This book is the best introduction to the topic that I have ever seen. Written for a lay audience, or for college students new to the subject, it examines contemporary quandaries that lie at the intersection of medicine, science, and ethics. In a highly original way, it educates and engages readers in the profound issues and choices made possible by advances in biomedicine.
The book is beautifully designed visually, and its content flows nicely. Chapters are formatted similarly: the authors create fictional scenarios to illustrate problems confronting patients and physicians, the public, or policymakers. These scenarios are far more imaginative and narrated than most bioethics cases: they are so well written that readers will inevitably want to turn the pages. Scenarios are followed by sections that: invite personal reflection; provide scientific information, sociohistorical context, and vocabulary; shape terms for debate; and articulate the social implications of different choices. The layout beautifully allows space for reflection: boxed texts and shaded boxes are separated from textual materials, creating white space on the page, which helps separate out questions for readers, analysis of the issues, relevant information from other sources, and questions for debate. This style will be very effective at engaging readers who are new to the topics explored, including: designer babies, cloning, regenerative medicine, various forms of enhancement, radical life extension, the use and abuse of DNA, brain imaging and genetics, the creation of new organisms, and scientific integrity and misconduct.
One distinctive aspect of the book is that it is written by two scientists with dual training. Macip is physician-writer who conducts research in cancer and aging. Willmott is a biochemist molecular biologist with an M.A. in bioethics, who studies the ethics of innovations in biomedicine and media representations of science. Such scientific expertise is unusual in the field of ethics, which in general is not as well informed about science as it should be and is not populated by many scientists either. Willmott and Macip are able, therefore, to grasp highly complex and technical biomedical issues. Because they are also good writers, they can discuss these issues in lay terms without speaking down to readers.
This is exactly the kind of book that can help readers think clearly about biomedical advances whose speed always seems to outstrip the capacity to analyze and weigh the ethical implications of the choices they pose.
