The Code Breaker
Walter Isaacson
★★★★★ 4.5/5
Non Fiction; Science
A lot more than the title suggests
Walter Isaacson has mastered the writing of the Inventor-biography. He’s done it with Steve Jobs, Einstein and others in the past. His latest book, The Code Breaker, is about arguably the most consequential invention of the decade—the CRISPR gene editing tool. But the cover and subtitle do a disservice to the scope of the book: while several aspects of the story are told largely from the perspective of Jennifer Doudna, who went on to win the Nobel prize in Chemistry for the invention of CRISPR, the story gives reasonable equal billing to the many other scientists and their key contributions in shaping the discoveries leading to CRISPR. These include Emmanuelle Charpentier, Feng Zhang, George Church, Martin Jinek to name just a few. A jacket cover featuring a collage of images of these scientists might have been a more suitable and truer depiction of the contents of the book.
Compelling Story, Accessible Science:
Almost every technological development is the culmination of many related efforts. The development of CRISPR is no exception. With discoveries of huge consequence—the future of humanity in this case—and the awards, recognition and money at stake, there is always a race for primacy across various individuals and teams. The Code Breaker provides a window into the discovery process in science: the many alliances based on true friendships and expedience; the camaraderie even between rivals; the machinations, jealousies and backstabbing to be the first past the finish line and to be adjudged the first; and so much more.
The CRISPR story has all of these and more, making for a riveting narrative at the hands of the talented Mr. Isaacson.
But Mr. Isaacson’s true gift as a writer/biographer is the ability to combine the exploration of the personal lives of the scientists (their childhoods in many cases and how they got to be doing what they were doing, and their interpersonal dynamics), with the actual science in a way that’s accessible to folks without PhDs in biochemistry. I for one came away with a deep appreciation for the research and the implications for the human race—or the new race (humans 2.0?) we might end up creating with the technology.
The book also covers the development of the Covid 19 vaccines which while not a direct outcome of CRISPR research, is a timely and interesting read.
Heartening focus on Ethics:
The ability to edit the human genome has obvious profound implications for humanity. It has the potential to save lives and alleviate much suffering, but also the potential to vastly amplify the inequalities in the distribution of power and resources. What then are the good or acceptable uses of these new tools? And who should get to decide these questions? What governance models are needed? Thankfully, Mr. Isaacson devotes a significant portion of his book on these questions and the viewpoints of the various key players. If it wasn’t already obvious, the many examples in the book reveal how hard it is to draw the lines between the necessary life saving (good) edits and the purely cosmetic (vanity) edits.
It is not surprising that the views of the scientists themselves span the spectrum from ‘anything goes, why have any boundaries’ all the way to ‘any gene editing is playing God and hence ruinous for mankind’.
It was particularly heartening to read how the CRISPR scientists voluntarily pulled scientists from around the world to discuss and agree upon ethics guidelines for CRISPR use and commercialization that are largely being adhered to. It’s a page I wish that AI researchers and companies would take from the CRISPR group, given how several concerns with rising AI capabilities map directly to those from indiscriminate gene editing.
Overall
This is a great and timely read on a subject that is doubtless going to have a profound impact on human lives in the future. It is a mix of the science and the personal lives of the scientists without going too deep into either.