'The Moonstone' by Wilkie Collins

The Moonstone, Wilkie Collins (4.0)

Once again, the father of the detective novel has delivered a page-turner. I think of Collins as ‘Jane Austen meets Agatha Christie’- the good detective whodonnit set in the very proper, upper class of the 1800s. He was famously friends with Charles Dickens. In addition to a good mystery, the book is told from the perspective of several characters via their letters, diaries or requested notes. The Moonstone is a valuable, ancient Indian diamond stolen from India and bequeathed to a young English Lady on her 18th birthday. Unfortunately, three Indians have made it their life’s work to retrieve the diamond. It disappears from her room after her party and, since the house was sealed from the outside, the guests staying in the house are suspected. Nothing is simple or obvious in this mystery – some clues are given, but the outcome unfolds like an onion with each layer being quite surprising. Not surprising for the mid 1800s, but still off-putting were the descriptions of the ‘Hindoo’s’ and anyone else of color. I also found the old servant’s repeated description of most women (albeit not his charge, Miss Rachel) quite misogynistic and really annoying. Given those complaints, a point was deducted (apologies – too much Olympics).

'Call for the Dead, A Murder of Quality, The Spy Who Came in From the Cold' by John Le Carre

 Call for the Dead, A Murder of Quality, The Spy Who Came in From the Cold, John Le Carre (4.0)

Three of Le Carre’s first novels introducing his reluctant hero, George Smiley, are included in this book. The third is the most famous, was made into a movie and pushed Le Carre into the world stage. The first two read more similarly to traditional ‘whodonnits’: murder, obvious suspects, handful of confusing clues and interesting results. George Smiley is introduced as an unlikely detective. He is a mousey, unkempt, bookish man, recently retired from Britain’s Secret Service. He tends to partner with a local policeman and uses his understanding of society and individuals to solve the murders. I enjoyed the first two books as pure murder mysteries, but the third is definitely something unique: a slow, intellectual, spy thriller with little action and lots of plot. The majority of the book is spent setting up an elaborate sting of a supposed East German spy. Until the end the reader is trying to understand who is really stinging whom. The movie with Richard Burton is also quite amazing.  In this book Smiley is a side character, but others from the earlier two books reappear. My only complaint about the books is the obvious anti-Semitism, particularly in the first book. It was written in 1961 with parts occurring both before and after WWII. He may have purposefully written the slights, but it was jarring to come from non-Nazi characters.

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

 The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing and the Future of the Human Race, Walter Isaacson (4.0)

As with all the Isaacson books I have read, this book highlights the life and career of someone quite remarkable. While Jennifer Doudna is arguably less controversial than Steve Jobs or Leonardo Di Vinci, her main subject (CRISPR gene altering tools) drives important discussions in evolution and ethics. The book has a lot of science and could be difficult to read for those not familiar, but Isaacson does a good job of simplifying (i.e. core of CRISPR: ‘small snippet of RNA that acts as a guide and an enzyme that acts as a scissors’). The ‘how’ is complicated, but you can understand that if one can insert the RNA guide to cut a portion of the DNA helix, we can change our genes. Not controversial when it comes to obvious diseases, very controversial when it comes to ‘designer babies’, choosing height, sex, intelligence, etc. The book follows all the people working on the technology and highlights the competition for patents, credit of discovery and even businesses.  I appreciated that the author did not feed the stereotype that scientists compete to the point of losing their integrity. While the main actors in this story are very competitive, he has humanized them all and tended to give them good intentions, for the most part. That is refreshing in today’s media environment of ‘if it bleeds it leads’ on steroids. It would have been easy to stoke the paranoia and make the legal issues even more contentious. I was disappointed in the COVID section at the end, possibly due to the speed at which the science is moving, but it was not clear to me how CRISPR actually contributed. Tests were developed – but where did they end up being used? I remember a very long time over 2020 where the tests were not prevalent and not accurate.