Life Script: How the Human Genome Discoveries Will Transform Medicine and Enhance Your Health [Hardcover]

Nicholas Wade (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0743216059 | ISBN-13: 978-0743216050 | Publication Date: August 28, 2001 | Edition: 1

With the decoding of the human genome, researchers can now read the script in which evolution has written the program for the design and operation of the human body. A new generation of medical treatments is at hand. Researchers are developing therapies so powerful that there is now no evident obstacle to the ancient goal of conquering most major diseases.

Nicholas Wade has covered the sequencing of the genome, as well as other health and science stories, for "The New York Times," in the course of which he has interviewed many of the principal researchers in the field. In this book he describes what the genome means for the health of present and future generations.

Someday soon physicians will have access to DNA chips that, from a drop of blood, will screen a person's genes for all the diseases to which he or she may be genetically vulnerable. From full knowledge of the instruction manual of the human body, provided by the genome, pharmaceutical companies hope to develop a new generation of sophisticated drugs; one of the first genome-derived drugs is already undergoing clinical trials. Another vital tool will be regenerative medicine, a new kind of therapy in which new organs and tissues will be grown from a patient's own cells to replace those that are old or diseased.

With the help of DNA chips, medical researchers will soon be able to diagnose diseases such as cancer much more precisely and to tailor specific treatments for each patient. Individualized medicine will also become an important part of the pharmaceutical world. Many drugs will be prescribed based on information from DNA chips that identify which of a range of drugs is best for each patient, as well aswhich drugs are likely to cause side effects. The medicine of the post-genomic era will be customized for a patient's genetic make-up, providing treatments based on a precise understanding of the mechanism of disease.

"Life Script" describes a future in which good health, even perfect health, may become the standard for everyone -- at every age.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

By now a familiar name to readers of the New York Times "Science Times" section, Wade, who has written and edited books under the Times aegis, here tells the increasingly familiar tale of the biologists whose race for knowledge, wealth and scientific celebrity led to the first sequencing of the human genome. His stated aim is to describe the "dawning of the genomic revolution," which represents "a new starting point for science and medicine, with potential impact on every disease." In clean prose, an evenly paced narrative economy and a welter of carefully marshaled facts, Wade hits his mark admirably. After lucid chapters on the race itself, Wade settles into the implications of its conclusion. Through genotyping, Wade recounts, doctors will be able to match drugs to patients and isolate disease-causing variant genes. Someday, Wade surmises, the scalpel could be replaced by the use of therapeutic cells and proteins, and our life spans considerably enhanced by the careful manipulation of genes. Although he dismisses most criticism as "invocations of eugenics" or "effectively luddite," Wade warns that the true dangers of genome engineering "lie in the question of what changes should be permitted, if any, other than those directly related to health." Without dumbing down the issues or clogging them with data, Wade allows readers to ponder such questions for themselves. Agent: Peter Matson, Sterling Lord Literistic (Sept. 6)Forecast: Wade's name will be familiar to some, and reviews will make it so to others. This book may not fly off the shelves, but it may prove to be one of the more solid genomic fortune-telling books around, and should sell as such.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

