Walter Isaacson is the bestselling author of biographies of Jennifer Doudna, Leonardo da Vinci, Steve Jobs, Benjamin Franklin, and Albert Einstein. He is a professor of history at Tulane and was CEO of the Aspen Institute, chair of CNN, and editor of Time. He was awarded the National Humanities Medal in 2023. Visit him at Isaacson.Tulane.edu.
Named one of the Best Books of the Year by Time Magazine, The
Washington Post, Smithsonian Magazine, Amazon, BookPage, Science
News "This year's prize is about rewriting the code of life. These
genetic scissors have taken the life sciences into a new epoch." -
Announcement of the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry "Isaacson's vivid
account is a page-turning detective story and an indelible portrait
of a revolutionary thinker who, as an adolescent in Hawai'i, was
told that girls don't do science. Nevertheless, she persisted." --
Oprah Magazine.com "The Code Breaker marks the confluence of
perfect writer, perfect subject and perfect timing. The result is
almost certainly the most important book of the year." -
Minneapolis Star Tribune "Isaacson captures the scientific process
well, including the role of chance. The hard graft at the bench,
the flashes of inspiration, the importance of conferences as
cauldrons of creativity, the rivalry, sometimes friendly, sometimes
less so, and the sense of common purpose are all conveyed in his
narrative. The Code Breaker describes a dance to the music of time
with these things as its steps, which began with Charles Darwin and
Gregor Mendel and shows no sign of ending." - The Economist
"Isaacson lays everything out with his usual lucid prose; it's
brisk and compelling and even funny throughout. You'll walk away
with a deeper understanding of both the science itself and how
science gets done -- including plenty of mischief." - The
Washington Post "This story was always guaranteed to be a
page-turner in [Isaacson's] hands." - The Guardian "The Code
Breaker unfolds as an enthralling detective story, crackling with
ambition and feuds, laboratories and conferences, Nobel laureates
and self-taught mavericks. The book probes our common humanity
without ever dumbing down the science, a testament to Isaacson's
own genius on the page." -- O Magazine "Deftly written, conveying
the history of CRISPR and also probing larger themes: the nature of
discovery, the development of biotech, and the fine balance between
competition and collaboration that drives many scientists."-- New
York Review of Books "The Code Breaker is in some respects a
journal of our 2020 plague year."-- The New York Times
"A riveting expedition through biochemistry, structural biology,
and academic politics that transcends the traditional scientific
detective story and captures the raw, magical enthusiasm of living
pioneers like Doudna and her colleagues. " - New York Journal of
Books "Isaacson senses a more collaborative spirit between the
rivals that will surely pay dividends come the next pandemic... The
Code Breaker is a true celebration of science and scientists, for
all their flaws and jealousies." - Nature Reviews Chemistry
"An extraordinarily detailed and revealing account of scientific
progress and competition that grants readers behind-the-scenes
access to the scientific process, which the COVID-19 pandemic has
taught us remains opaque to the wider public. It also provides
lessons in science communication that go beyond the story itself."
- Science Magazine "An indispensable guide to the brave... new
world we have entered." - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette "A vital book
about the next big thing in science--and yet another top-notch
biography from Isaacson." -- Kirkus Reviews (starred review) "In
Isaacson's splendid saga of how big science really operates,
curiosity and creativity, discovery and innovation, obsession and
strong personalities, competitiveness and collaboration, and the
beauty of nature all stand out." -- Booklist (starred review)
"Isaacson depicts science at its most exhilarating in this lively
biography of Jennifer Doudna, the winner of the 2020 Nobel Prize in
medicine for her work on the CRISPR system of gene editing...The
result is a gripping account of a great scientific advancement and
of the dedicated scientists who realized it." -- Publisher's Weekly
(starred review) "Isaacson, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of
best sellers Leonardo da Vinci and Steve Jobs, offers a startling,
insightful look at this lifesaving, hugely significant scientific
advancement and the brilliant Doudna, who wrestles with the serious
moral questions that accompany her creation. Should this technology
be offered to parents to tailor-make their babies into athletes or
Einsteins? Who gets altered and saved and why?" -- AARP "A
brilliant and engaging book. There are many quotable gems but I
have chosen one sentence from the epilogue that epitomizes not only
Doudna but also Isaacson himself, whose book title ends with a
hortatory claim that CRISPR affects the future of the human race:
'To guide us, we will need not only scientists, but humanists. And
most important, we will need people who feel comfortable in both
words, like Jennifer Doudna.'" -- Policy Magazine
"Mr. Isaacson is a great storyteller and a national treasure --
like Steve Jobs, Albert Einstein, and of course his latest subject,
Jennifer Doudna." -- The East Hampton Star "The journalist who told
the life stories of Leonardo da Vinci and Steve Jobs is back with a
timely biography of Jennifer Doudna, PhD, winner of the 2020 Nobel
Prize in chemistry. It's a fast-paced account of her life as a
pathbreaking scientist on CRISPR -- and how gene editing could
alter all life as we know it." -- Medium "This challenging,
fascinating story examines Doudna's background and excavates the
moral quandaries she grapples with as her creation opens up more
and more avenues for scientific advancement." -- Elle "It is a
gripping tale, showing how our new ability to hack evolution will
soon start throwing us curveballs." -- New Scientist "[A]
fascinating story... [Isaacson's] unique skill as a master
storyteller of scientific development over the centuries has
educated not only his fellow Baby Boomers, but also succeeding
generations, helping people of all ages and backgrounds travel down
the long and winding road toward understanding how life works." -
Washington Independent Review of Books "[A] marvelous biography...
With his dynamic and formidable style, Isaacson explains the long
scientific journey that led to this tool's discovery and the
exciting developments that have followed....Isaacson is truly an
immersive tour guide, combining the energy of a TED Talk with the
intimacy of a series of fireside chats....For readers seeking to
understand the many twists, turns and nuances of the biotechnology
revolution, there's no better place to turn than The Code
Breaker."- BookPage " Isaacson expertly plumbs the moral ambiguity
surrounding this new technology. "-Scientific American
"Walter Isaacson is our Renaissance biographer, a writer of unusual
range and depth who has plumbed lives of genius to illuminate
fundamental truths about human nature. From Leonardo to Steve Jobs,
from Benjamin Franklin to Albert Einstein, Isaacson has given us an
unparalleled canon of work that chronicles how we have come to live
the way we do. Now, in a magnificent, compelling, and wholly
original book, he turns his attention to the next frontier: that of
gene editing and the role science may play in reshaping the nature
of life itself. This is an urgent, sober, accessible, and
altogether brilliant achievement." --Jon Meacham "When a great
biographer combines his own fascination with science and a superb
narrative style, the result is magic. This important and powerful
work, written in the tradition of The Double Helix, allows us not
only to follow the story of a brilliant and inspired scientist as
she engages in a fierce competitive race, but to experience for
ourselves the wonders of nature and the joys of discovery." --Doris
Kearns Goodwin "He's done it again. The Code Breaker is another
Walter Isaacson must-read. This time he has a heroine who will be
for the ages; a worldwide cast of remarkable, fiercely competitive
scientists; and a string of discoveries that will change our lives
far more than the iPhone did. The tale is gripping. The
implications mind-blowing." - Atul Gawande "An extraordinary book
that delves into one of the most path-breaking biological
technologies of our times and the creators who helped birth it.
This brilliant book is absolutely necessary reading for our era."
-- Siddhartha Mukherjee "Now more than ever we should appreciate
the beauty of nature and the importance of scientific research;
This book and Jennifer Doudna's career show how thrilling it can be
to understand how life works." --Sue Desmond-Hellmann
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