De-Extinction: A Quick Immersion by Carles Lalueza-Fox is a short book but packed with fascinating facts and tidbits. There are few better placed to discuss de-extinction than Lalueza-Fox as he is one of the pioneers of the field of ancient DNA and has seen the field evolve from a technical curiosity to a field that holds enormous future potential. I was interested in reading it because, thanks to my dinosaur-loving son, I’ve only read Jurassic Park and its sequels andseen all of the Jurassic Park movies about a million times. Lalueza-Fox writes in detail about genomes, gene sequencing, etc. As a retired physician, I had no trouble following him, but his writing is not so far out into the scientific ozone that the average reader can’t understand him. He writes eloquently about animal species that have gone extinct, whether through habitat failure, man’s intervention killing or via climate change. Having relied on Jurassic Park for my information, I had not realized how complex re-making a species would be. The process begins with trying to sequence the various genes, and with no currently viable species, we might never know if we got the sequencing correct. Then there is the problem of finding an appropriate surrogate mother.
Lalueza-Fox states, “I believe it would be a mistake for conservationists to perceive the birth of de-extinction as a threat because it offers a glimmer of hope that should not be underestimated. The resurrection of species could be used as a launching pad to promote comprehensive conservation.” This view certainly gave me hope for the future of our planet.
Overall, this was a fascinating read.
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De-Extinction: A Quick Immersion is the first in the Quick Immersion series. It is available through Amazon.
