Biopunk: Solving Biotech's Biggest Problems in Kitchens and Garages Paperback – July 31, 2012

This is a well-written, well-researched, and thoughtful book that's a pleasure to read. The focus of the book, however, is on the people who are working on DIY biology (mostly work on genetics and genetic modification) and what attracted them to work on this problem and what they're working on. There's also quite a bit of consideration on what the downstream implications (both positive and negative) would be of this movement.I was hoping for more description of the nuts and bolts details of how people are actually doing the work but this was not the focus of the book. I did glean a few web resources that were quite useful but overall the book focuses on the people and the movement and not actually on how to do DIY biology.

This book was well written and contains some fascinating anecdotes from the field. The DIY (Do-it-yourself) bio revolution shouldn't be confused with the biotech work that is going on in laboratories. Wholsen draws back the curtain on a field that is still in its infancy, where people without a biology background are tinkering with biology and come up with some cool creations. Many people liken being involved in hacking biology to hacking primitive computers in the '70s garage scene, which is where the likes of Steve Jobs and Hewlett Packard got their starts. This book will open up your world and show you that, even without a biology background, you can get involved in the infancy of this incredible revolution.

The title refers to aspiration versus achievement, and, consequently, illustrates the content of the book. A collection of extended anecdotes, my main take away was that there is a growing community of people who, for a wide variety of reasons, earnestly want to forge ahead at a personal level into biological research. At best, the stories are inspiring, and wonderful examples of resourcefulness and determination. At the very least, one is left with character studies of invariably quirky people involved to differing degrees with something that is both scientific and fringy.If you are sympathetic to the Open Source/DIY/Maker movement, it is worth the read.

This book is wonderfully written; Wohlsen has very natural way of raising provocative ideas about the implications of genetic manipulation without sounding like a science textbook. I'm not an expert on biology or genetic engineering, so I was initially worried about the accessibility of the material for me, but his profiles of prominent biohackers are entertaining and keep a fast pace, and his explanations of complex topics achieve the difficult task of being succinct and nuanced at the same time. I found this book to be a very accessible introduction to a very complicated topic, and I especially liked that Wohlsen was able to get inside the heads of these biohackers while maintaining enough journalistic distance to also convey the criticism of their work when appropriate. As a novice in this area, that kind of perspective is very helpful in framing my thinking about this issue. I got a lot of new ideas from this book and I highly recommend it.

After having my DNA sequenced by 23andme and reading Biopunk, I'm left feeling that this area is poised to become the personal computing/Internet of the next twenty years. The book covers bio-hackers who are hacking biology in their garages following in the footsteps of telephone hackers from the 1970's that turned into the computer hackers. Their mantra: "Biology is software". These do it yourself wetlabs are rapidly moving to DNA software engineering using mail order analysis and DNA construction. Interesting websites related to this DNA hacking movement mentioned in the book:[...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...]

This book was fun to read and inspiring! It really presents a good argument for bringing science out of the ivory tower and increasing its accessibility to all of us who may be interested. I admire the citizen scientists described in the examples, and their dedication to the pursuit of knowledge. Best line in the book (referring to Gregor Mendel): "He didn't need a PhD... It was enough that he was a geek." Love it!!

This was a required text for my college English 1A course. I was able to find its digital copy in Google Books, allow me to search keywords relevant to assignments pertaining to this book's content—got an A+.

The book is different, in so much as if you don't know anything about Biotechnology then this book can be helpful.In all honesty I haven't finished the book yet, but what I have read so far doesn't turn me on. I thought the book would be more about providing information about biotech hackers, but unfortunately it is about Bio pioneers like 'Venter' I am surprised they haven't mentioned Bill Gates yet, or may be they will before I finish the book.No I would not recommend buying this book unless you got it for £1.00

Excellent service. Item arrived on time and was as described. Very happy with my purchase and the transaction. Thank you.

If you look for a text which will make you breathe the mood from which Biopunk has been born, please choose another book. The book is a lenghty cerebral examine of several controversial aspects of Biopunk with interviews and words from Biopunk leaders. This would have been informative if the author didn't gave the constant impression to believe that Biopunk people are a bunch of delusional and weirdo people. Basically every interview gives an idea of people totally deranged from reality and gives you the impression that Biopunk is foolish at his best or downright stupid at his worst. Zero focus on technology (probably because of the risk of ingenerating a DIY wave from the reading of the book), the deep concerns of the author about biosafety completely spoils all the fun. The message of the book is simply: it's risky, difficult and please don't do at home. Or if you do, please don't say you did after having read my book. Please.

nel mondo delle biotecnologie, un libro del 2012 è terribilmente vecchio ma, nonostante ciò, biopunk resta comunque una lettura molto interessante, sia dal punto di vista delle nozioni spiegate, sia come rappresentazione storica di un movimento, che come descrizione di una filosofia, spiegazione di cos'è la Do It Yourself Biology.Unica pecca: forse un po' diosrganico.

A great insight into possibly the most promising field of modern science, with a cautionary tale of the fear and paranoia that accompanies new scientific progress.

So far this book appears quite interesting but it is too early to give a comprehensive review. I will re-visit and review again later.