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: I couldn't stop reading! Kevin Davies is an excellent science communicator. He provides context for the relationships and motivations of people I had previously known only as names to cite for scientific advances in genetics and medicine. The history of injustices in the care and research of sickle cell disease is presented accurately, alongside the excitement of seeing the field at the cutting edge of recent progress.--Lewis Hsu, Director, Pediatric Sickle Cell Hematology/Oncology, University of Illinois