This was the 9th book I read in 2021.
It’s very hard to review a book like this, which is written so well and is packed with so much content that is was very hard to put this book down even for a few minutes. This book has buttressed the fact that Mr. Isaacson is my most favorite author of all time. I am fascinated by all books about time, space, origin of life, and memoirs about great people and this book was a culmination of all those things and the fact that it was written by my favorite author was a cherry on top.
This book blew me away so many times that I had to actually re-read some of the paragraphs throughout this book, which made me realize how important the work by some of the most renowned scientists in the world was to help humanity come out of Covid-19 pandemic. Sometimes, we take things around us for granted, and this book was a poignant reminder of that reality, which is sad, but is the truth. This book talks in details about all the work behind the Covid-19 testing kits, people behind developing it, and how the researchers collaborate with each other and sometimes put things in their favor to get their work published before anyone else, keeping Doudna at the center of everything. Let’s begin then.
Doudna’s beginnings
I am a big believer of the phrase “every big thing starts with one small thing“.
Doudna’s beginnings were similar. Before she knew that she had a thing for RNA and DNA research, she read a book called “The Double Helix“. The book tells in details how much reading this book inspired Doudna to jump in the field of molecular biology. Having a dad as a professor helped a lot since her dad used to bring many books home, which she used to browse through but it was The Double Helix which turned out to be a pivotal book for her and after that, Doudna never looked back.
I could relate to this point from the author since I jumped into the computer field ever since my parents enrolled me in a computer class, which helped me develop the curiousity towards technology and I have never looked back after that.
Doudna’s research journey and her passion for RNAs
I am a huge sucker for people working in academics and research area, so, when I saw this book in Costco, I knew I had to read it for a couple reasons. The first reason was it was written by my favorite author and second one was that it was about the Nobel award winner scientist and researcher – perfect combination of types of books I like to read.
After reading the Double Helix, Doudna started her journey to become a DNA expert but as her career progressed, she knew, RNA is the one which she found more fascinating and challenging. Doudna is the sort of person who loves to solve problems which are still unknown to humanity, that’s the area she thrives the most and it was one of the many factors due to which she decided to jump into RNA research, which turned out to be a brilliant decision for the fate of humanity.
Researchers’ race to publish papers first
This was an eye opening section of the book for me. I knew researchers and scientists are curious people, but, little did I know that they were extremely competitive and sometimes a little bit selfish. I knew people act for their own well being in a corporate world, but I didn’t expect this to be true for researchers also, which was a shocker for me. But, at the end, researchers are also human beings, so I presumed that that’s how all researchers behave, which from the book was evident enough that almost all researchers act that way. I mean, I haven’t gone through the process, so I can just guess that the competition to publish the research paper before everyone else makes them act that way and according to the author and his content in the book, if you don’t do that, it is very hard for you to push the paper to the credible publication and have the discovery on your name.
I will take this as the biggest learning for me as I want to pursue a doctorate degree in the future.
& obvious: Covid-19 testing and vaccine
And here comes the biggest reason for me to read this book. Ever since everyone on this planet was affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, I was curious about almost every aspect of the pandemic and when I knew that Doudna played a huge role regarding the development of Covid-19 testing and vaccine.
Little did I know that the origin of testing facility and logistics related to Covid-19 vaccine and I was blown away when I knew it was Doudna’s facility which created the first testing kit in the United States. It was a great deal, but something that they had to do when the POTUS rejected the shipment of testing kits from the WHO, which wasn’t a smart move at all. During the many pages that the author explained the situations across the US fighting Covid-19 pandemic, I was in awe of all the scientists and researchers who were working round the clock from their homes across the globe, collaborating with each other and trying to fight the deadly virus. Never had I ever been so proud of our scientists and reserachers and it buttressed my belief in education.
I couldn’t get enough of the stories from the book and really wanted the author to write some more about it.
Why should you read this book?
This brings us to the last point of this post – why anyone should read this book. Well, the answer is simple – if you want to know how our fellow humans from across the globe fought against the deadly Covid-19 pandemic, then this book is a treat. The author has given tremendous details about everyone involved with Doudna during the research and development of the testing kits, vaccine, and what not. You will surely love this book.
I am looking forward to more books on this topic now.
See you at the next book review!
stochasticity 