DNA of You and Me by Andrea Rothman

Reviewed by Kristin

Emily is more comfortable dealing with a microscope than with people. If she could just sit in a lab and analyze how DNA controls the sense of smell and never ever talk to anyone, she would be quite content. Of course she wants to work on a project which could make a huge difference in olfactory neuron research, but she would be fine working on it by herself. The problem is, Aeden and Allegra are already working on a set of genes and it would really help to know if the genes Emily is searching for in the database are the ones already identified.

One day in the lab Aeden reaches out to Emily, and she opens herself to him in a way she did not know possible. They become friends, then something more, but Emily is not sure what it is. She just doesn’t know how to process the possibility of a relationship. Genes are so much easier to read than people.

Andrea Rothman’s language is beautiful and elegant, giving shape to a sparse life blooming into something more. Emily must decide what is most important to her. The path she chooses will change her direction in life, exposing her to experiences she never anticipated.

More than just two science nerds falling in love, The DNA of You and Me examines the importance of human interactions for those whose brains are wired just a little differently. This book reminded me of How to Tell Toledo From the Night Sky by Lydia Netzer, reviewed here. The characters in both books seem to have the same kind of disconnect from the world around them, as so much of what matters to them is the science.

Rothman is a scientist who has done significant research on the sense of smell. She clearly understands the workings of genetic sequences and has translated the concepts into language that non-scientists can understand. This is her debut novel.

Operation Paperclip: The Secret Intelligence Program That Brought Nazi Scientists to America, by Annie Jacobsen

Reviewed by William Wade

When World War II in Europe came to an end with German surrender in the spring of 1945 hundreds, even thousands, of German scientists and technologists suddenly emerged from the secret laboratories and factories where they had been devising weapons of war.  The fact that the Soviet Union was vigorously recruiting these individuals for their own purposes caused Britain and the United States to energize themselves in attempting to round up as many scientists as possible lest they fall into the hands of Stalin. 

But this matter of recruiting those who had very recently been our vigorous enemies raised many questions and doubts among American leaders, particularly as postwar revelations told of horrendous activities perpetrated in Nazi concentration camps.  It was felt that many of these men should be put on trial for violations of human rights rather than courted for their expertise.  After the American army had seized some of these scientists, General Eisenhower asked the War Department for guidance as to how they should be treated.  No answer was forthcoming from the Pentagon, for the fact of the matter was that high government leaders were themselves hopelessly divided over the issue, and the result was that decisions were made on an ad hoc basis.  Often the army acted quietly and secretly without informing political leaders of what they were doing, and by 1946 over two hundred German scientists were in the United States working on weapons development, generally unknown to the public.

Operation Paperclip is the story of this program, based on documents residing in the Pentagon for over half a century and only recently brought to light through the Freedom of Information Act.  Many of these scientists were from a technical standpoint illegal aliens, never documented according to the prescribed laws of the land.  Some had been very clever.  Werner von Braun, realizing that the German Reich was doomed, fled to the West taking vital documents about the German rocketry program. These he secreted in a cave, allowed himself to be taken by the Americans with whom he negotiated a deal – his status in exchange for revealing the trove of documents.

These German experts brought to the United States a wealth of information in varied specialties – rocket research, jet engines, advanced aircraft, poison gas, nasty little secrets of biological warfare, considerable knowledge about the human body and its ability to withstand torture and suffering, information gained from research with inmates of the concentration camps.  Much of it was of a gruesome nature, but some Americans appeared to be interested in it use because Japan had not yet surrendered.

This is not an easy book to read; it details activities of individuals and whole governmental programs which seem to go beyond the limitations we like to think apply to civilized conduct.  You may learn things you would just as soon not know.  But it is important, not simply because it reveals what happened seventy years ago, but because  it asks us today whether a civilized people can effectively establish ethical positions of such firmness and rigor that we would draw the line on barbarous activities that transcend those limits.

Operation Paperclip: The Secret Intelligence Program That Brought Nazi Scientists to America, by Annie Jacobsen.  New York: Little, Brown, and Company, 2014. 575 pages.

Note:  Holly's review of Owlknight will be posted the first Friday in February.

Nevermore: Things to Worry About, The Man Who Loved Dogs, and Chasing Shackleton

Nevermore March 18, 2014

Reported by Kristin

Non-fiction kicked off the Nevermore discussion with What Should We Be Worried About?: Real Scenarios That Keep Scientists Up at Night by John Brockman.  Prominent thinkers were asked what their greatest concern with the modern world was—and a variety of answers were returned.  Some worry about the future of technology, or how the convergence of technology will affect the people in our world.  One commented that there isn’t so much a need to worry about nuclear weapons, but a need to worry about out of control world leaders.  Concerns from the group included the decline of the older population, worldwide food availability and the profit motivations of corporations balanced against the needs of people.

Next, Jud ran through a quick stack of books which he had ordered based on positive reviews.  He gave a few of them one sentence descriptions, or just let the titles stand for themselves.
•    The Bosnia List: A Memoir of War, Exile and Return by Kenan Trebincevic and Susan Shapiro
•    Fire Up Your Life in Retirement: 101 Ways for Women to Reinvent Themselves by Catherine DePino
•    The Mayo Clinic Guide to Stress-Free Living by Amit Sood, MD
•    Our America: A Hispanic History of the United States by Felipe Fernandez-Armesto
•    Phil Jackson: Lord of the Rings by Peter Richmond
•    Dear Abigail: the Intimate Lives and Revolutionary Ideas of Abigail Adams and Her Two Remarkable Sisters by Diane Jacobs
•    Bob Dylan: American Troubadour by Donald Brown
•    The Agent: My 40-Year Career Making Deals and Changing the Game by Leigh Steinberg
•    Uncharted: Big Data as a Lens on Human Culture by Erez Aiden & Jean-Baptiste Michel

A novel popped up as another reader mentioned The Man Who Loved Dogs by Leonardo Padura.  A fictionalized version of the assassination of Leon Trotsky in Mexico City in 1940, the book was declared a bit of a slow-starter, but very worthwhile to read.

Finally, another reader enthusiastically recommended Chasing Shackleton: Re-creating the World’s Greatest Journey of Survival by Tim Jarvis.  In the winter of 2013, explorer Jarvis re-created British explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton’s attempted voyage to Antarctica from 1914 to 1916.  Not only did Jarvis mimic the path, he pursued the sea and mountain journey with authentic equipment and food that would have been available to Shackleton in 1914.  This book was declared a great adventure story with excellent pictures from both the original voyage and the modern re-creation.