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Title: The Immortal Cell: One Scientist's Quest to Solve the Mystery of Human Aging by Michael D. West ISBN: 0-385-50928-6 Publisher: Doubleday Pub. Date: 16 September, 2003 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.86 (7 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: WELL WRITTEN!
Comment: This book is an excellent foray into the world of longevity research and cellular study. I, as a layman, never lost the focus of the author's intent. I hope we do not have to wait to long for his next book.
Rating: 5
Summary: Great book.....hope he writes another!
Comment: I wasn't sure if I would get "into" this book or not, but I found it hard to put down at the end of the lunch break or at night. Very interesting and the good doc describes even the most complex science in terms that are easy to understand-without making the reader feel like a dummy! I wish President Bush and other lawmakers would take the time to read this book to get the facts behind the science before making any more legislation regarding stem cell research.
Rating: 4
Summary: Tinkering with the atom - now tinkering with human DNA...
Comment: Dr. Michael West is a brilliant man in search of high tech ways to cure catastrophic diseases & pathologies - such as type I Diabetes, Quadriplegia, cancer and heart damage from heart attacks. All noble quests to benefit mankind. The only problem with this is that along with the potential to help mankind with regenerative medicine concepts, therein lies another darker potential. The corruptability of such an endeaver, and yes, there are always those equally brilliant scientists out there who are willing to tweak the bad that generates from the good.
West goes into vague detail explaining what stem cells are, and what the science can acheive in medicine, and cloning. I wish he went into further depth giving examples and photos of what he witnessed under the microscope. If he would have included some slides, I would have given the book a 5 star rating instead of the 4. It is a good book that gives readers a taste of this controversial topic. He further explains how Dolly the sheep came to be in this world, and yes, the sheep was named after Dolly Parton, the country singer, because the sheep was cloned out of a cell from the breast tissue of another sheep.
All this research into the mortal cell costs millions, perhaps billions of dollars, $$$, but in the end, the goal is not to prolong life forever. It's really to maintain the quality of life for all, especially the aged. Dr. West is very compassionate towards the elderly in our world, and it's good to see that somebody is passionate about curing the ails that often accompany old age.
One question that I have for Dr. West is what should the average life expectancy be for people? 100? 110?
Curing hearing and sight loss, kidney failure, liver failure are all good things that could come from recombinant DNA therapy.
But the dark side could promote supernatural human beings; turning engineered cells into engineered people. These 'superpeople' can potentially outthink, outperform and ultimately - wipe out the current natural human race that we have spent millions of years evolving into. If these cloned people reproduced with regular human beings, something called germ-line genetic modification, something terribly wrong could happen. This is one of the kind Doctor's admitted fears.
Our standard of living would become too high to sustain or even achieve. It would create many insurmountable problems the world has never known.
Tinkering with the atom in the Manhatten Project ultimately brought us terrorism as we know it today. Could those brilliant scientists not see the disaster behind the discovery?
Now our modern scientists are tinkering with the human genome project. It is mapped out and published. Scientists such as Dr. West wish to exploit this important and exciting discovery to help mankind, but we must be wary of the ever present dark side of all good creations.
Are we ready to make this scientific leap?
Read the book and ponder the answer...I have no answers at this point---the book contains arguments both ways, but leans towards the pro and dismisses the con pretty blantantly.
Nonetheless, it is a very interesting read, and contains somewhat technical ideas in it, which only encourages me to further research the topic of theraputic cloning and stem cell research.
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Title: Rapture: How Biotech Became the New Religion by Brian Alexander ISBN: 0738207616 Publisher: Basic Books Pub. Date: 07 October, 2003 List Price(USD): $25.95 |
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Title: Merchants of Immortality : Chasing the Dream of Human Life Extension by Stephen S. Hall ISBN: 0618095241 Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Co Pub. Date: 18 June, 2003 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
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Title: BioEvolution: How Biotechnology Is Changing Our World by Michael Fumento ISBN: 1893554759 Publisher: Encounter Books Pub. Date: 15 October, 2003 List Price(USD): $28.95 |
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Title: Ageless Quest: One Scientist's Search for Genes That Prolong Youth by Leonard Guarente, Lenny Guarente ISBN: 0879696524 Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Pub. Date: 01 December, 2002 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: Becoming Immortal: Combining Cloning and Stem-Cell Therapy by Stanley Shostak ISBN: 0791454029 Publisher: State Univ of New York Pr Pub. Date: April, 2002 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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