The Second Tree: Stem Cells, Clones, Chimeras, and Quests for Immortality

In the half century since Watson and Crick's discovery of the double helix, genetic scientists have grafted onto the tree of knowledge a body of new science whose growth has slipped the bonds of the divine and nature. Investigative journalist Elaine Dewar chronicles the lives, discoveries, and feuds among these modern biologists, exploring how they have crafted the tools to alter human evolution with unforeseeable, promising, and frightening consequences the rest of us are just beginning to glimpse. Dewar travels the world in the wake of Charles Darwin and his intellectual descendants, telling the story of Frederick Sanger who learned how to sequence genes and won two Nobel prizes; and of the computer scientists who put the human genome on the worldwide web. She visits corporations determined to turn cloned sheep into pharmacies, resurrect prize cattle from the dead; and transplant human genes into miceultimately striving for immortality while keeping investors happy. As Dewar narrates these tales, we learn how biologists make breakthroughs: tearing mice, worms, flies, and human eggs apart, twining disparate animal cells and genes togethercreating clones and chimeras as outlandish as any sphinx from the realm of mythology.

About the Author :
Elaine Dewar is an award-winning investigative reporter whose beats include culture, international politics, science, business, and the environment. About her earlier book, Bones: Discovering the First Americans, also available from Carroll & Graf, historian Peter C. Newman has called Dewar "the Rachel Carson of Canada," whose work "is aimed always at expanding mental horizons." She lives in Toronto.

Review :
"The Second Tree, ...is a disturbing book and a challenging read, both technically and emotionally, but it is one that should be on everyone's list this fall.... We can only hope an Elaine Dewar will always be on the sidelines, ready to guide us into the maze." --"The Gazette (Montreal) "An exploration of biology's recent encounters with the tree of life that is alternately funny, terrifying and filled with wonder." --"Ottawa Citizen ..."Dewar both entertains and clearly explains complex both scientific concepts and the associated ethical and moral dilemmas. Anyone who labours under the false impression that science is a noble but dull enterprise largely untainted by human failings and vices should read The Second Tree."" --"Winnipeg Free Press ..."this is a useful book. Dewar is a clear and sometimes elegant writer. She gets the science right....And she ends up with the completely correct conclusion that modern biology 'is a courageous leap into the frightening dark with no god or angel to catch the fall.'" --"The Toronto Star "An exploration of biology's recent encounters with the tree of life, it's alternately funny, terrifying and filled with wonder....an important book about tough issues -- a scary, miraculous story unfolding like murky clouds behind the tree of life." --"The Vancouver Sun Praise for "Bones: "Bones is a compelling book. Dewar takes us through the twists and turns of the scientific part of the story and makes it as accessible as a good whodunit. That's no mean feat given the complexities of her subject." --"The StarPhoenix (Saskatoon) "From the Hardcover edition.