Last week I finished reading The Language of Life: DNA and the Revolution in Personalized Medicine by Francis S. Collins.  It has taken me a few days to digest the ideas in the book, such is the scope and depth of the materials presented.

Collins is an expert in genetics, holding a PhD in chemistry and an MD, and ran the Human Genome Project.  With this background, and knowledge from a number of professional relationships he has built, a vast tale of personal medicine based on genetics is told.   He manages to tie together large bodies of cited research with human stories.  The author brings real stories of real people impacted by real science: cutting-edge genetic testing and genetic treatments.  These are stories of cancer, Huntington’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and heart attacks.  They are stories of sorrow, of hope, and of the controversy and ethics of stem cells, cloning, and genetic testing of fetuses.

I was caught off guard with the advances being made in the various medical fields related to genetics.  This isn’t pie-in-the-sky stuff.  Collins documents a well-know (in medical circles) case of AIDS being cured with a genetically-modified stem cell implant.  He discusses how patients’ lives have been saved with genetic screening, and how patients have avoided painful and unnecessary procedures because of the same screening.  He also discusses a number of cures waiting in the wings, often delayed by an archaic FDA.

Most convincing to me was his line of predictions.  Collins illustrated 10 predictions he made in 2000 about the state of genetic medicine in 2010.  At the time he got laughs, yet all 10 predictions have come true.  He lays out further predictions for the future.  We are looking at a time when major diseases could be cured due to our increased understanding of DNA, and new techniques being developed almost weekly for the modification of our genetic code.

Beyond the stories and the medicine, this book provides a solid layman’s education in DNA and microbiology.  I would recommend it to anyone with a disease (especially cancer), to anyone concerned about their health, or anyone curious about genetics and the future of medicine.