Welcome to our genetic world. This is not the world of the future-it's the world right now.
Is a loved one missing some body parts? Are blondes becoming extinct? Is everyone at your dinner table of the same species? Humans and chimpanzees differ in only 400 genes; is that why an adult human being resembles a chimp fetus? And should that worry us? We live in a time of momentous scientific leaps; a time when it's possible to sell our eggs and sperm online for thousands of dollars; test our spouses for genetic maladies and even frame someone for a genetic crime. We live in a time when one fifth of all our genes are owned by someone else, and an unsuspecting person and his family can be pursued cross-country because they happen to have certain valuable genes within their chromosomes. . . .
The premise of this book is SCARY!! How much is true and how much is fiction? What does happen to all the residual "stuff" from a hospital visit...blood, etc. I remember before my heart surgery in 2005 when I knew the surgeon was going to remove the "left atrial appendage" during surgery, if he could keep it for me...I wanted to see what a piece of my heart muscle looked like. (Didn't get it.) I know there are a lot of genetic tests available, such as the blood test I had a couple of months ago for the Jak 2 gene because of my high red cell count. Or for breast cancer. And what if your insurance company finds out what you could be medically predisosed for...does that mean its a pre-existing condition and they won't cover it? ANYWAY, there is a lot of technical language in this book and to many characters with their plots going on which all come together rather unbelievably for me at the end. Hmmm. There seems to be a pattern here...I was going on about all the architectural detail in The Pillars of the Earth. Can't people just write books with one interesting plot and use lots of adjectives and not write a boring technical manual...unless of course it involves numbers or maps, which I like.
Is a loved one missing some body parts? Are blondes becoming extinct? Is everyone at your dinner table of the same species? Humans and chimpanzees differ in only 400 genes; is that why an adult human being resembles a chimp fetus? And should that worry us? We live in a time of momentous scientific leaps; a time when it's possible to sell our eggs and sperm online for thousands of dollars; test our spouses for genetic maladies and even frame someone for a genetic crime. We live in a time when one fifth of all our genes are owned by someone else, and an unsuspecting person and his family can be pursued cross-country because they happen to have certain valuable genes within their chromosomes. . . .
The premise of this book is SCARY!! How much is true and how much is fiction? What does happen to all the residual "stuff" from a hospital visit...blood, etc. I remember before my heart surgery in 2005 when I knew the surgeon was going to remove the "left atrial appendage" during surgery, if he could keep it for me...I wanted to see what a piece of my heart muscle looked like. (Didn't get it.) I know there are a lot of genetic tests available, such as the blood test I had a couple of months ago for the Jak 2 gene because of my high red cell count. Or for breast cancer. And what if your insurance company finds out what you could be medically predisosed for...does that mean its a pre-existing condition and they won't cover it? ANYWAY, there is a lot of technical language in this book and to many characters with their plots going on which all come together rather unbelievably for me at the end. Hmmm. There seems to be a pattern here...I was going on about all the architectural detail in The Pillars of the Earth. Can't people just write books with one interesting plot and use lots of adjectives and not write a boring technical manual...unless of course it involves numbers or maps, which I like.
4 comments:
Ah, the nerd is piping up again... but, I love that Crichton is a surgeon in real life. (Though, yes, Lisa, I agree that from time to time he gets a little too into his medical jargon, and needs to tone it down for us common folk!) I love that he produced the show E.R., that he is truly knowledgable about what he writing about. I have a distaste for those who teach/write/direct who have never actually worked. The theatre producers who have never been on stage and such... Kudos for Crichton to truly know what he speaks of in his stories.
Ok, it comes back to me now. When you posted you were reading it...I was wondering if it was a new one...but I think I passed it to you when I was done.
I like that his books bring up all kinds of scientific questions morally and ethically. And that most of his books that get rather technical like that are backed with some serious research. Because alot of what some of his stories talk about are areas that you might not think of...like what happens to all of your blood samples, tests, etc.
But, sometimes he focuses on too many smaller character plots instead of just telling the big story. Overall, I tend to like him because he makes me think, even tho he's sometimes hard to follow.
ok....I would think that you deal with enough minute details on a daily basis, that you would appreciate all the descriptive details!! lol
There has been controversy about the very thing you mention...insurance finding out what a person is genetically predisposed disease-wise and then not covering them.
I suppose the insurance tries to save itself some $$...but really, there should be a law or something. You can't help what you are genetically pre-disposed to! Unless you start to have symptoms how can you really know?
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