Bring Back the King - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1472912268 ISBN 13: 9781472912268

Publisher: Featherstone Education, 2016

Synopsis

If you could bring back one living being from the whole of the history of time, what would you choose? Comedian and former stem-cell biologist Helen Pilcher has thought about this problem, a lot. In Bring back the King, Helen explains the cutting-edge science that makes the resurrection of extinct animals a very real possibility, and highlights her choices from eras gone by, from the King of the Dinosaurs, Tyrannosaurus rex, to the King of Rock 'n' Roll, Elvis Presley, From dinosaurs to Dodos, Neanderthals to rock legends, Bring Back the King explains how the burgeoning field of DNA science is being used to help resurrect not just individual animals but entire species from their stony graves. Funny, intriguing and informative, Bring Back the King describes current initiatives and future plans to restore deceased animals, and uses both science and willful irreverence to assess how these genetic Lazarus's might fare in their brave new world. Could a pet dinosaur be trained to roll over? Would Neanderthals enjoy opera? Could a returning Dodo seek vengeance upon humanity? Blending the very latest de-extinction technology with cloning, dinosaurs with rock legends, and hard-core popular science with plenty of gags, Bring Back the King is a book that you will simply have to read.

About this title

About the Author

Helen Pilcher was a stand-up comedian for more than ten years, before the arrival of children meant she couldn't physically stay awake beyond 9pm. During this time, she performed at the Edinburgh comedy festival, at London's Comedy Store, and at various smoky pubs and clubs across Britain. She was a finalist for Jongleurs New Act of the Year (1998, 1999), the BBC New Stand Up Competition (1999) and Channel 4's So You Think You're Funny (1999). In 2002, she teamed up with fellow comedian Timandra Harkness to write and perform `The Comedy Research Project' a stand-up comedy show commissioned for the very first Cheltenham Science Festival. Unusually, Helen is also a professional science writer, with a PhD in stem-cell biology. She was formerly a journalist for Nature online, specialising in genetics; before that, she ran the Science in Society programme at the Royal Society, and before that, she worked as a senior scientist for a biotechnology company, engineering a series of human stem cell lines for transplantation into damaged human brains, this following on from her doctoral research into stem-cell therapy for Alzheimer's disease.

Review

"[Pilcher] asks provocative questions about both the nature of science and what it means to be human. Pilcher uses humor effectively to keep readers engaged, and there is a great deal here to entertain and educate them." - Publishers Weekly

"A unique perspective on our responsibility to preserve the chain of being of which we are only a part." - Kirkus Reviews

"With humour and accuracy, Helen Pilcher surveys the wondrous array of wildlife de-extinction and preservation projects that employ current breakthroughs in genomic technology. (Plus Elvis, who was a different kind of wild.)" - Stewart Brand author of WHOLE EARTH DISCIPLINE and co-founder of Revive & Restore

"Lighthearted but informative read . . . buy this title as a great insight into modern biology and a more accessible look at de-extinction." - Henrietta Verma, Booklist

"A friendly tour of genetics and cloning, with a bit of history thrown in." - Brian Switek, The Wall Street Journal

"Entertaining and harrowing . . . offer[s] many of popular science's deep and trivial brainy pleasures." - John Williams, The New York Times

About this edition

• Publisher: Featherstone Education
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 1472912268
• ISBN 13: 9781472912268
• Binding: Paperback