I was recently involved in organising a workshop on AlphaFold and RosettaFold projects after the papers were published in Nature and Science on July 15 2021. The obvious start for such a topic is Wikipedia. When I was on the Wikipedia page of AlphaFold, I stumbled upon a comment made by Nobel Laureate Venky Ramakrishnan on the impact of AlphaFold that intrigued me to his book that I am writing the review for today.
Since I don’t come from the background of Biotechnology, I am always eager to have some basic knowledge on the field and never hesitate to select books which enable a lay person like me to appreciate the advances in the field.
The best part of this book is that the author has exposed the reader to his own vulnerabilities in life by depicting himself as an ordinary researcher who happens to face many rejections and make choices which only add up in the hindsight. The book is a great pick for young researchers in the field and it may give them hope. The book also shows how good science is about collaboration and competition at the same time.
Since earlier this year I also read the few more books by Walter Issacson on Jeniffer Doudna’s CRISPR Discovery and the DNA book by James Watson. I could relate to the book much better and also find the characters mentioned in other books present in the Gene Machine as the author has crossed paths with them multiple times.
Overall a fun read and inspiring. It gave me an inspiration to write to Venky and it was a big fan moment to receive answers to my emails in a matter of minutes.
Reviewed by Sachin Gaur, Executive Editor, InnoHEALTH Magazine
