Drawing the Map of Life ─ Inside the Human Genome Project

Drawing the Map of Life takes the story of the Human Genome Project from its origins, through the race to its accomplishment, and on to today’s vast efforts to exploit the complete, ordered sequence of the 3 billion subunits of DNA, the molecule of heredity. It is the first account to deal in depth and balance with the intellectual roots of the project, the motivations that drove it, and the hype that often masked genuine triumphs. McElheny profiles key people, such as David Botstein, Eric Lander, Francis Collins, Watson, Michael Hunkapiller and Craig Venter. He also shows that, besides being a major event in the history of science, one that is revolutionizing medicine, the Human Genome Project is a striking example of how new techniques and instruments (such as restriction enzymes and sequencing methods), often arriving first, shape the type of questions scientists then ask.

Victor McElheny is a distinguished science journalist who has covered the revolution in molecular biology for the New York Times, Boston Globe, and Science for nearly three decades. At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he ran the Knight Science Journalism Fellowships. He lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts