An excellent update on genomic medicine, which is finally bringing home the bacon.
An enthusiastic report on the state of the field of genomics.
Observers predicted miracles following the discovery of the genetic code in the 1950s, genetic engineering in the 1980s, and sequencing the human genome in 2003. Now, we are beginning to reap the rewards of that work. Cardiologist Ashley, professor of medicine and genetics at Stanford, makes a convincing case that the floodgates are opening. From several billion dollars in 2003, the cost of sequencing an individual genome has dropped to under $1,000. “Today, a physician can order a genome almost as easily as ordering a cholesterol test,” writes the author. “Health insurance companies increasingly list it as a covered benefit, acknowledging that transformative insights can emerge.” Although essential, knowing the makeup of every gene is only a first step. After explaining how that was achieved, Ashley describes how he and fellow researchers are learning what each gene accomplishes (a process well along), what happens when they malfunction (some progress), and how to fix them, which is more difficult and frustrating. But there is light at the end of the tunnel, as the author offers numerous intriguing descriptions of brilliant scientists in this field and their work on individual genomes. One major advance was the 2008 establishment of the NIH Undiagnosed Diseases Program, which devotes government money to the research of previously unknown genetic abnormalities. Ashley goes on to describe several bizarre cases, which, after a great deal of investigation, turned out to be the result of a defective gene. These make fascinating reading, but readers may suspect that this is another expert account of a spectacular technological development that raises the possibility of curing disease…but not quite yet. The final chapters are particularly interesting, as the author describes efforts to repair defective genes that have, in the past few years, permanently improved the lives of victims of a few rare diseases, even common ones such as hemophilia.
An excellent update on genomic medicine, which is finally bringing home the bacon.Pub Date: Feb. 23, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-250-23499-5
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Celadon Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2020
The lessons to draw are obvious: Smoke more dope, eat less meat. Like-minded readers will dig it.
The chef, rapper, and TV host serves up a blustery memoir with lashings of self-help.
“I’ve always had a sick confidence,” writes Bronson, ne Ariyan Arslani. The confidence, he adds, comes from numerous sources: being a New Yorker, and more specifically a New Yorker from Queens; being “short and fucking husky” and still game for a standoff on the basketball court; having strength, stamina, and seemingly no fear. All these things serve him well in the rough-and-tumble youth he describes, all stickball and steroids. Yet another confidence-builder: In the big city, you’ve got to sink or swim. “No one is just accepted—you have to fucking show that you’re able to roll,” he writes. In a narrative steeped in language that would make Lenny Bruce blush, Bronson recounts his sentimental education, schooled by immigrant Italian and Albanian family members and the mean streets, building habits good and bad. The virtue of those habits will depend on your take on modern mores. Bronson writes, for example, of “getting my dick pierced” down in the West Village, then grabbing a pizza and smoking weed. “I always smoke weed freely, always have and always will,” he writes. “I’ll just light a blunt anywhere.” Though he’s gone through the classic experiences of the latter-day stoner, flunking out and getting arrested numerous times, Bronson is a hard charger who’s not afraid to face nearly any challenge—especially, given his physique and genes, the necessity of losing weight: “If you’re husky, you’re always dieting in your mind,” he writes. Though vulgar and boastful, Bronson serves up a model that has plenty of good points, including his growing interest in nature, creativity, and the desire to “leave a legacy for everybody.”
The lessons to draw are obvious: Smoke more dope, eat less meat. Like-minded readers will dig it.Pub Date: April 20, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-4197-4478-5
Page Count: 184
Publisher: Abrams
Review Posted Online: May 5, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2021
An absorbing, wide-ranging story of humans’ relationship with the water.
A study of swimming as sport, survival method, basis for community, and route to physical and mental well-being.
For Bay Area writer Tsui (American Chinatown: A People's History of Five Neighborhoods, 2009), swimming is in her blood. As she recounts, her parents met in a Hong Kong swimming pool, and she often visited the beach as a child and competed on a swim team in high school. Midway through the engaging narrative, the author explains how she rejoined the team at age 40, just as her 6-year-old was signing up for the first time. Chronicling her interviews with scientists and swimmers alike, Tsui notes the many health benefits of swimming, some of which are mental. Swimmers often achieve the “flow” state and get their best ideas while in the water. Her travels took her from the California coast, where she dove for abalone and swam from Alcatraz back to San Francisco, to Tokyo, where she heard about the “samurai swimming” martial arts tradition. In Iceland, she met Guðlaugur Friðþórsson, a local celebrity who, in 1984, survived six hours in a winter sea after his fishing vessel capsized, earning him the nickname “the human seal.” Although humans are generally adapted to life on land, the author discovered that some have extra advantages in the water. The Bajau people of Indonesia, for instance, can do 10-minute free dives while hunting because their spleens are 50% larger than average. For most, though, it’s simply a matter of practice. Tsui discussed swimming with Dara Torres, who became the oldest Olympic swimmer at age 41, and swam with Kim Chambers, one of the few people to complete the daunting Oceans Seven marathon swim challenge. Drawing on personal experience, history, biology, and social science, the author conveys the appeal of “an unflinching giving-over to an element” and makes a convincing case for broader access to swimming education (372,000 people still drown annually).
An absorbing, wide-ranging story of humans’ relationship with the water.Pub Date: April 14, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-61620-786-1
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Algonquin
Review Posted Online: Jan. 4, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2020
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