Phew! Finally done! But after all, just 722 pages to this book, and it's a textbook to boot.

This book is inevitably outdated as the techniques and advancements made in molecular biotechnology rapidly evolve. But it's still a valuable overview of the topic, and brought me a bit more up-to-date in what was once my field of study. There is much ado about CRISPR-Cas9, but nothing about prime editing—a more recent, and in my opinion, a more promising technique.

There is good discussion of various examples of how biotech has changed our world, as well as some of the inherent dangers and therefor objections to its use. As with all things, the benefits must be weighed against the risks, and it does seem that the authors are more interested in the benefits than the risks. But then, there is sufficient discussion for the initiated into the topic to come to one's own conclusions.

Such a book can only be an overview at best, given the complexity and widespread varieties of uses of biotechnology. This book is an excellent overview, as I'm sure more up-to-date revisions will be as well, while keeping firm in the knowledge that once such a book is completed, there will be inevitable updates to the topics within already in motion.

Samantha

37 reviews37 followers

January 14, 2008

Some chapters were better than others but all in all the text book did a more than decent job in describing techniques of the practice of molecular biotechnology.

education science