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SUPERPIGS AND WONDERCORN

THE BRAVE NEW WORLD OF BIOTECHNOLOGY AND WHERE IT ALL MAY LEAD

Remember those giant vegetables in Woody Allen's Sleeper? They'll soon crop up on your local farm, along with five-ton cows and 12-foot-long pigs, according to this alarming report on genetic engineering by Fox (Inhumane Society, 1990, etc.). Fox observes that biotechnology—the business of gene splicing, which usually means mixing together the genes of different animals, including human beings—is ``the fastest growing industry in recorded history.'' It's also the most terrifying, if Fox's doomsday predictions bear fruit. For one thing, he claims, there's no control on current gene experiments and no way to predict their outcome. The genetic code for the AIDS virus has been implanted in mice; Fox believes that the virus may now mutate and become transmissible in saliva or urine. Other laboratory tomfoolery involves creating superplants; Fox's assessment is that ``we could end up with no trees.'' Furthermore, bioengineering is ``genetic imperialism'' and ``biological fascism.'' This assessment sounds realistic—especially when one hears about laboratory workers putting goat's heads on sheep's bodies through embryonic microsurgery, apparently just to see if it can be done, or engineering sheep that secrete insect repellent to produce the world's first mothproof wool. Fox's outrage comes both from the hubris in these experiments and from the animal suffering they cause. The villains are scientists, whose insistence on separating ethics and research Fox finds ``shocking''; he singles out some heavy hitters like DNA-decoder James Watson as especially culpable. Fox's relentless and impassioned attack collapses only when he offers alternatives: While his call for a federal bioethics council seems eminently reasonable, pleas for ``a fundamental change in worldview'' leading to ``a resacralization of nature'' are hopelessly vague and won't win the hearts and minds of many scientists. Eye-opening evidence that science fiction can indeed come true—and not always with happy results.

Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1992

ISBN: 1-55821-182-9

Page Count: 256

Publisher: Lyons Press

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1992

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ROSE BOOK OF BIBLE CHARTS, MAPS AND TIME LINES

Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.

A compendium of charts, time lines, lists and illustrations to accompany study of the Bible.

This visually appealing resource provides a wide array of illustrative and textually concise references, beginning with three sets of charts covering the Bible as a whole, the Old Testament and the New Testament. These charts cover such topics as biblical weights and measures, feasts and holidays and the 12 disciples. Most of the charts use a variety of illustrative techniques to convey lessons and provide visual interest. A worthwhile example is “How We Got the Bible,” which provides a time line of translation history, comparisons of canons among faiths and portraits of important figures in biblical translation, such as Jerome and John Wycliffe. The book then presents a section of maps, followed by diagrams to conceptualize such structures as Noah’s Ark and Solomon’s Temple. Finally, a section on Christianity, cults and other religions describes key aspects of history and doctrine for certain Christian sects and other faith traditions. Overall, the authors take a traditionalist, conservative approach. For instance, they list Moses as the author of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) without making mention of claims to the contrary. When comparing various Christian sects and world religions, the emphasis is on doctrine and orthodox theology. Some chapters, however, may not completely align with the needs of Catholic and Orthodox churches. But the authors’ leanings are muted enough and do not detract from the work’s usefulness. As a resource, it’s well organized, inviting and visually stimulating. Even the most seasoned reader will learn something while browsing.

Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2005

ISBN: 978-1-5963-6022-8

Page Count: -

Publisher: N/A

Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010

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THE MYTH OF SISYPHUS

AND OTHER ESSAYS

This a book of earlier, philosophical essays concerned with the essential "absurdity" of life and the concept that- to overcome the strong tendency to suicide in every thoughtful man-one must accept life on its own terms with its values of revolt, liberty and passion. A dreary thesis- derived from and distorting the beliefs of the founders of existentialism, Jaspers, Heldegger and Kierkegaard, etc., the point of view seems peculiarly outmoded. It is based on the experience of war and the resistance, liberally laced with Andre Gide's excessive intellectualism. The younger existentialists such as Sartre and Camus, with their gift for the terse novel or intense drama, seem to have omitted from their philosophy all the deep religiosity which permeates the work of the great existentialist thinkers. This contributes to a basic lack of vitality in themselves, in these essays, and ten years after the war Camus seems unaware that the life force has healed old wounds... Largely for avant garde aesthetes and his special coterie.

Pub Date: Sept. 26, 1955

ISBN: 0679733736

Page Count: 228

Publisher: Knopf

Review Posted Online: Sept. 19, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1955

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