The Genome War: How Craig Venter Tried to Capture the Code of Life and Save the World

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Summary: Pure joy! A science writing masterpiece.
Review: If you read only one science book this year, it has to be James Shreeve's inside view of the race to sequence the human genome. The story of this tumultuous competition between the prestigious Human Genome Project and the brash visionary Craig Venter is a joy ride. Shreeve's irreverent, charming and ultimately thrilling tale is a masterpiece of science writing. The white coats (and white hats) drop away in this book as Shreeve reveals the majesty of science for what it has always been, a very human story. Bravo!

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Summary: And now for the other side
Review: Several books have already covered many aspects of the race to sequence the human genome. These books were either written by outsiders with limitted access or in the case of The Common Thread by an insider from the public human genome project. For the first time this book gives the perspective of someone who had intimate access to the people, premises and meetings at Celera Genomics. As an insider at Celera I can vouch for the accuracy of the events covered in the book that I was present for as well as the spirit of the endeavor captured by this book. While I am undoubtedly biased, I found the quality of the narative for this book to be better than that of its rivals and the content more compelling. Shreeve also covers the concurrent public effort and does a nice job of explaining many of the technical challenges in an understandable fashion, but what is unique to this book is the story from behind the scenes at Celera as well as some in depth descriptions of the people involved. If you are at all interested in the whole story about this moment in history you need to read this book!

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Summary: Great Clarification on the Recent Genome Chronology
Review: Shreeve did an excellent job digesting and chronicling one of the most tumultuous tales in the development of genetic research and the ensuing commercialization. Although the book painted Venter to be this colorful, herculean maverick who wrestled his way to bring about the DNA coding of multiple organisms, the readers cannot help but cheer when Venter arranged the "annotation jamboree" to help decipher gene functions collaborating with the scientific team from the public sector. As a reader seeing the Genome War through Shreeve's lens, I can see the reason why it would be so easy to love or hate Venter in the public genomic research community. Overall, I believe it was for public good that the war occurred and still on-going, only with different players in the field. This book made it that much easier to track the current trend in biotechnology and the exciting development in RNA and junk DNA research, casting doubt on the "central dogma."

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Summary: A zesty story of a great struggle for discovery
Review: The business, science and controversial politics affecting genome studies are outlined by James Shreeve in The Genome War: How Craig Venter Tried To Capture The Code Of Life And Save The World, a history of the race to map the human genome. From the efforts of both private and government industries to unravel the complete genetic code of life to accounts of individual ambitions and motivations for participating in the project, The Genome War offers a zesty story of a great struggle for discovery.

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Summary: Informative and exciting
Review: This book has it all: brilliant, extraordinary personalities; big egos and big visions, high stakes political and business maneuvering, scientific breakthroughs and feats of technical virtuosity - all making up a very thrilling and important story. James Shreeve relates a complex history of a monumental scientific achievement in a way that is lucid, engaging, informative and exciting. Once you start this book, it is hard to put down. Craig Venter personal story is incredible and intriguing enough, but there are several other interesting and gifted individuals in both the private and public sector chronicled in the book whose genius, dreams and hard work lead to the mapping of the human genome.

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Summary: A complex story well told
Review: This is a ferciously well-written account of the race to map the human genome, one of the most sordid and expensive races in the history of science. Virtually alone amongst the books available out there on the genome race, this book tells the story from the point of view of Craig Venter. Not only that, but James Shreeve had a complete fly-on-the-wall view of the inner workings of Celera, allowing Shreeve to give a full-blooded account of the implosion of Venter's dream, that of becoming the Bill Gates of Biotech.

Shreeve has done the impossible by pulling the threads of this immense story into a tight coherent narrative. At the end of the story, we understand how Venter ended up in the embarassing situation of negociating a so-called "tie" in the race for the human genome. Shreeve has a novelistic eye for detail in painting memorable portraits of the many people involved in the story. The science is vividly introduced when needed, but the complex financial and political moves are also explicated with authority. This is very very good writing.

Although Craig Venter has often been demonized amongst scientific circles, it was always an open question whether Venter was the devil incarnate, or an incredibly naive scientist who made one stupid faustian bargain after another. While there is no doubt that Venter is a brilliant man, Shreeve' account portrays Venter as a financial masochist, a victim of financial forces beyond his understanding.

In the preface, Shreeve explained that he had originally wanted a balanced account of the race as he tried to get access to the head of the public Human Genome Project, Francis Collins. He was refused. Because of that, Shreeve has structured the book as a character study of Venter, where we are privy to all his inner trials and tribulations. From being embedded in the private side of the race, Shreeve introduces a subtle bias in the account. The private researchers at Celera are fun and daring, even glamorous, whereas the public scientists are inefficient, stodgy, yawningly boring white-lab coats, especially when they talk about the ethical stuff. In my experience, it's been the opposite. I know researchers who have come back into academia because industry research was so achingly boring.

One big gripe I have with this book is that Shreeve glides over why the public project was so fixated on trying to keep the map open, free and accessible. Shreeve makes the leaders of the public project sound like shrill ideologues, constantly harping on over some kind of utopian ideal. This subtle bias ignores the heavily documented, though much ignored, literature over the pathological behaviour of the pharmaceutical industry. A commercial monopoly over the human genome would have been a disaster for public health (as opposed to rich men's health), and Celera came close to destroying the fragile consensus in academia science.

Apart from this gripe, I do recommend that you read this book if you want a sophisticated guide to one of the most fascinating collisions between commerical and public science, as well as a superb study of scientific ambition.

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Summary: One big flaw: lack of art
Review: This is a wonderful book. James Shreeve was granted incredible access and became an eye witness to history.

My only criticism - of the publisher, not Shreeve - is the complete absence of art. There's not a single photo, not a single illustration, not a single diagram, chart or anything else to illustrate the book. This is a serious failing in a book about personalities - people. Wonder what Craig Venter looks like? You won't find out here. How about Francis Collins, Michael Hunkapiller or Tony White? Sorry. It's a pity Shreeve didn't carry a camera as well as a notepad as he followed Venter and witnessed events which will become mythic with the passage of time. Shreeve is masterful in his craft, particularly his use of metaphors to simply and clearly describe complex biological concepts, but this can't excuse the utter absence of documentary photographs for what may well become THE history of the human genome. This is simply incomprehensible.