Regenesis

Wall Street Journal "In Regenesis... George Church and Ed Regis imagine a world where micro-organisms are capable of producing clean petroleum or detecting arsenic in drinking water, where people sport genetic modifications that render their bodies impervious to the flu, or where a synthetic organism can be programmed to invade and destroy cancer cells." Nature "The life sciences emerge as the new high-tech in this paean to synthetic biology... Each step in the genome's evolution serves as a springboard for expositions of how synthetic biology will revolutionize renewable energy, multivirus resistance, and more." New Scientist "Bold and provocative...Church and Regis offer a behind-the-scenes look at synthetic biology, a rapidly emerging field that is reprogramming the genetic code to create organisms and functions not found in nature. Regenesis tells of recent advances that may soon yield endless supplies of renewable energy, increased longevity, and the return of long-extinct species... Thought-provoking." io9 "[A] phenomenal read." Publishers Weekly "Exhilarating and scary facts suffuse this book about bioengineering by leading Harvard genetics professor and entrepreneur Church... When Church describes current work building microbes with minimal genes, the book takes off--and eventually soars... [A] stimulating book." Kirkus Reviews "[An] authoritative, sometimes awe-inspiring book... A valuable glimpse of science at the edge." Steven Pinker, Harvard College Professor of Psychology, Harvard University, and author of How the Mind Works and The Better Angels of Our Nature "A thoughtful introduction to one of the great frontiers of science, one with the promise of literally saving the world... Engaging, readable, and thoroughly fascinating." Choice "Geneticist Church and science writer Regis take a novel evolutionary approach to explaining the science of synthetic biology... [A] highly readable book."