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The Code Breaker -- Young Readers Edition
Jennifer Doudna and the Race to Understand Our Genetic Code
Adapted by Sarah Durand
Table of Contents
About The Book
Walter Isaacson’s #1 New York Times bestselling history of our third scientific revolution: CRISPR, gene editing, and the quest to understand the code of life itself, is now adapted for young readers!
When Jennifer Doudna was a sixth grader in Hilo, Hawaii, she came home from school one afternoon and found a book on her bed. It was The Double Helix, James Watson’s account of how he and Francis Crick had discovered the structure of DNA, the spiral-staircase molecule that carries the genetic instruction code for all forms of life.
This book guided Jennifer Doudna to focus her studies not on DNA, but on what seemed to take a backseat in biochemistry: figuring out the structure of RNA, a closely related molecule that enables the genetic instructions coded in DNA to express themselves. Doudna became an expert in determining the shapes and structures of these RNA molecules—an expertise that led her to develop a revolutionary new technique that could edit human genes.
Today gene-editing technologies such as CRISPR are already being used to eliminate simple genetic defects that cause disorders such as Tay-Sachs and sickle cell anemia. For now, however, Jennifer and her team are being deployed against our most immediate threat—the coronavirus—and you have just been given a front row seat to that race.
About The Author
No credit!
Walter Isaacson, University Professor of History at Tulane, has been CEO of the Aspen Institute, chairman of CNN, and editor of Time magazine. He is the author of Leonardo da Vinci; The Innovators; Steve Jobs; Einstein: His Life and Universe; Benjamin Franklin: An American Life; and Kissinger: A Biography, and the co-author of The Wise Men: Six Friends and the World They Made. He and his wife live in New Orleans. Facebook: Walter Isaacson, Twitter: @WalterIsaacson
Product Details
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers (April 26, 2022)
- Length: 336 pages
- ISBN13: 9781665910682
- Ages: 10 - 99
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Raves and Reviews
"A trimmed—but still hefty—young readers’ adaptation of Isaacson’s much-admired 2021 original...ambitious in scope; a distinctively nuanced picture of modern science in action."
– Kirkus Reviews
"Doudna's story serves as an inspirational model for young women who intend to pursue a career in science. Despite dealing with dismissive teachers, misogynistic discrimination, funding fights, patent feuds, restrictive government regulations, biohacking, and ethical challenges, Doudna has always persisted."
– Booklist
Awards and Honors
- CBC/NCSS Notable Social Studies Trade Book
- CBC/NSTA Outstanding Science Trade Book
Resources and Downloads
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