Chips, Clones, and Living Beyond 100: How Far Will the Biosciences Take Us? [Hardcover]

Paul J. H. Schoemaker (Author), Joyce A. Schoemaker (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0137153856 | ISBN-13: 978-0137153855 | Publication Date: September 18, 2009 | Edition: 1

The key scientific discoveries of the 21st century will emerge from the biosciences. These discoveries will impact our lives in ways we can only now begin to imagine. In this book, two of the field's leading experts help us imagine those impacts. Paul and Joyce A. Schoemaker tour the remarkable field of biosciences as it stands today, and preview the directions and innovations that are most likely to emerge in the coming years. They offer a clear, non-technical overview of crucial current developments that are likely to have enormous impact, and address issues ranging from increased human longevity to global warming, bio-warfare to personalized medicine. Along the way, they illuminate each of the exciting technologies and hot-button issues associated with contemporary biotechnology - including stem cells, cloning, probiotics, DNA microarrays, proteomics, gene therapy, and a whole lot more. The Schoemakers identify emerging economic, political, and technical drivers and obstacles that are likely to powerfully impact the way the biosciences progress. Then, drawing on Paul Schoemaker's unsurpassed experience helping global organizations prepare for the future, the authors sketch multiple long-term scenarios for the biosciences - and reveal how they will impact your health, family, career, society, even the Earth itself.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Technology scholar Paul and microbiology researcher Joyce Schoemaker review "the scientific and technological forces that make living beyond 100 possible, as well as the economic, social, and political obstacles that might stand in the way," which they believe "will shape the world between now and the year 2025." This bioscience tour begins with a brief history of medicine, from the discovery of hygiene through the discovery of DNA, to cloning and biotechnology, delving into the biomedicine industry of today and in several visions of the future. In fluid language, the scientists discuss medical advances including gene testing and therapy, medical sensors and devices, and vaccine technologies, emphasizing the components of a successful technology with regard to economics, ethics, regulations, infrastructure, and investment. Uncertainties about the rapidly emerging field's future come up in questions like, "How much do we really want to know about our health, especially when it is unclear how much we can alter it?" This concise, accessible overview will most appeal to those working outside the field, including investors, medical professionals and engineers, as well as those seeking a biomedicine career.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About the Author

Paul J. H. Schoemaker, Ph.D. is Research Director of the Mack Center for Technological Innovation at The Wharton School, where he teaches strategy and decision making. Dr. Schoemaker is also the founder and chairman of Decision Strategies International, Inc., a consulting and training firm specializing in strategic planning and executive development. He has written more than 100 academic and applied papers as well as coauthored numerous books, including Decision Traps, Wharton on Managing Emerging Technologies, Winning Decisions, Profiting from Uncertainty, and Peripheral Vision. He serves on multiple boards.

 

Joyce A. Schoemaker, Ph.D. has conducted basic research in microbiology and molecular genetics at the University of Chicago and taught microbiology at Villanova University. She has held positions in research and management at several biotechnology companies, including Celltech in London, and has published numerous scientific articles in biology. She is coauthor of Healthy Homes, Healthy Kids: Protecting Your Children From Everyday Environmental Hazards. Dr. Schoemaker has a long-standing interest in environmental issues as well as the emerging biosciences.

 

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: FT Press; 1 edition (September 18, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0137153856
• ISBN-13: 978-0137153855
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (45 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,553,163 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Brief, Misleading at Times, and...Brief, October 22, 2009

By 

Harkius "harkius" (Laramie, WY) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Chips, Clones, and Living Beyond 100: How Far Will the Biosciences Take Us? (Hardcover)

(What's this?)

I am not sure what the point of this book was intended to be. Perhaps it is intended as a primer to businesspeople to lure them into investing in biosciences research. My second best guess is that this is intended as a means to make investors feel like they understand this technology, so that they can feel comfortable trading in these stocks. These goals seem likeliest, as opposed to, you know, actually TEACHING something, as it is not as accurate as it should be in many respects.

For example, easily checked facts were wrong. On page 4, the research of Dr. Cynthia Kenyon on daf-2 (italics!) is mentioned. This was not the first discovery of a longevity gene, or even one in C. elegans (I wish there were italics available in reviews!). To the best of my knowledge, the earliest discovery of such a gene was in 1988, five years earlier, Tom Johnson and his colleagues identified and cloned a gene named age-1, which has many of the same effects as daf-2 (they are, in fact, in the same genetic pathway).

A similar mistake is made on the NEXT page, where SIR2 is discussed. This gene, while prolonging lifespan, is ALSO in the genetic pathway of daf-2, which means that the effects of disrupting them will almost certainly not prove to be additive. In all probability, I could have done this all day, except that they stopped mentioning specific scientific findings after the first chapter, and began to mention generalities and technologies, instead, such as the potential to use monoclonal antibodies as anti-cancer vaccination therapies. While these are scientific breakthroughs, they are not scientific findings. This is no more scientific than a discussion of microprocessor architecture would be. This is engineering, not science. And while engineering is what takes science from a lab to a hospital and while understanding engineering is more likely to lead to solid predictions of future market results than understanding science, these are not the claims. Even this is doesn't preclude them from dramatic, and critical, errors, as they conflate pluripotent and totipotent stem cells on pg. 50 and 51, which means that a true understanding of the potentials and pitfalls of these treatments remains elusive.

