The Genetic Age: Our Perilous Quest To Edit Life

by Matthew Cobb

A TIMES ENVIRONMENT AND SCIENCE BOOK OF THE YEAR 2022

'The ideal guide to what is not just a fiendishly complex area of science but also an ethical minefield' Mail on Sunday

A new gene editing technology, invented just seven years ago, has turned humanity into gods. Enabling us to manipulate the genes in virtually any organism with exquisite precision, CRISPR has given scientists a degree of control that was undreamt of even in science fiction.

But CRISPR is just the latest, giant leap in a long journey to master genetics. The Genetic Age shows the astonishing, world-changing potential of the new genetics and the possible threats it poses, sifting between fantasy and the reality when it comes to both benefits and dangers.

By placing each phase of discovery, anticipation and fear in the context of over fifty years of attempts to master the natural world, Matthew Cobb, the Baillie-Gifford-shortlisted author of The Idea of the Brain, weaves the stories of science, history and culture to shed new light on our future. With the powers now at our disposal, it is a future that is almost impossible to imagine - but it is one we will create ourselves.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, Biology, Genetics

448 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2023

About the author

Matthew Cobb (born 4 February 1957) is a British zoologist and professor of zoology at the University of Manchester. He is known for his popular science books The Egg & Sperm Race: The Seventeenth-Century Scientists Who Unravelled the Secrets of Sex, Life and Growth; Life's Greatest Secret: The Race to Crack the Genetic Code; and The Idea of the Brain: A History. Cobb has appeared on BBC Radio 4's The Infinite Monkey Cage, The Life Scientific, and The Curious Cases of Rutherford & Fry, as well as on BBC Radio 3 and the BBC World Service.
Cobb has written and provided expert comments for publications including New Scientist and The Guardian, translated five books from French into English, and written two books on the history of France during World War II.

Reviews

[Mia Featherstone]

This book changed the way I think about science. I learnt about these techniques in my undergrad without ever thinking of them as anything more than a means to an end. But my eyes have been opened to the real need to think about the ethical considerations of such advancements and experiments and whether we should ask ourselves,’just because we can, does it mean that we should?’

[judy]

a full insight into the genetic engineering world and its history, posing very important ethical questions

I rather enjoyed this read. (only nonfiction I can ever read is on this topic)

[Fliss]

it took me a long old time to read this because it was too related to my academic work for me to want to read it in my downtime once term had begun, and not essential enough to my work that i felt justified reading it in my studying time, so i only read it partially at the end of summer break and then partially in the winter break. and i read nothing else in the meantime which was a bit silly of me!

but besides these circumstances, i did enjoy this book i think. it was readable and had a clear overall narrative and clear messages that the author wishes you to ponder but i didn't feel like he instructed too much on what you ought to think. but then again I speak as a biochemistry student who has studied quite a lot of genetics and molecular biology and generally has a pro-genetic-engineering attitude. that also means I can't speak for how understandable this book is for someone without prior subject familiarity - i think it did explain everything but I didn't need to digest those explanations carefully like I imagine you would need to otherwise.

also btw I actually finished this on the 3rd january 2025 but i want it to count to 2024 not 2025

[Christopher Bentley]

Obviously it helps when the subject matter is fascinating to begin with, but Matthew Cobb's natural and animated writing style makes for a fast-paced and absorbing narrative history of genetic engineering, its characters and its controversies. I'd just make a couple of observations.

Firstly, be aware that this is very much a polemic. The author is enthusiastic about the subject, but deeply - and understandably - hostile to certain research directions (notably human-heritable gene editing, gene drives and gain-of-function research). This isn't a problem of course, unless you were expecting a neutral exposition.

Secondly, as someone with no background in biological sciences I found the cursory explanation of the 'basics of genetics' in the introduction to be very inadequate. Having finished the book, I still have big gaps in understanding (I'm none the wiser about how somatic gene edits actually propagate, for example). The author occasionally drops in technical words without explaining them, presumably because they're so familiar to him. There's a helpful glossary squeezed between the Acknowledgements and the Notes, and I'd recommend parking a bookmark there.

[Daniel Mosby]

An authoritative and thorough account of genetic engineering from its advent up until the present day (2021).

Matthew Cobb is detailed in his account, not only of the science, but of the ethic surrounding it and its impact. I’m not sure how digestible it would be for someone who doesn’t have a scientific background, but I found it fascinating.

[Brett]

Incredibly useful book about how science, technology, and society are inextricably linked. Here is a field that has been grappling with the problem for over fifty years, and there are clear parallels to AI and geoengineering. It's incredible that we haven't managed to disappear ourselves with such powerful technologies.

[Tian Foo Chou]

Heritable human genetic engineering
gene drives
gain-of function research on dangerous pathogens