So, this year will see the 20th anniversary, if that’s what one calls it, of the publication of the first edition of The Perfect Baby: A Pragmatic Approach to Genetics. Hard to believe, frankly. Most of the current discussions about Crispr are prefigured in that book, and as I work on a manuscript on embryo editing, I find myself wondering how so little could really have changed!
Incidentally the second edition was published in 2000, with an epilogue I wrote with Ian Wilmut (of Dolly fame), and the book was revised again in 2002 while I was completing the research on my genomics book Beyond Genetics. Those who have converted me to the “researchgate” world managed to persuade me to put up a pre-publication draft of the first edition, and it is over there now at https://www.researchgate.net/publication/247942012_The_perfect_baby_A_pragmatic_approach_to_genetics but I’ve also loaded it here. A version is here as well.