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Gene Machine
- The Race to Decipher the Secrets of the Ribosome
- Narrated by: Matthew Waterson
- Length: 8 hrs and 11 mins
- Categories: Biographies & Memoirs, Professionals & Academics
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Publisher's Summary
Everyone has heard of DNA. But by itself, DNA is just an inert blueprint for life. It is the ribosome - an enormous molecular machine made up of a million atoms - that makes DNA come to life, turning our genetic code into proteins and therefore into us.
Gene Machine is an insider account of the race for the structure of the ribosome, a fundamental discovery that both advances our knowledge of all life and could lead to the development of better antibiotics against life-threatening diseases.
But this is also a human story of Ramakrishnan's unlikely journey, from his first fumbling experiments in a biology lab to being the dark horse in a fierce competition with some of the world's best scientists. In the end, Gene Machine is a frank insider's account of the pursuit of high-stakes science.
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What listeners say about Gene Machine
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Rajiv Rao
- 21-02-19
Interesting story but the author needs to be aware non-European scientific discoveries
He attributes discovery of calculus to European scientists in the 17th century whereas it is well known that from a study by universities of Manchester and Exeter which says it knows where the true credit lies — and it's with someone else completely.
The "Kerala school," a little-known group of scholars and mathematicians in fourteenth century India, identified the "infinite series" — one of the basic components of calculus — around 1350.
He also talks about being irritated by the multitude of emails from his country of birth when he won the noble. However he gives a weak reason for accepting knighthood in England.
While I liked the story, a part of me was disappointed by the author’s rejection of his roots.
2 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 11-05-20
Good read (but only if you are a researcher)
This book describes the journey of the scientists for finding ribosome structures and how it works. It is obviously full of chemistry terms. Author has explained it well, but it is still the matter of interest. I am not very interested in chemistry, so I did not find it much interesting.
Researchers however must read it to check out how that world functions. Author calls Noble prize a lottery! He honestly describes the pitfalls and limitations of Nobel (or any recognition). It helps to put the awards and recognition in perspective. Many times mind tricks us in thinking award as the aim. This book can tell you how random the selection actually is! It is not exactly correlated with the work you do, work is ofcourse important but there are other dominant factors which no one can control.
Concluding -
For scientists - must read
Others can safely skip. You won't miss anything.
By the way, this is a kind of accidental read for me. I mistook this book with Siddharth Mukharjis book with name starting with Gene, and I realised it much much later that I was listening to a wrong book. That book was in my wishlist, this was not! Anyway.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Badrinath Talwar
- 11-08-19
Lucidly written, distinctly narrated
V Ramakrishnan's uses simple words, yet the language is vivid enough to help us visualise the (wo)men and molecules that inhabit this book. Waterson's narration is pleasant, even paced and distinct. A good listen!
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Srinidhi
- 07-06-19
Race for cracking the ribosome structure
A good overview of the race for cracking the ribosome structure. The book gives a very good account of the author's and his competitors' work leading to cracking the ribosome structure. Along the way a reasonably good explanation of the ribosome and it's functions are given.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- NARAYAN
- 12-02-19
Good experience
Love it a lot. Highly recommended to all my scientific friends and colleagues to read.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Irina Bataeva
- 15-02-19
biochemistry+autobiography+science politics
I rarely write the reviews, but I was surprised by this book too much not to write one.
The book follows the path of Venki Ramakrishnan - from his graduate studies and how he came across ribosomes to him winning the Nobel Prize for his work. The book also brilliantly explains the science(basic ribosome functions, crystallography, etc) on the level that any person could easily understand without being too simple, the fact I particularly liked as a bioengineering student myself who hasn't taken that many biology/biochemistry classes. What I absolutely love about the book is how honest and self-reflective the author appears to be. He is humble and tells somewhat embarrassing stories about his professional life, but most importantly he appears to have given credit to every person who has touched his life - he talks about his technicians, says how grateful he is to all of his amazing grad students and fellow scientists some whom he didn't actually know, but who provided him with compounds that he needed for the experiments. He extensively talks about politics in science - how the prizes are awarded, etc. His reflections on the Nobel Prize are mostly critical due to it being so restrictive about how many people are recognized for important scientific discoveries.
In summary, I would recommend this book to anybody interested in learning what it's like to be a scientist in the modern world of competition, collaboration, and how sometimes luck is what it takes to get there. In addition to that, the book is full of funny personal anecdotes and cool ribosome science, which makes it a must-read for anybody who is even remotely interested in science.
