Unraveling Dna: The Most Important Molecule Of Life, Revised And Updated Edition [Paperback]

Maxim D. Frank Kamenetskii (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 14, 1997

With elegant simplicity, Maxim D. Frank-Kamenetskii elucidates the essential history and inner workings of DNA—a tiny molecule that holds within it the deepest mysteries of life. As Frank-Kamenetskii explains, DNA will undoubtedly shape our future, too, as we call upon it to convict criminals, clone creatures, and ultimately, cure cancer. This definitive guide to DNA, a previous version of which sold over 300,000 copies in the author’s native Russia, promises to both inform and inspire.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Russian

About the Author

Maxim D. Frank-Kamenetskii is a professor at Boston University’s Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Department of Biomedical Engineering. Best known for his contribution in the field of DNA topology, supercoiling, and unusual structures, Frank-Kamenetskii was a founding member of “Moscow Tribune,” the Russian intellectual club organized by Andrei Sakharov.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books; Revised edition (October 14, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0201155842
• ISBN-13: 978-0201155846
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #701,403 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars DNA De-Mystified, November 14, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Unraveling Dna: The Most Important Molecule Of Life, Revised And Updated Edition (Paperback)

Get this book to learn more about DNA. It is easy to read but contains all the details. DNA is a very important issue for everyone today and this is the book you need to become knowledgable on this issue.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars DNA as a bedtime story, October 8, 2005

By 

Emmanouela Filippidi - See all my reviews

This review is from: Unraveling Dna: The Most Important Molecule Of Life, Revised And Updated Edition (Paperback)

It is a great book for those who want to learn about discoveries related to DNA, without having to learn all this science behind it. However, if you are looking for something technical but concise, this book is not what you are looking for

1 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars DNA as Modern Tower of Babel, October 18, 2002

By 

Worldreels (MANKATO, MN) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Unraveling Dna: The Most Important Molecule Of Life, Revised And Updated Edition (Paperback)

Climbing the helix staircase of DNA the author attempts a survey of everything new in the field up to 1996. His effort to speak to the layman is rather uneven-half the book is strictly for PHd candidates in microbiology. It would appear that each research team in the field of unraveling DNA speaks its own language. What makes the comparison with the tower of Babel more apt is that DNAology sounds like another secular religion. Many of the body's ills previously attributed to God are now being attributed to faulty DNA. Also there seems to be a tunnel vision developing that the study of DNA will bring mankind into the promised land.

Kamenetski did provide some interesting tidbits. The coiled string of DNA in each human cell is 7 feet long when stretched out. Deoxyribonucleic acid, DNA, isn't an acid at all, rather its a salt. Plants cannot assimilate nitrogen from the air and must have a symbiosis with nitrogen fixing bacteria in order to produce proteins. The success of cancer cell growth lies in their ability to disarm cancer killing T-cells by ordering them to commit suicide-apoptosis. The ribosome process acts like a molecular computer to translate the nucleotide language of DNA and RNA into the language of proteins called amino acids. This specialized computer uses only one program called the genetic code.

Kamenetski points to claimed successes with AIDS and atherosclerosis and successes in manufacturing insulin, interferon and growth hormone. The author hints at further futuristic breakthroughs in genetic engineering that will crumble the species mixing barrier. This will make the chimeras of Greek mythology commonplace. He foresees the day when diagnosis of all disease will stem from DNA analysis and when chemically modified DNA will be used as drugs. People will then greet each other with, "How's your genetic health?" But who knows whether future discoveries will reveal that everybody's DNA contains the seeds of its own death? Who knows whether cellular degeneration will become synonymous with maturation?

In reply to the the purpose of life, selfish gene arguments -replication of genes in one's children shows next to nothing. What is more telling, say, is whether man's genius could invent a spaceship that would permit travel to and population of other worlds?