Andrew Mazibrada

Magnificent Work Superbly Narrated

Revisado: 05-18-21

This is a magnificent book. Beautifully written, balanced, nuanced, insightful, and detailed. By following a historical narrative of the development of the understanding of the gene, separated loosely by themes, and by touching lightly, but not too lightly on the dramatise personae of that development, this intimate history remains intimate and accessible. So utterly readable and so compelling. Yet Mukherjee is well positioned to ask questions about its future too – his personal history, never flaunted here, never offered as anything other than texture and context, gives him the perfect standing to ask those questions. He does so in a balanced way, setting out the human, ethical, moral, and philosophical considerations powerfully. It is the kind of book I wish Jennifer Doudna had written, instead of the heroic narrative that dominates 'A Crack in Creation'.

A word on the narration: although Mukherjee's writing lends itself to narration well, Dennis Boutsikaris has the perfect tone, voice, and performance art to deliver more than 19hrs in a way that makes this book impossible to put down. I looked forward to it every time I anticipated picking up my device to listen to it again.

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Some good points, but naive and one-sided

Revisado: 02-28-20

Some good points made, and a somewhat useful summary of the BAT, but all Webb's points are dealt with in more detail in better works on AI ethics and futures. Webb's analysis is naive, simplistic, and lacking balance. She places too much trust in the altruism of the G-Mafia, rejects regulation of any kind, asserts the need for a coalition that is not in the commercial interests of the G-Mafia and which flies in the face of everything we know about cognitive biases and business practices (take one look at climate change and see that businesses put businesses first even in the serious position we are now in), adopts a frighteningly McCarthyist paranoia in respect of China, and is deeply enmeshed in free-market solutions and innovation as the answer to all our problems, despite the powerful critiques of capitalism in many recent works on AI. No mention is made of Shoshana Zuboff's work on Surveillance Capitalism which, given Webb's stance, ought to have been dealt with in some way (Zuboff's theories predate Webb's publication, even though the books were released within months of each other). This highlights what I assert is a quite unscholarly work - she asks us to trust her in her analysis of the G-Mafia, as though her place as a trusted insider gives her value, without offering us evidence to support that trust. She continually uses adverbs like 'admirably' to describe their conduct, especially that of Google, which flies in the face of what Zuboff's far more detailed and scholarly work offers us. Essentially, Zuboff backs up her claims with evidence. Webb does not. There are better books.

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Fundamental Reading

Revisado: 02-09-20

Absolutely key to our human future. Everyone using the Internet ought to read this book. It really is that simple. Every government institution should have read it and actioned its core principles.

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Perfect Production of an Excellent Work

Revisado: 01-15-20

Naomi Oreskes has written two superb books in recent years, both of which have been produced as audiobooks: 'The Merchants of Doubt' and 'Why Trust Science?' Sheila Jasanoff, to whom Oreskes refers in the latter, has also written several excellent similar and complementary recent works, only one of which has been produced as an audiobook: 'The Ethics of Invention'. All are insightful, deeply scholarly works, compellingly argued and evidenced, and extremely relevant for our technologically advanced yet epistemologically uncertain age.

Yet this review focuses on something I hope producers will take note of when it comes to detailed academic texts: the narrator is absolutely key to allowing audiences to understand what may be heavily nuanced, complex arguments. Far more so than in fiction. As I found with Samuel Moyn's 'Not Enough', the narration in Jasanoff's 'The Ethics of Invention' was a hindrance to properly following the text. In 'Not Enough', incorrect inflection and emphasis often changed the meaning of sentences and paragraphs. In 'The Ethics of Invention', the robotic monotone of the narration made the text more challenging to follow than it needed to be, as Jasanoff herself is an excellent writer. Don't let this put you off the book - it is worth persevering with - it's just such a shame as it could have been so much better and is such an important work.

By contrast, this is the perfect example of a production. Female narration for female authors and vice versa (Oreskes presents her arguments then several academics respond). The narration places emphasis where it is needed, gives the topics life and power, and genuinely rewards the listener with a greater understanding of the material as a result.

Academic work needs narrators that truly understand what they are reading, where to place emphasis, how to pronounce technical terminology, and the ability to bring life to complex material. Too many audiobook producers seem not to understand this and I am sometimes left to wonder if they have actually auditioned the narrator at all. Not here - this is excellent.

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Superb, compelling, scholarly work but awful narration

Revisado: 01-12-20

Wonderful work by Sheila Jasanoff. Timely, compelling, and necessary. Despite what I say below, this is critical listening for anyone interested in the way science and technology impact social and legal paradigms.

Sadly, the narrator is utterly robotic and places inflections in entirely the wrong places, almost clipping sentences off and sometimes making the meaning hard to discern. More and more academic work is becoming available on audiobook format, which is to be celebrated, especially where clear and concise writers like Jasanoff can be published this way, and producers actually have a duty to make such work available for public consumption. This means selecting narrators capable of both understanding and conveying meaning.

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