Life at the Speed of Light

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“Venter instills awe for biology as it is, and as it might become in our hands.” —Publishers Weekly

On May 20, 2010, headlines around the world announced one of the most extraordinary accomplishments in modern science: the creation of the world’s first synthetic lifeform. In Life at the Speed of Light, scientist J. Craig Venter, best known for sequencing the human genome, shares the dramatic account of how he led a team of researchers in this pioneering effort in synthetic genomics—and how that work will have a profound impact on our existence in the years to come. This is a fascinating and authoritative study that provides readers an opportunity to ponder afresh the age-old question “What is life?” at the dawn of a new era of biological engineering.”When scientists finally succeed in transmitting to another galaxy the digital instructions for building a living organism, they will rely on science that Venter has pioneered…. Readers will thank Venter for an insider’s perspective on epoch-making science.”
~Booklist

“Craig Venter is a singular individual… at once inheritor of molecular biology’s prior triumphs and the wellspring of its future…He compellingly depicts his diverse research as a concerted effort to shuttle biology between the material and the digital worlds…a gripping tale and welcome antidote to dry materials and methods sections that make such sagas feel disembodied and inevitable.”
~Science

“[A] remarkable book.”
~Scientific American

“A fascinating glimpse at a scientific frontier—not always easily understandable but well worth the effort.”
~Kirkus Reviews

“A great read.”
~Ricki Lewis, PhD, PLOS.org

“One of the world’s leading scientists delivers a history of molecular biology and its many ramifications depicted as it has been and will continue to be, a creator of the golden age of modern biology. His style is that of a dispatch from the front, urgent and engaged, as only a participant could write it, and the best of its genre since James D. Watson’s The Double Helix.”
~Edward O. Wilson, University Research Professor Emeritus, Harvard University

“Humanity is entering a period of radical transformation and one reason is due to Craig Venter’s research in creating new life forms based on computer designed synthetic DNA.  Life at the Speed of Light is his beautifully written, powerful and persuasive story on how DNA information and computers will blend in the coming singularity, that watershed in the evolution of humanity beyond which amazing new possibilities for life, society and everything we care about will emerge.” 
~Ray Kurzweil, author of How to Create a Mind and The Singularity Is NearJ. Craig Venter is the founder, chairman, and CEO of the J. Craig Venter Institute, a nonprofit research organization dedicated to genomic research. He is also the founder and CEO of Synthetic Genomics, Inc. He lives in La Jolla, California.US

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