Rate this book

How To Defeat Your Own Clone And Other Tips For Surviving The Biotech Revolution (2010)

by Kyle Kurpinski(Favorite Author)

3.54 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

055338578X (ISBN13: 9780553385786)

languge

English

genre

Humor

publisher

Bantam

review 1: There are only so many lazily misogynistic asides I can take before giving up on a book entirely. Page 44's apology to men that they share mitochondrial DNA with their mothers (because their manhood is threatened by that . . . universal fact of human biology?) was my breaking point in this book.Writing about science for a popular audience is tough; you want to provide accurate information in a clear and compelling way and avoid extraneous detail. This means you should be thinking fairly carefully about the words, sentences, and ideas you use in your writing. Maybe these authors did so, and actively decided that persistent use of tired sexist tropes was the best way to get their message across to their audience. Or maybe they didn't, and uncritically perpetuated an 'ew, gi... morerls!' mentality that permeates so much of science and popular culture. In either case, I would rather spend my attention on something else.
review 2: When I saw this title I had to read it, it’s kind of hard to ignore. The book is non-fiction, and is about just what the cover says. Knowing what to do in case of a clone emergency might not seem important now, but who knows what the future holds. Apparently the bio-tech revolution is headed in ways that sound straight out of a science fiction story.Oh what awesome things we could do in the future! You want crazy colored skin, eyes, super muscle, and perfect teeth without the trips to the dentist? Behold the bio-tech future! Oh sure, there are a lot of kinks to work out, and several major groups of people to convince, but the possibilities! My favorite part of the novel is about what gene therapy can do, not just for physical changes, but for people who are sick, whose quality of life could be better. That is, and should be, what come first.Hey, so this stuff is controversial right? Yes, and there is a whole chapter about the truth behind it. There are a lot of crazy rumors about the research behind cloning, and gene therapy. I think this is a good book to hear some of the facts, and feel entertained at the same time.Finally, towards the end we come to the clone war, but there is some confusion because there are already clones walking around. They didn’t grow up in tanks with crazy fluid, and injected with super powers. Clones are twins, which I didn’t know before. The likelihood that you will have to fight off an evil clone is slim, but the likelihood a clone would want to fight someone and take their life over is slimmer. Still, just in case the book lists types of clones, chances of survival, and how to defeat them. This is a really short book about science. I felt like I learned a lot, and enjoyed it a great deal. The humor is pretty witty, and worth a look. Sometimes my mind did wonder, but as soon as I started to wonder, I was pulled back with a joke. I laughed more than a couple times, earning me strange looks when reading it in public. If you are interested in what the future of science could do, or you just enjoy hearing about the possibilities, I highly recommend giving it a shot. How does that cloned cow’s milk taste? less

Download links for: How to Defeat Your Own Clone and Other Tips for Surviving the Biotech Revolution

Advertising