Why read Who Wrote the Book of Life??

Book cover of Who Wrote the Book of Life?: A History of the Genetic Code

Book description

This is a detailed history of one of the most important and dramatic episodes in modern science, recounted from the novel vantage point of the dawn of the information age and its impact on representations of nature, heredity, and society. Drawing on archives, published sources, and interviews, the author situates…

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Why read it?

2 authors picked Who Wrote the Book of Life? as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Moa Petersén

Author

When you finish the book, you may feel a bit unsure whether this was a magical tale or an account of reality. However, it is actually a rather detailed account of the period (1953–1970) in scientific history when the information age found its way into biology. This was a time when metaphors migrated from the realm of computing to descriptions of the human biological body.

Conducting new research requires new languages to test novel ideas and explore new perspectives. This fascinating subject is described in great detail in this book without ever becoming dry. As a researcher, I can attest…

From Moa's list on The best books where the limits of the biological human body are stretched.

David W. Ussery

Author

I love the way that this book puts solving the genetic code in the context of the development of the "information age" in the 1950s.

This book explains the origins of the popular (but wrong) idea that DNA is the "book of life" and some sort of advanced information system. I call this a ‘one-dimensional’ view of life (as opposed to a four-dimensional view, which takes into account not just sequence but secondary and tertiary structures and how they change with time).

I use this book in my introductory bioinformatics lectures to help get across the "new" concept that, contrary…

From David's list on The best books on the history of heredity and DNA.