The Language of Life - by Francis S Collins (Paperback)

About the Book

"His groundbreaking work has changed the very ways we consider our health and examine disease. Barack Obama

From Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institute of Health, 2007 recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and 15-year head of the Human Genome Project, comes one of the most important medical books of the year: The Language of Life. With accessible, insightful prose, Dr. Collins describes the medical, scientific, and genetic revolution that is currently unlocking the secrets of personalized medicine, and offers practical advice on how to utilize these discoveries for you and your family s current and future health and well-being. In the words of Dr. Jerome Groopman (How Doctors Think), The Language of Life sets out hope without hype, and will enrich the mind and uplift the heart. "

Book Synopsis

"His groundbreaking work has changed the very ways we consider our health and examine disease." --Barack Obama

From Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institute of Health, 2007 recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and 15-year head of the Human Genome Project, comes one of the most important medical books of the year: The Language of Life. With accessible, insightful prose, Dr. Collins describes the medical, scientific, and genetic revolution that is currently unlocking the secrets of "personalized medicine," and offers practical advice on how to utilize these discoveries for you and your family's current and future health and well-being. In the words of Dr. Jerome Groopman (How Doctors Think), The Language of Life "sets out hope without hype, and will enrich the mind and uplift the heart."

From the Back Cover

A scientific and medical revolution has crept up on us. Twenty-one million Americans are affected by 6,000 so-called rare and orphan diseases, many of which are primarily attributable to misspelled genes. And virtually all diseases have a significant hereditary component. Diabetes, heart disease, the common cancers, mental illness, asthma, arthritis, Alzheimer's disease, and more are having their secrets unlocked through DNA. Families that faced common problems, without hope, are now discovering a new world of understanding, treatment, and prevention. You owe it to yourself to learn about your DNA: how it works, what it reveals, and the benefits and limits of this new knowledge.

Review Quotes

"The future of customized medicine is in your DNA; don't wait until you are sick to learn why." - Dr. Mehmet Oz, author of You: The Owner's Manual
"With fluid prose and compelling narratives, Francis Collins makes modern medical science vivid and accessible. This book sets out hope without hype, and will enrich the mind and uplift the heart." - Jerome Groopman, M.D., Recanati Professor, Harvard Medical School, Author of How Doctors Think
"His groundbreaking work has changed the very ways we consider our health and examine disease." - President Barack Obama
"The Language of Life has a universal message. . . . For someone so powerful, Collins has an engagingly modest and open style." - The Guardian
"The Language of Life is timely, current, and full of moving stories. . . . Collins's excellent treatise empowers readers to understand the revolution, make use of it and push for policy change. . . . Collins's writing is so deceptively lucid that you hardly realize you are receiving a serious education." - Nature
"The Language of Life provides the interested reader an accurate snapshot of our current understanding of human genetics as it relates to personal health and well-being. . . . Collins offers clear explanations of nearly all the technologies that are driving the personal medicine revolution, from traditional linkage genetics to second-generation DNA sequencing and genome-wide association studies. . . . As Collins himself says, by the time you have read the book you will probably know more than your physician about genetics and health. So to avoid such an indictment, physicians had better read the book as well." - Science
"Collins writes as a scientist with a passion for medical progress, but, as a doctor, he communicates well and has compassion for individual patients today. . . . Collins is a uniquely placed guide for such medical and moral issues alike." - The Financial Times
"An excellent book. . . . Collins is a highly knowledgeable guide to an emerging area of medicine that . . . is still progressing with revolutionary fervour. . . . Collins gives an impressively up-to-date treatment of the genetics of cancer, race, infectious disease, ageing, the brain and our varying responses to drugs." - New Scientist
"Man's knowledge of man is undergoing the greatest revolution since Leonardo, and Francis Collins is at the leading edge of it. I am a better doctor today because Dr. Collins was my genetics professor in medical school, and now, the world gets to benefit from his wisdom by reading The Language of Life." - Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Neurosurgeon at Emory University and Chief Medical Correspondent for CNN
"Fascinating. . . . A medical revolution is upon us and bestselling author Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, does a fabulous job of explaining its dimensions. . . . Collins presents cutting-edge science for lay readers who want to take control of their medical lives. In an enjoyable form, he discusses cancer, obesity, aging, racial differences, and a host of other concerns. . . . By using case studies throughout, he does a superb job of humanizing a complex scientific and medical subject." - Publishers Weekly (starred review, PW Pick of the Week)