This awe-inspiring account of how the human genome was decoded and its effect on health, medicine, and society is culled primarily from articles that appeared in the New York Times. A former contributor to Nature and Science, Wade is currently a reporter for the Times and the author of four books, including The Science Times Book of Genetics. Intended for the general reader, this volume initially recounts the drama behind the race between the public (academic) and private (commercial) sectors competing to be the first to sequence the human genome. The other half of the text explores how this achievement will perplex ethicists, aid medical research, and ultimately benefit humanity for decades to come. Wade weaves the history of genomics (the study of genes and their function) into the practical and imminent results of the genome project, namely, curing disease and delaying aging. This riveting book is not a typical consumer health title and would have benefited from a glossary. However, its vital information and first-rate storytelling surely deserve a place in large public libraries and large consumer health collections. Gail Hendler, New York Univ. Medical Ctr.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster; 1 edition (August 28, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743216059
• ISBN-13: 978-0743216050
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,582,682 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Dear Amazon Reader,
I'm the author of two books on recent human evolution. They are addressed to the general reader interested in knowing what the evolutionary past tells us about human nature and society today.
One, Before the Dawn, traces how people have evolved during the last 50,000 years. As of this writing the book has received almost 100 reviews from Amazon readers, most of whom have been kind enough to say they liked it.
The other, The Faith Instinct, looks specifically at religion. In it I first explore how religious behavior evolved in early humans, and then follow the cultural development of religion from hunter gatherer societies to those of the present day. One of the book's themes is that religious behavior evolved because it conferred significant advantages on the first societies to practice it, and that it is of continuing value today. The book should be of interest both to people of faith and to those with none. It does not attack the central position of either side, having nothing to say about whether or not God exists; it's about religious behavior, which everyone agrees does exist. Publication date is November 11, 2009.
How did I came to write these books? Not by any very direct or logical route. I was born in Aylesbury, England, then a rural outpost where cattle were stalled in the central town square on market days. I was educated at Eton, a school founded for poor scholars by Henry VI in 1440 AD, and then at King's College, Cambridge, also founded by Henry VI. Perhaps this connection with the medieval past gave me a fondness and respect for history. Still, I got my degree in science and have spent much of my life as a journalist writing about scientific issues of various kinds.
My first serious job was at Nature, a leading weekly scientific magazine based in London, after which I moved to Washington DC to join Science, Nature's principal rival in the United States. Nature and Science exist mostly to publish research findings but both have news sections addressed to scientists. It was in the course of writing news articles for Science that I learned of the epic rivalry between Roger Guillemin and Andrew Schally to win the Nobel prize. Their 21 year race was the subject of my book The Nobel Duel, (now alas out of print).
Another book that grew out of reporting for Science was Betrayers of the Truth, written with my colleague William Broad. We analyzed the many cases of scientific fraud we had reported for Science, trying to find common patterns in who commits fraud, why they do it, and why they are almost never detected by the vaunted checking mechanisms of science like peer review and replication. The book appeared many years ago, but nothing has changed since. Fraud continues to be detected by those with personal knowledge of the deceiver, not by the official procedural safeguards of science.
Leaving Science, I joined the New York Times as an editorial writer and wrote about political issues to do with science, the environment and defense. After 10 years of issuing opinions, I moved to the more objective realm of the paper's science section, first as its editor and then as a reporter. A great benefit of reporting is that the job requires speaking to the leading experts in a field, through whom one has the chance to become very well informed - the perfect vantage point from which to write books. I wrote Lifescript (2001), an account of the race to sequence the human genome and its consequences. Then followed Before the Dawn (2006), the story of evolution since modern humans dispersed some 50,000 years ago from the ancestral homeland in northeast Africa.
Before the Dawn gave me the idea of trying to reconstruct the genesis of religion, a crucial social behavior that clearly emerged before modern humans left Africa. The Faith Instinct takes the reader from the religious practices of the ancestral human population, to the spring and harvest festivals of early agricultural societies, the historical origins of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, and the role of religion today in morality, reproductive behavior, warfare and statecraft. I learned much fascinating information from writing the book and reached conclusions that I hadn't at all expected to arrive at. If a book is a surprise to its author, as this one was to me, there's a chance it will contain something new and interesting for the reader, as I hope will be the case.
- Nicholas Wade

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Of historical interest, but late to the real debate, October 23, 2001

By 

M. A. Plus "Advanced Atheist" (Mayer, Arizona) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Life Script: How the Human Genome Discoveries Will Transform Medicine and Enhance Your Health (Hardcover)

Wade, who writes science articles for the New York Times, has documented in this book the personalities and the sequence of events leading up to the publication of the first draft of the Human Genome in June of 2000. No doubt the real history behind this project will be more thoroughly explored by historians some day, and Wade's compedium of journalism will count as a major contribution to this scholarly effort.

He doesn't quite understand the real implications of applied genomics technology, however. While he does seem personally intrigued by the prospect of regenerative medicine, radical rejuvenation and life extension made possible by applied genomics (in other words, he's not impressed by Leon R. Kass's argument for the "wisdom of repugnance" regarding human transformation), at the same time he's intimidated by psychological scarecrows about the allegedly bad social consequences this scenario could cause. Our social institutions are currently organized around people dying "on schedule," as horrific as that sounds, so Wade wonders what would happen if people were to live well past 100 in good physical and cognitive health.

For one thing, considering that people's social skills tend to improve with age and experience, a world run by "ultramature" people couldn't be run any worse than the way our world is now. Life-extended entrepreneurs could continue to create new businesses, wealth and jobs (especially important considering that honest financial success is not a zero-sum situation). Life-extended statesmen could resolve conflicts and finally create a decent international political order. Life-extended environmentalists could study changes in the biosphere over longer intervals and warn of potential dangers. Etc.

Cryonicists long ago worked out the social and psychological implications of radical life extension, and to a degree that puts Wade's speculations to shame. For example, refer to the book, _Forever for All_, by R. Michael Perry.

8 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Not much ado about health, October 23, 2001

By 

David Siegel (New York, ny United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Life Script: How the Human Genome Discoveries Will Transform Medicine and Enhance Your Health (Hardcover)

Not a bad book, but the title and subtitle are wrong. It starts with the obligatory 2 chapters on Watson, Hazeltine, and Venter that anyone can read on any number of web sites, so it really doesn't get going until page 90, and then the last two chapters are the obligatory angel/devil arguments of morality that almost anyone can write at this point. What's left in the middle has problems with repetition and lack of focus. There are one or two really interesting factoids in this book, but zero insight and no real value. (...)