The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race

By Walter Isaacson

The bestselling author of Leonardo da Vinci and Steve Jobs returns with a gripping account of how the pioneering scientist Jennifer Doudna, along with her colleagues and rivals, launched a revolution that will allow us to cure diseases, fend off viruses, and enhance our children.

In the spring of 2012, the Berkeley biochemist Jennifer Doudna and her collaborators turned a curiosity of nature into an invention that will transform the future of the human race: an easy-to-use tool that can edit DNA. Known as CRISPR, it opened a brave new world of medical miracles and moral questions. It has already been deployed to cure deadly diseases, fight the coronavirus pandemic of 2020, and make inheritable changes in the genes of babies.

The development of CRISPR and the war against coronavirus will hasten our transition to the next great innovation revolution. The past half-century has been an information-technology era, based on the microchip, the computer, and the internet. Now we are entering an even more momentous era, a life-science revolution. Children who study digital coding will be surpassed by those who study the code of life.

Should we use our new evolution-hacking powers to make us less susceptible to viruses and eliminate dreaded disorders? What a wonderful boon that would be! Right? And what about preventing congenital deafness or blindness? Or being very short? Or being depressed? Hmmm…How should we think about that? Should we allow parents, if they can afford it, to enhance the IQ or height or memory or muscles of their kids?

After helping to discover CRISPR, Doudna became a leader in wrestling with these moral and policy issues. Her life story illustrates that the key to innovation is connecting basic science to our everyday lives—moving discoveries from our labs to our bedsides—in ways that respect our moral values. It’s a thrilling detective tale that involves the most profound wonders of nature, from the origins of life to the future of our species.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Australia
• Release date: Mar 9, 2021
• ISBN: 9781760859909

Walter Isaacson

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.

Reviews for The Code Breaker

[bodagirl · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A fascinating portrayal of science in action. While the focus is definitely Doudna, Isaacson bring to life a cast of multitudes. It is one of the clearest narratives of the progress science (with its collaboration and competition) and how it intresects with business and the law. There is hint of a thriller as the conflicts between the different labs heats up, whih then switches with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Excellent!

[ibkennedy · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Fascinating. Humbling. Enjoyed it.

[katyefk · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

What an amazing story. Isaacson is such a great writer/storyteller, he keeps the mystery alive and I wanted to keep on reading no matter what to find out what was going to happen next.I am a business person, not a scientist, and this was so interesting and current with our times that I feel I now have a good working understanding of this CRISPER technology. This is truly a Nobel prize worthy discovery. It will be very interesting to see how the ethics of it all plays out in the years to come.

[doondeck · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Well written, as usual by Isaacson. Got lost in the weeds a bit with the scientific jargon, but the competition among the scientists and the ethical considerations were very interesting. The Nobel was a great ending.

[kevn57-163679 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

In 2012 Jennifer Doudna invented a way to edit DNA. Nobody knew then that 8 years later the world would be in a pandemic. Vaxers or Anti-Vaxers should at least know a little about the science of viruses and DNA, this well written and informative book can do that for you.
It's also an interesting look at how science is done today in the United States.

[chasidar_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book was fascinating. And listening to it during the second year of the Covid pandemic reinforced how science builds on generations of previous knowledge and how the greatest scientific minds rallied to find solutions for the pandemic.

[capewood · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

2021 book #57. 2021. How Jennifer Doudna won a Nobel Prize for inventing CRISPR, a technique for editing human genes. Quite an interesting story. Just in time these techniques were helpful in developing new tests and vaccines for COVID.

[kheders_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Absolutely fascinating non-fiction about the efforts made by scientists to unravel RNA. Insight into the academic life, need to publish first, how labs get funded and staff move around to other labs. Crisper technology discussed and its implications.

[bookconcierge · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Book on CD read by Kathe Mazur and Walter IsaacsonSubtitle: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human RaceThis is an engaging, interesting, informative, and thought-provoking biography cum history. While the focus is on Jennifer Doudna, Isaacson gives almost equal time to the many other researchers who contributed to the scientific discoveries and applications. The book starts out with basic biographical background, moves into the excitement of discovery and the international race to obtain patents, and to publish first, then on to ethical questions surrounding the application of new technologies, and finally focuses on the ways that these teams of scientists worked to address COVID19. Isaacson frequently puts himself into the narrative, writing in first person about his encounters and reactions. The audiobook is narrated by Kathe Mazur, with an introduction and epilogue narrated by Isaacson. I was happy that I had the text handy because there are times when reading a passage helped me understand the science better than listening to it. But Mazur is a very talented voice artist, and she really did a magnificent job.

[thepageladies · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

When Jennifer Doudna was in sixth grade, she came home one day to find that her dad had left a paperback titled The Double Helix on her bed. When she read it on a rainy Saturday, she discovered she was right, in a way. As she sped through the pages, she became enthralled by the intense drama behind the competition to discover the code of life.
Even though her high school counselor told her girls didn’t become scientists, she decided she would.
Driven by a passion to understand how nature works and to turn discoveries into inventions, she would help to make what the book’s author, James Watson, told her was the most important biological advance since his co-discovery of the structure of DNA. She and her collaborators turned a curiosity of nature into an invention that will transform the human race: an easy-to-use tool that can edit DNA.
Known as CRISPR.
The development of CRISPR and the race to create vaccines for coronavirus will hasten our transition to the next great innovation revolution.
Should we use our new evolution-hacking powers to make us less susceptible to viruses? And what about preventing depression?
Should we allow parents, if they can afford it, to enhance the height or muscles or IQ of their kids?
Her story is a thrilling detective tale that involves the most profound wonders of nature, from the origins of life to the future of our species.

Thank you, Goodreads and Simon and Shuster for the chance to read The Code Breaker Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race!

Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones that do.-Steve Jobs Apples “Think Different” ad,1997.

When I first saw this title, I thought it was something else. And I must confess I have read nothing like this in a few years. I am trying to remember the last time I did; I think it was about 2 years ago. But either way, it was very intriguing. There is a lot of history for CRISPR in this book. It will be amazing to see the advances that are being made and going to come.. There will always be something more. Happy reading everyone!

If scientists don’t play God, who will?
-James Watson, to Britain’s Parliamentary and Scientific Committee, May 16, 2000