The Code of Codes: Scientific and Social Issues in the Human Genome Project

Kevles, Daniel J., and Hood, LeRoy, eds

ISBN 10: 0674136454 / ISBN 13: 9780674136458

Published by Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1992

About this Item

397, illus., notes, selected bibliography, glossary, index, small crease in rear DJ. This collection includes a fascinating essay by James D. Watson, who shared the 1962 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his role in the discovery of the structure of DNA. The ultimate goal of the pioneering project outlined in this book is to map our genome--the key to what makes us human--in detail. The Code of Codes is a collective exploration of the substance and possible consequences of this project in relation to ethics, law, and society.

Seller Inventory # 43156

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Code of Codes: Scientific and Social Issues in the Human Genome Project
• Publisher: Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA
• Publication Date: 1992
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0674136454
• ISBN 13: 9780674136458
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: First Edition. First Printing.
• Condition: very good, very good

About this title

Synopsis

The human genome is the key to what makes us human. Composed of the many different genes found in our cells, it defines our possibilities and limitations as members of the species. The ultimate goal of the pioneering project outlined in this book is to map our genome in detail -- an achievement that will revolutionize our understanding of human development and the expression of both our normal traits and our abnormal characteristics, such as disease. The Code of Codes is a collective exploration of the substance and possible consequences of this project in relation to ethics, law, and society as well as to science, technology, and medicine.

The many debates on the human genome project are prompted in part by its extraordinary cost, which has raised questions about whether it represents the invasion of biology by the kind of Big Science symbolized by highenergy accelerators. While addressing these matters, this book recognizes that far more than money is at stake. Its intent is not to advance naive paeans for the project but to stimulate thought about the serious issues--scientific, social, and ethical--that it provokes. The Code of Codes comprises incisive essays by stellar figures in a variety of fields, including James D. Watson and Walter Gilbert and the social analysts of science Dorothy Nelkin and Evelyn Fox Keller. An authoritative review of the scientific underpinnings of the project is provided by Horace Freeland Judson, author of the bestselling Eighth Day of Creation.

The book's broad and balanced coverage and the expertise of its contributors make The Code of Codes the most comprehensive and compelling exploration available on this historymaking project.

About the Author

Daniel Kevles is the Stanley Woodward Professor of History and Law at Yale University.