Altered Fates: The Genetic Re-engineering of Human Life

by Jeff Lyon

Seven years in the making, Altered Fates chronicles the saga of gene therapy, a medical revolution unparalleled in human history. In the pages of this rich and detailed narrative, whose characters include the field's leading scientists as well as key patients and their families, the Pulitzer Prize-winning authors tell the story of the race to be the first to do gene therapy (a feat almost certain to garner a Nobel Prize and a place in medical history), uncovering the behind-the-scenes machinations and rivalries among the prima-donna researchers at some of the world's leading medical centers, including the National Institutes of Health. They also reveal the details of the initial human experiments in gene transfer and the agonizing decisions faced by the families of the first children to be submitted to the therapy.

As Daniel Kevles observed in the New York Times Book Review , "Mr. Lyon and Mr. Gorner are highly knowledgeable about the state of human and medical genetics, and their treatment of both the science and its practitioners is vivid, accessible, and . . . gripping."

Genres: Science

636 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

Reviews

[Jonnie Enloe]

Slightly laborious but a good foundation of double helix theory and it's potential. Dated now.

[Garron Anderson]

Enjoyable and informational!