Description: Curved Air chronicles the story of sickle cell anemia from its ancient origins in Sub-Saharan Africa to its central role in the development of human genome editing. For decades, patients, many of whom are Black, were denied lifesaving care. But hope has arrived in the form of a revolutionary gene-editing therapy: CRISPR.
Brief description: Kevin Davies is Executive Editor of The CRISPR Journal and founding editor of Nature Genetics. A recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship, he is the author or coauthor of Editing Humanity, Cracking the Genome, The $1,000 Genome, and DNA.
Review Quotes: Over the past seventy-five years, we have seen a revolution in biotechnology and breakthroughs in the field of molecular medicine. In Curved Air, Davies tells the story of how the study of sickle cell disease helped to launch those advances. Curved Air is a beautifully written book that bridges molecular science with growing interest in the medical humanities. The fact that sickle cell disease is also one of humankind's most glaring health disparities adds a rich narrative around bioethics and equity.--Peter Hotez, author of The Deadly Rise of Anti-Science