J. Craig Venter

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As a master student in Biomedical Sciences I'd heard about J. Craig Ventor (and especially his contributions to sequencing the human genome) multiple times in class. So, when I saw this book coming up I was immediately interested.

I somehow had always thought that he would be able to communicate about his science in a very interesting and understandable way. I don't know why I had this believe, but this book disappointed me a bit on that account. I was looking for a book that would be a nice way to introduce people with little or no knowledge about but a huge interest in molecular biology to the subject, but I don't think this book would be right for them. It's at once - I believe - far too specialistic for laymen and too simplistic for the people who do know about it.

It was however, for me, still interesting as synthetic biology is a subject I haven't really learned a lot about. About halfway I did start to get a bit annoyed as it became more and more of an 'Oh, look at me and my team we're so amazing' story as he sums up all his successes and publications in Science. The last chapters were a bit weird as he jumps from synthetic biology to teleportation. Not as good as I anticipated but still enjoyable for people with some background information on (molecular) biology...

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!… (meer)

I only got through half of this due to time constraints, but its a great book. His life is much more interesting than I thought it was going to be, but towards the middle, the story runs into a bit of a thick patch - it becomes too scientific and business-like, and the magic of the early narrative (his ability to use his experiences and weave them into a picture of self-discovery and life lessons runs out around this time... coincidentally, this is also the part that I stopped reading).

He's had an exemplary (and rather controversial) career, so this one is definitely worth a read, especially for anyone thinking about going into research.… (meer)

First I must say that Venter is rather full of himself which definitely comes through in this book. He thinks of himself as a champion of pure science but he also doesn't like losing. However, the story he has to tell about sequencing the human genome is fascinating, full of details about the science, the feuds between the various groups involved, and something about why the science was so important. If one can get through the first parts covering his early years and his service in Vietnam without totally losing patience, Venter's account of his life in research becomes a lot more interesting. It is quite detailed however and the reader new to genetics and laboratory research in biochemistry and genomics will find some sections hard to follow. Also the infighting and political aspects of the struggle to break new ground in these fields may surprise some readers. Note that several of the LT recommendations that come up for A Life Decoded were written by Venter's competitors in the "race" to sequence the human genome. It might be interesting to compare them.… (meer)

From the maverick who first "shotgun-sequenced" the human genome, the story of digital biology, of how his group engineered the first synthetic microbes, of the emerging ethics-conscious era of computer-aided design of life forms, of possible teleportation (long-distance copying) of biological materials such as phages that will serve as therapy tools to replace no-longer-effective antibiotics -- all bad news (hooray!) for "vitalists [and] those who want to believe that life depends on something more than a complex composite of chemical reactions." (p 109)… (meer)