A disturbing but insightful look at the brave new reproductive world that is dawning. Anyone assuming civilization isn’t poised at an important crossroads will think otherwise after reading this book. Andrews (Black Power, White Blood, 1996), director of the Institute for Science, Law, and Technology at the Illinois Institute of Technology, has been involved in just about every legal and ethical debate surrounding the murky, evolving world of reproductive technology since the first test tube baby was born—on the day Andrews passed her bar exam, by the way—and she knows it’s complicated territory. She offers insights on cloning, in vitro fertilization, selling sperm and eggs, and selective genetics, in which parents can decide which babies to carry full-term. At one point Andrews poses as a woman interested in choosing sperm from a Nobel-winning scientist via Robert Klark Graham’s Repository for Germinal Choice. Graham believes that a putative general decline in intelligence could be stemmed if the “more able” simply had more babies. Minor glitch: Andrews is single, and Graham’s services are limited to married women. “I need your legal skills,” he tells her. “Come up with a rule where I can give sperm to you, but not have to give it to an unmarried black woman.” In the same chapter Andrews notes the lack of public health regulations stipulating how sperm must be stored. Remarks one California lawyer about Graham’s operation: “If I wanted to open a sperm bank in the deli next to the pastrami, there would be nothing to stop me.” This scary scenario only grows more plausible as Andrews demonstrates that reproductive law and funding are governed more by political expediency than rational thought. Remarkably free of techno-jargon, this fascinating premillennium primer cautions readers about the many legal and ethical potholes awaiting those who venture into such uncharted territory.
Pub Date: May 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-8050-6080-4
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 1999
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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