Signs of Life: The Language and Meanings of DNA [Paperback]

Robert Pollack (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 4, 1995

Called "provocative," "magnificent," and "lucid" by critics, SIGNS OF LIFE presents a fresh and engaging look at nature's most wondrous chemical. DNA, biologist Robert Pollack suggests, should be seen as a work of great natural literature, a three-billion-year-old, continuously evolving text. Displaying a rare gift for metaphor, Pollack draws on his thirty years of research and study to show how DNA provides a complete instruction book for all living things. Until recently, the book has been indecipherable, but we are now beginning to read and edit this text in ways that will transform all our lives. Yet the power to change the human genome brings with it enormous responsibilities, and Pollack argues that if we fail to achieve a fuller understanding of the multiple meanings of DNA, we risk disaster. With the grace of a born writer and teacher, Pollack has written a book that will change the way people think about science, literature, and the future of our species.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Pollack, who was a protege of James Watson at Cold Spring Harbor Lab in New York, utilizes his position as a first-generation molecular geneticist as both lectern and pulpit. His state-of-the-genome report, based on the metaphor of genes as "text" has a smooth style which lends an authoritative background to his Faustian warning that genetics is the crossroads of science and society. He attempts to elucidate the workings of DNA, explores the significance of our ability to change the human genome and emphasizes the consequences of DNA mastery. Pollack acknowledges that his warning about the perils of this new knowledge is really writing on the bones of an older theme explored by Shelley, Goethe and H. G. Wells. His accessible model of the state of the discipline is informed by an energetic humanity, making for a challenging look at a front-page science topic.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Nowhere are the frontiers of modern science expanding more rapidly than in the field of molecular biology. Some of the new discoveries in the workings of DNA and genome sequencing not only offer the promise of opening new thresholds of understanding but also raise unprecedented questions about the fundamental nature of life and being human. Biologist Pollack argues that DNA can be read almost like a work of great literature. In expounding that view, he uses a uniquely literate and metaphorical style of popular science writing. Robert Shapiro's The Human Blueprint ( LJ 9/1/91) covers much the same territory and more, but Pollack's very personal and readable prose may have more appeal to general readers. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 9/1/93.
- Gregg Sapp, Montana State Univ. Libs., Bozeman
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Mariner Books (April 4, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0395735300
• ISBN-13: 978-0395735305
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,477,656 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Indispensible background in era of genetic testing, June 15, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Signs of Life: The Language and Meanings of DNA (Paperback)

Readily accessible to literate non-scientists and scientists alike, Robert Pollack's is the only fully responsible presentation of the metaphor of DNA as information. Neither an ideologue nor a polemicist, Pollack deserves the chance to change the way we think about the human genome project and its hi-tech spin and spin-offs.