PositiveThe Dallas Morning NewsIt is a story of human tragedy and greatness, of curiosity and ambition, of turf battles and ethical lapses, and of what we would call today 'fake news' and 'alternative facts' about the use of cells from an aborted fetus ... Developing a rubella vaccine is at the center of The Vaccine Race, but the story is much more complex. It involves not only the National Institutes of Health but also institutes and pharmaceutical firms around the world ... Today, at 88, Hayflick is a much-honored elder statesman. But his reputation will always be marked by his perhaps intemperate, perhaps necessary choice to take his cell line on a cross-country trip. Which is it? Wadman seems to lean to the latter, but a reader could easily judge it to be the former and still appreciate the drama of The Vaccine Race.
Gino Segre and Bettina Hoerlin
PositiveThe Dallas Morning NewsCombining family lore with intensive research, Segrè and Hoerlin offer unique insights into Fermi's life and work, set against the background of politics and the early years of the Atomic Age.
Siddhartha Mukherjee
PositiveThe Dallas Morning NewsOn one level, The Gene is a comprehensive chronological compendium of well-told stories with a human touch. But at a deeper level, the book is far more than a simple science history. It includes another narrative thread that is, by design, discomfiting...Mukherjee celebrates the acquisition of scientific knowledge of DNA and how it guides the development and functioning of an organism. He makes clear that the technological application of that knowledge offers major benefits to human health. But readers now engage with his discussion of each advance by asking their own ethical questions. That engagement is what makes the history, as the subtitle notes, intimate.
