Woolly: The True Story of the Quest to Revive one of History's Most Iconic Extinct Creatures
Written by Ben Mezrich
Narrated by Ben Mezrich
4/5
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About this audiobook
With his “unparalleled” (Booklist, starred review) writing, Ben Mezrich takes us on an exhilarating and true adventure story from the icy terrain of Siberia to the cutting-edge genetic labs of Harvard University. A group of scientists work to make fantasy reality by splicing DNA from frozen woolly mammoth into the DNA of a modern elephant. Will they be able to turn the hybrid cells into a functional embryo and potentially bring the extinct creatures to our modern world?
Along with this team of brilliant scientists, a millionaire plans to build the world’s first Pleistocene Park and populate a huge tract of the Siberian tundra with ancient herbivores as a hedge against an environmental ticking time bomb that is hidden deep within the permafrost. More than a story of genetics, this is a thriller illuminating the real-life race against global warming, of the incredible power of modern technology, of the brave fossil hunters who battle polar bears and extreme weather conditions, and the ethical quandary of cloning extinct animals. This “rollercoaster quest for the past and future” (Christian Science Monitor) asks us if we can right the wrongs of our ancestors who hunted the woolly mammoth to extinction and at what cost?
Ben Mezrich
Ben Mezrich graduated magna cum laude from Harvard in 1991. He has published twelve books, including the New York Times bestsellers The Accidental Billionaires, which was adapted into the Academy Award-winning film The Social Network, and Bringing Down the House, which has sold more than 1.5 million copies in twelve languages and became the basis for the Kevin Spacey movie 21. Mezrich has also published the national bestsellers Sex on the Moon, Ugly Americans, Rigged, and Busting Vegas. He lives in Boston.
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Reviews for Woolly
23 ratings4 reviews
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5This was a hard read. The level of detail is amazing but it can make the bad choices and resulting Cannibalism heart rending and slightly gory. I didn’t know much about the Donner party and I’m glad I read this. My sympathies go to the Donner Party.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5It was a fascinating book about genetics and where we are going with this science. Narrative by real protagonists of the story gave additional credibility to this amazing and captivating story. I will recommend it to my children who are much into this new science...
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The narration was very decent, but I found myself disappointed by the direction this nonfiction book went in. There are tons of interesting facts about biology and genetics on display here - it’s just that you have to get through a couple hundred pages of 1) a lackluster & highly dramatized biography that is SOLELY interested in telling you what a genius Dr. Church is, not a flaw to be acknowledged and 2) several oddly placed and paced scenes that sounded more like a bad disney documentary voiceover than anything (yes I am referring to the opening/ending chapters which are inexplicably set in the near future where this experiment has ‘succeeded’ but are told like stories that have already happened - and they’re even cheesier than you would think!)
Worst of all is probably the complete lack of nuance or unbiased storytelling when it comes to the ethics of the science Dr. Church and his ‘Revivalists’ are performing. Yes, there is a cursory “not everyone agrees but…” addendum but it is far too short and the rest too quickly glossed over to feel like they are properly addressed by the author. As someone that finds the science AND its moral implications fascinating, the author of this book clearly does not, and was more interested in creating scenes of literal science fiction and then presenting them in a novel labeled as “nonfiction”.” Regardless of what your viewpoint is on the ethics of cloning/dna editing/etc, it’s inarguable that the debate itself is a prominent part of the world we are delving into here, and it feels less like a forgotten segue than a purposeful omission in the quest to prove this is all OBVIOUSLY ethical, and cool as hell by the way, no questions asked.
Still, it was enjoyable once the science actually became the focal point (about 75% of the way through it felt like) and when the narration stopped being quite so starry-eyed and more fact-based. These are incredible things being done and it IS a fascinating story and one that is still ongoing. I just wish this author understood not everything has to be a blockbuster movie to be interesting. - Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5It was a little fantastical for a nonfiction book and I got distracted in the middle but it was good