Trust By Hernan Diaz

We had gone to the University to pickup our son for Christmas and decided to have lunch there as we sometimes do. There was a 45 minute wait for the table and so we went to checkout the bookstore that was right next to the restaurant. This book immediately caught my eye and I managed to read quite a few pages before we got the call. On the way back I bought the book and came home and finished it. A very novel way of story telling that will catch your attention for sure. The same story is told from four different view points. I was so caught up in the first version that I refused to budge when the second, more sane version came along but warmed up to the idea that the story and characters were changing by the time the third version came along and was fully sold onto the last one. Diaz is quite accomplished in that each of the stories gives the reader a certain closure on the at once enigmatic and pedantic couple around whom the stories are built. You can read this one for sure when you get that urge to read 'something' and want a satisfying read. Almost like a good meal of comfort food.

The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race By Walter Isaacson

 I am adding this here just to remember this book. As one gets older, memories become more like tiny pieces of cloud that we try to catch before it fades. I had read this fascinating real story in one sitting almost. But now, a month or so later I couldn't quite remember what was that book I had read with such passion. Took some effort but I have managed to grab that memory back and has now deposited it into the core memory. At least I think so.

It is a great read about the long history of research that resulted in the groundbreaking work of gene editing by Nobel prize winner Jennifer Doudna and team at UC Berkeley, California. Isaacson starts at the earliest spot of research done in this field and ties together various coincidences and efforts of the scientific community across the world with surprising clarity. Then he weaves the life of Doudna into this whole scenario to take it to the astounding conclusion that we all know of . A must read.