Description: "In this fourth volume in our Convening Science series with the Marine Biological Laboratory, contributors, including historians, biologists, and philosophers, explore the development of bioengineering. The essays show how engineering is both a means to a functional end and a method of learning about the world. The book is organized around three themes--controlling and reproducing, knowing and making, and envisioning--to chart the increasing sophistication of our engineering of biological systems and to change our sense of the scales at which engineering occurs, to include not just genetics but also ecosystem-level intervention. The volume will attempt to make the case for "the centrality of engineering for understanding and imagining modern life.""--
Brief description: Christian C. Young is professor of biology at Alverno College. Most recently, he is coeditor of Evolution and Creationism: A Documentary and Reference Guide.
Review Quotes: "Many contributions to this unusual collection are from scholars in the humanities, who nevertheless bring interesting material to bear on areas of experimental biology and biotechnology. . .. Especially interesting is the contribution charting the rise and decline of Michael Crichton's 1969 novel The Andromeda Strain as a frequent reference for scientists, politicians, journalists, and the public when discussing extraterrestrial contamination and genetic engineering (by Luis Campos) . . .. The contributions considered as a whole make this a generally informative if controversial volume. Recommended."-- "Choice"