If this were not enough, there are other problems that are non-factual. For example, pages 110 and 112 both feature a chart of the world. Both are labeled to be the Global Malaria Report from 2008, courtesy of the WHO. The problem is that the chart on pg. 110 is intended to represent the spread of AIDS, not malaria.

Mistakes aside, there is relatively little information that is new to someone who has had a basic molecular biology course. From this perspective, there is no reason to read this book. I guess if you don't know anything about it at all, this probably would be a good enough primer, if you are interested mainly from the point of view of what is technically possible and not from the perspective of actually learning how and why these discoveries were made or what they mean.

In short, if you are looking for some guide to what is possible, this is a good beginning. If you are looking for something more detailed, take Alberts Molecular Biology of the Cell. If you are interested in investing in this material, go invest in some research, not in stock. Nothing here will give you the vaguest idea as to what will or will not succeed, so as far as investing advice goes, I would consider it highly dubious.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars I'll take future possibilities with a side order of science, please..., December 12, 2009

By 

The Matrix Fan "Video Gamer since 1979." - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Chips, Clones, and Living Beyond 100: How Far Will the Biosciences Take Us? (Hardcover)

(What's this?)

When I ordered this book, I figured I'd be learning about new and emerging technologies that would increase the quality of life for everyone on our little planet.

Unfortunately, I should have read the product description a little more carefully - as you'll see below, this book focuses more on future possibilities of the year 2025 and less on the bioscience technologies themselves.

I'll pick apart the back cover descriptions to illustrate my dissatisfaction with this book. Let's start from the top:

["A stimulating and exciting look at how we got to the present state of health care and where we can potentially go. A unique perspective and a great read." David Lester, Ph.D., President, ITHW Inc.; formerly Director, Human Health Technologies, Pfizer Inc.]

That's the key phrase: where we can _potentially_ go. Several chapters in this novel make projections about the biosciences and how improvements or failures can affect family structures, economics, business, and so forth. The first chapter glosses over a few breakthroughs of living beyond 100, but quickly moves to discussing if the world can afford a large centenarian age group. This happens over and over throughout the book - a technology is briefly discussed, and the topic switches to how it could affect the future in various ways.

["The explosion of new knowledge in the biosciences will raise important challenges for our social, ethical, and economic thinking. The Schoemakers have given us an incredibly useful book to stimulate that thinking. One could not ask for a better guidebook to an exciting if challenging future." Professor Arthur L. Caplan, Director of the Center for Bioethics and Hart Professor, University of Pennsylvania]

I don't know if I'd call this a guidebook. As far as thinking, it basically tells us what most people already know - people are afraid of change and the sciences always fight an uphill battle with research, testing, implementation, and can be set back decades if failures occur, such as 3 Mile Island causing the cessation of nuclear power plant construction in the U.S.

["What a fascinating book! The authors have really mastered all the aspects (social, human, scientific, and business) of the biomedical revolution that is taking place this century. Awesome." Giancarlo Barolat,M.D., Director, Barolat Neuroscience, Presbyterian St. Luke Medical Center, Denver; formerly Professor of Neurosurgery at Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia]

This is true, but to a point - there is a chapter titled "Snapshot of the biosciences", which says it all. The chapter has an all-too-brief overview of cloning, protein based technologies, and not even a full page is given to the subject of DNA chips. This is what I wanted to read about, but I was left wanting after 20 pages.

["Wonderfully comprehensive, yet still digestible for non-scientists. Wish I had this book when we examined some health care innovation opportunities at GE; it would have provided a great foundation for the team." Patia McGrath, Global Director - Innovation and Strategic Connections, Corporate Marketing, General Electric]

Digestible? Yes. I don't know if I'd agree with comprehensive. When you consider that chapters 1-3 are primarily on the biosciences and chapters 4-9 explore business models, the healthcare system, possible future wildcards and societal reactions, it's clear that science gets the low end of attention in this book.

This is not a book which focuses on bioscience, it focuses on possible futures that could come about if people embrace or prohibit the bioscience movement. While entertaining and thought-provoking, I was found wanting more.

Okay, but not what I expected. I'd suggest passing on this book.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Textbookish, December 22, 2009

By 

K. Sozaeva "Obsessive bibliophile" (Athens, GA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Chips, Clones, and Living Beyond 100: How Far Will the Biosciences Take Us? (Hardcover)

(What's this?)

While chock-full of great information, this book is unfortunately written too much like a textbook for my taste (i.e., it puts me to sleep when I try to read it for too long in a single sitting). From other books of this type I have read, I know this information can be made more palatable for the non-scientist, so I was a bit disappointed that this text - which sounded appealing - wasn't more readable for the lay-person.

That said, for those who do want to learn more about the biosciences and the advances currently being made in the field, this is definitely a good place to start.