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Frankenstein's Cat: Cuddling Up To Biotech's Brave New Beasts (2013)

by Emily Anthes(Favorite Author)

3.72 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

0374158592 (ISBN13: 9780374158590)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Scientific American / Farrar, Straus and Giroux

review 1: This book is readable but not very informative. The author tends to gloss over how the processes she's describing work in favor of waxing poetic about the possibilities such procedures might create. She's also incredibly biased, making a cursory show of trying to argue both sides but not hiding her blind enthusiasm. She ignores arguments that might force her to present an actual case for say genetic engineering of food, such as the fact that genetically engineered plants have already turned up in places they aren't supposed to be and that chemicals used to increase milk production have been shown to damage young human bodies. At least her efforts to hide her biases fail so that the reader can easily pick up on them and keep them in mind while reading. That said, I was ente... morertained even if I didn't get as much information as I had hoped.
review 2: I found this a shocking read. Against the backdrop of an industry continuing to regard animals as tools for human betterment (Chinese factories mass-producing lab-mice with specific abnormalities?), the new messengers have a disturbingly breezy apathy. The author's tone lacks the substance or balance you'd expect from an MIT graduate. Although she touches on some ethical issues, her voice is clear : the new frontier in animal manipulation is both fun and exciting. Her rather flippant delivery undermines the credibility of the book's content. It seems Anthes is less interested in sharing multidimensional research than she is in pitching some cool trends to make quick cash. As a reader I felt disrespected with the lack of serious, data-driven reporting. An overall chilling and disappointing read. less

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