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At the Dawn of Personal Genomics
HarperCollins
November 2010
On Sale: November 2, 2010
352 pages
ISBN: 0061628336
EAN: 9780061628337
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction
The first in-depth look at personal genomics: its
larger-than-life research subjects; its entrepreneurs and
do-it-yourselfers; its technology developers; the bewildered
and overwhelmed physicians and regulators who must negotiate
it; and what it means to be a "public genome" in a world
where privacy is already under siege In 2007, Misha Angrist became the fourth subject in the
Personal Genome Project, George Church's ambitious plan to
sequence the entire genomic catalog: every participant's
twenty thousand–plus genes and the rest of his or her 6
billion base pairs. Church hopes to better understand how
genes influence our physical traits, from height and
athletic ability to behavior and weight, and our medical
conditions, from cancer and diabetes to obesity and male
pattern baldness. Now Angrist reveals startling information
about the experiment's participants and scientists; how the
experiment was, is, and will be conducted; the discoveries
and potential discoveries; and the profound implications of
having an unfiltered view of our hardwired selves for us and
for our children. DNA technology has already changed our health care, the food
we eat, and our criminal justice system. Unlocking the
secrets of our genomes opens the door not only to helping us
understand why we are the way we are and potentially fixing
what ails us but also to many other concerns: What exactly
will happen to this information? Will it become just another
marketing tool? Can it help us understand our ancestry, or
will it merely reinforce old ideas of race? Can personal
genomics help fix the U.S. health care system? Here Is a Human Being explores these complicated questions
while documenting Angrist's own fascinating journey—one that
tens of thousands of us will soon make.
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