Gene Machine

The Race to Decipher the Secrets of the Ribosome

By: Venki Ramakrishnan

Narrated by: Matthew Waterson

Length: 8 hrs and 11 mins

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.

©2018 Venki Ramakrishnan (P)2018 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

Very slow, more life story

Not that much about Ribosome processing and it’s biology more about authors life story. Quasi interesting a bit of a Yanning experience

Highly technical, way over my head

This book was well done, but I thought it would be an overview for those not familiar with the field. I found it way more technical than I expected.

Exciting Review of Excellence in Science

This audible book has been a decades long history of research in finding and showing the genome be accessible. Especially the Ribosome . I now want to learn more, though I am a 78 year old musician and retired computer scientist. just enjoy learning about life.

The Force of Life!

When I started this book, I imagined it would give me a solid definition of the gene machine. What I learned is that with our current technology, as good as it is, we have not been able to yet complete the definition or the entire process. This is a like getting on roller coaster that won't stop, but you don't want to stop either. There are so many details and the more you learn, the more there is to learn. The cell, the basic unit of life is more complex in it's parts and functions and is truly the atom of biology. The genes are just the beginning of the gene machine. Imagine a complete manufacturing facility producing a product that runs on it's own 24/7, then consider this is what happens inside each cell more than a trillion in each of us. More than than just one manufacturing facility, now imagine there are 100's or 1000's or more of these manufacturing plants maintaining an almost perfect output of products. Now you begin to understand the complexity of a single cell, much less all the individual parts that make us who we are. I highly recommend this book and narration, it will keep you engaged, and if like me, you will listen more than once. What is most amazing to me is that all these processes are internally driven. Other than our eating and sleeping habits, the gene machine moves on.

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 in science, it turns out).

the ribosome rules!

I absolutely loved this book. It's amazing how it takes a scientific story that could be very boring and makes it into a wonderful adventure. I would recommend this to the scientist and the non scientist a like.

The 30S Subunit Ribosomes Work With Antibiotics

I thought that this book was a good read after reading James Watson’s personal account of his discovery of the double-stranded molecule structure that forms DNA in his book, Double Helix. This book delved into the ribosomes and how they were used to fight bacteria in mainly a 30S subunit with the use of antibiotics. It explained the electrical bonding that is formed between the antibiotic and the E. coli protein enzyme aka the ribosome. It discusses how color coding the ribosome helped identify the bonding agents that blocked the ribosome from entering the cellular structure and what different agents bonded with different parts of the 30S subunit.
Outside of the topic of ribosomes, Ramakrishnan discussed his journey and opinions on the Noble Prize, the sanctity of the organization that awards it or their lack of it and his experience in winning the Noble Prize for his work in ribosomes. It was a very interesting book that was well worth reading.

Not interesting if you want to learn about biology

Hoped to learn more about biological details. Mostly describes the history of the path towards the structure of the ribosome.

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.

Loved it!

I loved this book. First, Dr. Ramakrishnan makes mind-boggling science easy to understand. Second, he turns it into a detective story, a mystery as captivating as the translation of Egyptian hieroglyphics or the race to set foot on the moon. But most of all, I love how he shares credit with all the people who helped him achieve the pinnacle of scientific success. He's not only a great scientist. He is a great human being.