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Neither Gods Nor Beasts
How Science Is Changing Who We Think We Are

By Elof A. Carlson, Emeritus, State University of New York at Stony Brook

© 2008 • 180 pp., index
Hardcover • $29 $14.50 • ISBN 978-087969786-0

Traditional views of human nature focus on the supernatural, defining us as creatures with souls, minds, and spirits that transcend our physical attributes. In this provocative book, distinguished scientist and historian Elof Axel Carlson argues for a different understanding of ourselves based on our biology—cellular organization, genetics, life cycle, evolution, and our origins as a species. This interpretation does not negate our capacity for imagination, spiritual and emotional yearnings, or aesthetic appreciation for art, music, and literature. Carlson challenges educators, the media, and public policy makers to integrate the evidence from science more fully into our understanding of ourselves.

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Life Illuminated: Selected Papers from Cold Spring Harbor
Volume 2, 1972–1994

Edited By Jan A. Witkowski, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, New York; Alexander Gann, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, New York; Joseph F. Sambrook, Peter MacCallum Cancer Institute, East Melbourne, Australia

© 2008 • 242 pp., illustrations from original articles, indexes, CD
Hardcover • $39 $19.50 • ISBN 978-087969804-1

This book is the second volume of an intellectual history of the science done at CSHL (the first volume, Illuminating Life, showed that genetics became the dominant theme of research at CSH by as early as 1904). The appointment of James Watson as Director of the Laboratory in 1968 set off the explosive research development at CSH, as he recruited widely and wisely teams of investigators with diverse scientific interests. From this collection of papers, presented in full on the accompanying CD, several themes emerge: the characterization and exploitation of mobile genetic elements; the mechanics of DNA replication and regulation of the cell cycle; the behavior and internal architecture of cells; how viruses induce tumors; the discovery of cancer genes; the characteristics of neurons; and the invention of techniques that make possible further progress. Each theme is introduced in the context of the science of the time, and each paper has a commentary by, in most cases, one of its authors. Life Illuminated is a story of scientific innovation and achievement, told in the words of the investigators themselves.

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Davenport’s Dream: 21^st Century Reflections on Heredity & Eugenics

Edited By Jan A. Witkowski, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory; John R. Inglis, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory

© 2008 • 490 pp., illus.
Hardcover • $55 $27.50 • ISBN 978-087969756-3

In 1911, the influential geneticist Charles Davenport published Heredity in Relation to Eugenics, advancing his ideas of how genetics would improve society in the 20th century. It became a college textbook and a foundation for the widespread eugenics movement in the United States. Nearly 100 years later, many of the issues raised by Davenport are again being debated, in different guises. In this new volume, prominent academics discuss themes from Davenport’s book—human genetic variation, mental illness, nature vs. nurture, human evolution—in a contemporary context. Davenport’s original book is reprinted along with the essays. This book will be useful to historians of science as well as those interested in the social implications of human genetics research—past, present, and future.

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My Heart vs. the Real World: Children with Heart Disease, In Photographs & Interviews

By Max S. Gerber

© 2008 • 203 pp., 109 photographs
Hardcover • $30.00 • ISBN 978-087969782-2

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Max Perutz and the Secret of Life

By Georgina Ferry

© 2007 • 352 pp., illus., glossary, index
All orders from outside of the United States, Europe, and China must be directed to Chatto and Windus, an imprint of Random House at www.randomhouse.co.uk/chatto/

Don’t miss the new podcast and online slideshow featuring Georgina Ferry discussing her book and Max Perutz.

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Phage and the Origins of Molecular Biology, The Centennial Edition

Edited By John Cairns, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory; Gunther S. Stent, University of California, Berkeley; James D. Watson, Harvard University

© 2007 • 394 pp., illus., timeline, photo gallery
Hardcover • $30.00 • ISBN 978-087969800-3

This hugely influential book, published in 1966 as a 60th birthday tribute to Max Delbrück, is now republished as The Centennial Edition. On first publication, the book was hailed as “[introducing] into the literature of science, for the first time, a self–conscious historical element in which the participants in scientific discovery engage in writing their own chronicle. As such, it is an important document in the history of biology...” (Journal of History of Biology). And in another review it was described as “required reading for every student of experimental biology...[who] will sense the smell and rattle of the laboratory” (Bioscience). The book was a formative influence on many of today’s leading scientists.

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Times of Triumph, Times of Doubt: Science and the Battle for Public Trust

By Elof Axel Carlson, Professor Emeritus, State University of New York at Stony Brook

© 2006 • 227 pp., index
Hardcover • $39 $15.60 • ISBN 978-087969805-8

The intent and uses of science are a continuing preoccupation, especially in public debates on issues such as new pharmaceuticals, cloning, stem cells, genetically modified foods, and assisted reproduction. Times of Triumph, Times of Doubt, written by the eminent geneticist and historian Elof Carlson, explores the moral foundations of science and their role in these hot–button issues. Carlson chooses a variety of case histories and describes their scientific background and the part played by scientists in the application of their work, including their motivations and reactions to bad outcomes, both real and alleged. He examines why ethical lapses have occurred in these areas, why bad things happen when, for the most part, those who worked on the science had only good intentions in mind, and how such lapses can be prevented from occurring in the future. This exploration of ethics and science is important reading for those interested in issues of science and society, including journalists, theologians, legislators, lawyers, and scientists themselves.

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Pandora's Baby: How the First Test Tube Babies Sparked the Reproductive Revolution

By Robin Marantz Henig

© 2006 • 326 pp.
Paperback • $16.95 $8.47 • ISBN 978-087969809-6

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Won for All: How the Drosophila Genome Was Sequenced

By Michael Ashburner

© 2006 • 107 pp., illus.
Hardcover • $19.95 $9.97 • ISBN 978-087969802-7

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George Beadle, An Uncommon Farmer: The Emergence of Genetics in the 20th Century

By Paul Berg, Stanford University School of Medicine; Maxine Singer, Carnegie Institution of Washington

© 2005 • 383 pp., illus., index
Paperback • $21 $10.50 • ISBN 978-087969763-1

George Beadle was a towering scientific figure whose work from the 1930s to 1960 marked the transition from classical genetics to the molecular era. Among other distinctions, he made the pivotal, Nobel Prize–winning discovery with Edward Tatum that the role of genes is to specify proteins. From 1946 to 1960 he led the Caltech Biology Division, rebuilding it to a powerhouse in molecular biology, and afterwards became a successful President of the University of Chicago. This is the first biography of a giant of genetics, written by two of the field's most distinguished contributors, Paul Berg and Maxine Singer.