot be owned (in the sense of intellectual property, you can't patent a leaf...). Crichton also feels that patenting actually hinders capitalism and product creation due to unrealistic licensing fees.

As for the issue of cloning and transgenic animals, Crichton sees no point in trying to ban it since no attempt at controlling human behavior has worked thus far. People find a way to do what they want to do, and so it might as well be out in the open, where we can at least know about it and possibly regulate it.

I agree with Crichton on both points.

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