Oh, and the narrator is great!
110 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- SRoszell
- 01-04-19
Dense, chatty story
Gene Machine is an entertaining view of the scientific forays of a Nobel Prize recipient. He gives detailed explanation of crystals and their role in building understanding of the ribosome. Though technical, the story of the teams, personalities and struggles encountered adds humor and interest to the book.
11 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Philomath
- 08-11-18
The breathtaking complexity a molecular machine
This is not just an autobiography of Nobel Laureate Venki Ramakrishan, a structural biologist who has been recognised for his work on the Ribosome, the complex molecular living machine that produces proteins.
It is a unique inner glimpse at the specialised fields of biochemistry, molecular biology and biophysics, the people behind it, the fast paced advancements, competition, collaboration, politics, and the high stakes game of decades work coming to fruition.
If you were amazed by the mRNA Translation videos on ytube, showing the smallest most complicated living machine made of a million atoms, you will be even more amazed at the decades amount of work it took to achieve this knowledge.
This is also a story of modern science and what it takes to be at the top, and some of its shortfalls when it comes to recognition. So many people contribute for only a few to be recognised.
An incredible book. Highly recommended for its fascinating story, and the depth of science involved. Top Marks!!!
68 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- William B Scott
- 07-12-18
Interesting history
This book was more about the history of winning the Nobel prize then the science. I was disappointed because I wanted to learn about ribosomes and bio mechanics. Instead I got an interesting history of the politics in front lines science.
22 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- wbiro
- 30-04-19
Interesting on Three Levels
(1) The life of a research scientist, (2) the politics among research scientists (3) the life of a person. The book is not a science book, the author states in the beginning that the book is a memoir (of an entire career, it turns out).
3 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- David E. Clemmer
- 02-12-18
An analysis of modern science
If you’ve ever wondered about what drives scientific discovery, this is for you - a passionate description of an amazing biological machine.
7 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- SC
- 14-04-19
Excellent book
It is an amazing book in ribosomes structural biology and Crystallography. I wish many more books will be available on audible in coming months/years.
Thanks
5 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- curtis feipel
- 03-02-19
very good
very good story and comprehensive. about science, being a scientist, academia, and even the high accolades of the community.
5 people found this helpful
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Scott
- 01-05-19
Not a scientifically informative book
While I knew from the reviews/description that this book was written from the perspective of a memoir, it also claimed to provide interesting information on the ribosome. After listening to the first 5 chapters of the background of researching molecular structures, and the author's life experiences, I started skipping through chapters trying to find some information about ribosomes. Sadly, I could find any (again, I did not listen to entire book - I just couldn't waste more time trying to find interesting information). I was not interested in the researcher's life.
8 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- PowderRiverRose
- 08-05-19
Technical yet very well written
I give the author high praise for his achievements and writing a book of quality. This book details the author’s journey to the Noble Prize for Chemistry and beyond but more than that he acknowledges those colleagues and friends who were instrumental in one way or another for his success and the many breakthroughs in their field.
As a lay person some of the terminology and science may be a bit above my pay grade but it is laid out clearly and, while not knowing, I do understand. I enjoyed the timeline as well as the difficulty of getting from then to now; there are both serious and humorous moments that will keep a person engaged.
The narrator is very good though does read rather clipped, however, the content is interesting so I didn’t let it bother me. If you are in the science field or especially if you are considering this path for your life then I urge you to listen.
1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Trillian
- 31-03-21
Scientific storytelling at its very best
Fascinating, engaging story of how a former physicist helped to solve one of the fundamental mysteries in molecular biology. Also, an interesting insight into the academic politics and professional rivalries that often mar scientific research.
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 25-10-20
Too much biography not enough ribosome
I really struggled with this book despite being a highly motivated reader (work at a biotech and keen to learn about genes and ribosomes). I only made it about halfway through and up to that point it was entirely biography, giving elaborate details of the author's friends dating habits but very little information about biological discoveries. What was included on crystallography was incredibly dry and elucidated nothing around the processes of going from genes to biology.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Brendan
- 12-01-20
excellent story, well written, well told. i
it can get a little technical and those sections require background reading and relistening at times too. stick with it though. this technical detail helps but is not necessary to enjoy the book.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Venkateshwaralu Srikarunyan
- 06-12-18
Struggles of an India Born Scientist
This is a great account of what a typical work of a scientist looks like, in general. Particularly, I understood the struggle by student with an Indian background has to go through in an international arena while dealing with a bleeding edge topic in science.