Signs of Life CL

Pollack, who was a protege of James Watson at Cold Spring Harbor Lab in New York, utilizes his position as a first-generation molecular geneticist as both lectern and pulpit. His state-of-the-genome report, based on the metaphor of genes as ``text'' has a smooth style which lends an authoritative background to his Faustian warning that genetics is the crossroads of science and society. He attempts to elucidate the workings of DNA, explores the significance of our ability to change the human genome and emphasizes the consequences of DNA mastery. Pollack acknowledges that his warning about the perils of this new knowledge is really writing on the bones of an older theme explored by Shelley, Goethe and H. G. Wells. His accessible model of the state of the discipline is informed by an energetic humanity, making for a challenging look at a front-page science topic. (Jan.)