Invisible Frontiers: The Race to Synthesize a Human Gene

Great success comes only after overcoming great difficulties. Basically this fact of life underlies this book. The fascinating point is, it is not an account of life of some great sportsman or some great leader but of a group of those people in society called scientists whose curious minds, hard work and vision helped emergence of Biotechnology as a major branch of science as well as industry in a relatively short time and in turn gave them recognition as great scientists. Were they great industrialists too? You can try to find that out in this book. Their efforts were also a major help for studies on gene function. This is a true exciting account of a thrilling race between three groups interested in cloning the first gene! It impressively shows not only the competition among the scientists but also their struggle with the bureaucracy. In this book one can see the life of scientists who are in true sense dedicated to science (though it doesn't mean that all the laboratories function the same way!). Another interesting aspect, which this book brings about, is the way basic academic research and industry is bridged and choice to walk on that bridge (in either direction) is not always easy for scientists. Writer Stephen Hall has done a wonderful job in bringing `life in science' in front of a common man.