In his image: The cloning of a man

by David M. Rorvik

Rorvik's book tells the story of an American millionaire who, lacking an heir by conventional means, decided to enlist the skills of a doctor in order to produce the first-ever human clone.

239 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1978

Reviews

[David]

This book made a big splash when it first came out in 1978 because the subject of the cloning of humans was viewed as evil. The more controversial aspect of it was that it was written as a true story with privacy of individuals involved protected so it was impossible to be scientifically confirmed or verified. That was the environment in which I initially read this book. Re-reading it now it doesn't seem so earth shattering and a lot of the shock value has been dimmed. But it still tells the story as more of a factual documentary than fiction. It's an oldie and somewhat dated but was still an entertaining read.

[Rado Daskalov]

Not a very captivating read. It was interesting to see the historical perspective on medical procedures which were considered groundbreaking at the time (in-vitro fertilisation) which are routinely performed today.

[Melissa]

Hmm.

[Ari]

Genuinely a very interesting work of fiction. The writer may be discredited today, however, for the time, this book was quite ahead of its time. Granted, the author uses a ton of current research coming out at that point in time in order to substantiate his claims (specifically, the science and medical advancements detailed). I would say the author had assumed the role of an unreliable narrator.
I would say that this is a prime example of what happens when medical research is sensationalized. The release of this novel did cause widespread panic.

Calls into question: ethics of cloning, access to cutting edge technologies, surrogacy.

[Kathy]

I read somewhere that some people think this is a fictionalized story. It sure reads as nonfiction.

[Eddie Pickard]

Unfortunately the author was sued for defamation of character regarding the scientist he referenced. The book is a hoax.

[Kevin welter]

Read it as reasearch for a paper in high school. If its true then its just like everything else. They usually have the technology in use for about 10-20 years(if not longer)before the public gets to hear about it. Now their starting to talk about cloning and yet it was "done" 30 + yrs ago.