How to Defeat Your Own Clone: And Other Tips for Surviving the Biotech Revolution [Paperback]

Kyle Kurpinski (Author), Terry D. Johnson (Author)

Book Description

Release date: February 23, 2010 | ISBN-10: 055338578X | ISBN-13: 978-0553385786 | Edition: Original

Send in the clones! On second thought, maybe not.
 
CAN IT READ MY MIND?
WILL IT BE EVIL?
HOW DO I STOP IT?
 
Find out the answers to these and other burning questions in this funny, informative, and ingenious book from two bioengineering experts who show you how to survive—and thrive—in a new age of truly weird science.
For decades, science fiction has been alerting us to the wonders and perils of our biotech future—from the prospects of gene therapy to the pitfalls of biological warfare. Now that future looms before us. Don’t panic! This book is all you need to prepare for the new world that awaits us, providing indispensable cautionary advice on topics such as
 
• bioenhancements: They’re not just for cyborgs anymore.
• DNA sequencing and fingerprinting: What’s scarier than the government having your DNA on file? Try having it posted on the Internet.
• human cloning: Just like you, only stronger, smarter, and more attractive. In other words: more dangerous.

Our future may be populated by designer babies, genetically enhanced supersoldiers, and one (or more!) of your genetic duplicates, but all is not lost. How to Defeat Your Own Clone is the ultimate survival guide to what lies ahead. Just remember the first rule of engagement: Don’t ever let your clone read this book!

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Whether you've dreamed of a future with easy genetic face-lifts and chocolate-flavored broccoli or shivered from nightmares of viral warfare and biologically enhanced Richard Simmons clones, this book will set you straight on the facts behind genetics and cloning—and keep you entertained all the way. Humans, they say, have been practicing genetic engineering for millennia, beginning with early agricultural practices and the domestication of wolves and cattle. But now that scientists have sequenced the human genome, and stem cell research offers potential cures for everything, bioengineers Kurpinski and Johnson want to warn us away from extreme future dystopian scenarios such as eco-collapse and ultraintelligent überclones or a utopian paradise where Money grows on trees. Pigs fly. Your clone may have the same DNA blueprint as you, but it won't be you.... Your younger, stronger, healthier clone probably could defeat you in a stand-up fight, but having read this book, you'll be prepared to outsmart it. Kurpinski and Johnson have written a science book that is irreverent, timely, accessible, and, best of all, compulsively readable.(Feb.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Two bioengineers in the San Francisco Bay Area provide advice, laced with humor, about what to do if cloning becomes a reality and you need to decide what to do with the new you, if you, or some thief of your genome, decide to make one. First Kurpinski and Johnson tell about the DNA stuff the cloner needs to know, and then they explain the basic procedure of cloning. Once nuclear transfer and cellular multiplication arrive at a complete human organism, why did you play God? ask the authors in effect, and not without a little mockery of human vanity and selfishness. To harvest organs? To have a look-alike buddy? To reengineer Homo sapiens? Being essentially human, clones will have their own ideas about their lives that the authors, with droll excursions into popular entertainment’s depictions of clones, limn so that their readers may prepare their plans to regain the upper hand. Seriousness cloaked in lighthearted prose equals a science book with popular potential. --Gilbert Taylor

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Bantam; Original edition (February 23, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 055338578X
• ISBN-13: 978-0553385786
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 0.5 x 5.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #410,279 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #35 in Books > Humor & Entertainment > Humor > Science & Scientists

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Fun book. July 6, 2010

By IOgear GUW2015 VKIT

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I was afraid the book would be over my head. It is very funny and they don't take anything for granted. They explain all of the nomenclature in detail so I never found myself wondering what they were writing about. I actually read it twice. Now I just go around waiting for someone to casually bring up cloning so I can pretend like the ideas in this book were mine.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining and informative February 27, 2010

By E. Kervina

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

This book is written with a delightful sense of humor, yet the authors clearly take the subject seriously. Fun to read, thoughtful, and thought-provoking. Kurpinski and Johnson admit right up front what so many from the highest halls of government on down refuse to recognize; The biotech genie is out of the bottle and he isn't going back in, so we'd better get to thinking about how we are going to handle things, rather than pretend it will all just go away.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars terrific look at cloning February 26, 2010

By Harriet Klausner #1 HALL OF FAME

Format:Paperback

Somewhat tongue in cheek, this is a terrific look at cloning that simplifies using humor without dumbing down DNA sequencing. The authors answer key questions and provide warnings. One particular caution is allowing your DNA sequence to appear on the Internet that will remind readers of Miss Manners' warning about social networking. Readers will ask how do I defeat a clone who has been enhanced to be superior. Answer is experience and knowledge. The future appears to be chocolate-flavored broccoli that Bush 41 would enjoy, but not to worry as humans have a long time history of genetic engineering in farming and animal domestication. So although stem cell research appears to have cures for illnesses, Kyle Kurpinski and Terry D. Johnson make a serious Dr. Frankenstein case that good intentions pave the road to hell with unintended consequences. So be prepared to out think your healthier clone. This is a great science book that combines jocularity with easy to read and understand biotechnology.

Harriet Klausner