Genetics and the Manipulation of Life: The Forgotten Factor of Context (Renewal in Science) - Softcover

Holdrege, Craig

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0940262770 ISBN 13: 9780940262775

Publisher: Lindisfarne Pr, 1996

Synopsis

Here is a provocative work that challenges our common assumptions about nature and science. It is a book for all those who want to question and more deeply understand the biological revolution of the late twentieth century. Clearly written, well-illustrated, and without unnecessary technical jargon, Holdrege employs fascinating examples to show how living organisms develop and exist within the context of their environment. He asserts that genes alone cannot determine organisms because their effects are always qualified by the contexts within which the organisms live. With a unique and probing perspective on contemporary science, Holdrege shows how scientific theory and practice inevitably fuse to produce the systems that will ultimately create our future, and he questions our understanding of the organisms we manipulate through genetic engineering and the consequences of such manipulation. In an age of expanding biotechnology and an ever greater capacity to reshape life on Earth, this book offers a profound and complex vision of nature. Holdrege gives us a means for establishing a more conscious and responsible connection to the world around us.

About this title

About the Author:

Craig Holdrege was born in Boise, Idaho, and grew up in Boulder, Colorado. He majored in philosophy at Beloit college, where his interest in biology also began. He then went on to study biology and do research at the scientific research laboratory at the Goetheanum in Dornach, Switzerland. He began his career as a high school life science teacher at the Waldorf school in Wuppertal, Germany, where he taught for twelve years. For the past several years he has been teaching life sciences at the Hawthorn Valley School in Ghent, New York.

Review:

"Holdrege uses responsible and friendly language to expose the co-option of scientific curiosity, industrial greed, and objectification of flowers..." -- Lynn Margulis, Distinguished University Professor, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and co-founder of What Is Life?

"I am tempted to shout that this may be the most essential new book of our time." -- Wes Jackson, The Land Institute

"With a wealth of interesting examples, he shows how genes (DNA) alone cannot 'determine' traits, much less organisms." -- Ruth Hubbard, Professor Emerita of Biology, Harvard University, author of Exploding the Gene Myth

About this edition

• Publisher: Lindisfarne Pr
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0940262770
• ISBN 13: 9780940262775
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 190