The Dance of Life, Magdalena ZernickaGoetz
The Dance of Life, Magdalena ZernickaGoetz
List: $24.99 | Sale: $17.50
Club: $12.49

The Dance of Life
The New Science of How a Single Cell Becomes a Human Being

Author: Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz, Roger Highfield

Narrator: Shaina Summerville

Unabridged: 8 hr 5 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Basic Books

Published: 02/25/2020

Synopsis

A renowned biologist's cutting-edge and unconventional examination of human reproduction and embryo research
Scientists have long struggled to make pregnancy easier, safer, and more successful. In The Dance of Life, developmental and stem-cell biologist Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz takes us to the front lines of efforts to understand the creation of a human life. She has spent two decades unraveling the mysteries of development, as a simple fertilized egg becomes a complex human being of forty trillion cells. Zernicka-Goetz's work is both incredibly practical and astonishingly vast: her groundbreaking experiments with mouse, human, and artificial embryo models give hope to how more women can sustain viable pregnancies. Set at the intersection of science's greatest powers and humanity's greatest concern, The Dance of Life is a revelatory account of the future of fertility -- and life itself.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Brian on May 06, 2020

There is without doubt a fascination for all of us - even those who can find biology a touch tedious - with the way that a tiny cellular blob develops into the hugely complex thing that is a living organism, especially a human. In this unusual book which I can only describe as a memoir of science, M......more

Goodreads review by Nina on November 22, 2022

clumsy integration of science, half-baked social commentary, and disconnected personal anecdotes. promising but doesn't deliver.......more

Goodreads review by Miguel on August 02, 2020

This really could have used the guidance of a strong editor to turn what unfortunately turned out to be a clumsy book into one that would have offered better insight into cell biology and earl fetal development. The author is clearly knowledgeable in their subject, but there’s not as much background......more

Goodreads review by Nicola on July 23, 2021

This was such a fantastically written and enjoyable book. Initially, embryology wasn’t something I knew a lot about in depth. I’d touched upon it in previous studies but there’s so much to this amazing field of science and it was so interesting to learn about. Next level storytelling, beautifully ly......more

Goodreads review by Douglas on July 26, 2023

I got hooked by the first few chapters, a perfect combination of science and wonder. But then it drifted into obscure experiments and personal anecdotes.......more

Quotes

Named one of the World's Top 10 Thinkers of 2020 by Prospect

"What amazing force puts 40 trillion cells (more cells than there are stars in the galaxy) into the right order to make a human? In The Dance of Life Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz and Roger Highfield reveal answers, some with profound implications for the future of pregnancy."—New Scientist

"Illuminating...Zernicka-Goetz and Highfield's informative professional memoir has much to engage readers."—Publishers Weekly

"An in-depth journey through the world of the research embryologist.... The story has a memoir like atmosphere, especially when Zernicka-Goetz turns to episodes of her life. But she is never far from the science, as when she writes about her pregnancy and her son, who had chromosome irregularities, which became a topic of her research.... Meaty and entertaining."—Kirkus

"A touching, detailed portrait of a life in science. Beautifully written, it's a reminder that scientists are human and their humanity affects every part of their work."—Angela Saini, author of Inferior: How Science Got Women Wrong -- and the New Research That's Rewriting the Story

"How an entire human can emerge from a single cell is one of the great mysteries of life. This book is a wonderful exposition of that amazingly complicated process, and combines Zernicka-Goetz's research and expert perspective with the clear and engaging narrative that is a hallmark of Highfield's science writing."—Venki Ramakrishnan, president of the Royal Society and recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry

"Part memoir, part mission to touch creation itself, The Dance of Life is a candid & gripping odyssey into one of the greatest microscopic scientific mysteries of all -- the cellular divisions that spawn human life."—Samira Ahmed, author of Internment

"Few books succeed as well as this in taking a complex area of rapidly advancing science, and turning it into a compelling human story. Rarely will you read such an intimate and personal account of scientific discovery."—Evan Davis

"Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz has written a memoir from the heart. It is a lovely evocation of the triumphs and crushing disappointments on the rollercoaster ride in the pursuit of scientific truth. It is an engaging personal story full of the challenges of negotiating the interface between personal and scientific aspirations from a gifted and successful woman scientist who has managed it well."—Virginia E. Papaioannou, professor emerita of genetics and development, Columbia University

"The question of how a gorgeous baby develops from an inanimate, post-coital speck has fascinated humans from the year dot. Highfield and Zernicka-Goetz illuminate this apparent miracle in an entertaining narrative full of scientific insights, human interest and thoughtful reflection."—Graham Farmelo, author of The Universe Speaks in Numbers

Add to Cart
Add to Wish List