A review of GENE MACHINE
A race to decipher the secrets of ribosome by Venki Ramakrishnan
A race indeed! More clearly the journey of Venki Ramakrishnan to Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 2009 for resolving the astonishing structure of Ribosome. A reality, not just inspiring but so triggering that it brings about a floating reflection of the entire more than fifteen years of journey for the discovery of the Gene Machine in front of your eyes. It takes the reader to a whole new world of scientific adventure with lots of thrilling experiments and how everything irrsepective of it’s success or failure led to exploration of new phenomenal ideas. This is one of most diverse story among other scientific discoveries which; with amalgamation of different disciplines of science converged together for revealing the unique structure of Ribosome. While perceiving it as a story, it is indeed the reality of science or of any determined researcher.
The book in itself is an inspiration of it’s own kind. It begins with his journey into a whole new country in search of new opportunities and research. While he finds himself doing something not so interesting during his PhD in Physics, he takes a turn to the field of Biological research which was in limelight during that time. It was the emerging era of molecular biology after the discovery of Central Dogma. He had a colossal vision that unravelling the structure of Ribosome and finding it’s functions could take Life Sciences into a whole new advanced level. Soon he engages himself in one of the toughest problem of cracking the structure of Ribosome and later determining it’s functions.
Why every Science aspirant must read this book ?
This book is a long journey. It provides the reader with a real feeling of being part of the experiments on deciphering the structure of Ribosome. It holds a lot of fundamental concepts and informations explained in an interesting and simple language enabling to grasp the readers attention throughout the book. It describes the very real sides of career in Science and passing through every risk of recurring failure but enduring with passion and strong determination towards the goal. Expecting the results of experiments in science immediately is like chasing butterflies but how failed experiments and unexpected observations has always lead to new questions and interpretations is extraordinary. It is a journey of patience and gross updation of oneself everyday with technologies and skills required to solve the problem. The rigorous shift of the author from one research lab to other and connecting to relevant people in his field to develop strong skills for solving the problem is very uplifting. A Scientist should always seek help. He notes, never to be ignorant towards the question that arises in mind. No matter how silly those questions may be, it is best to seek the answer and get it sorted. Prizes and recognition of work always seems fulfilling and sometimes acts as a motivation too and scientists being the complex humans, it becomes hard to avoid the prize spams however ones prime focus should be the work. It holds a realistic account of ambition and innumerable struggle in establishing a stable career and settling down to job after PhD and Postdoc and creating something extraordinary in life and how funds and grants plays a major role in starting, and accomplishing any project. This book uncovers the latent race and competition of Science among various groups in different parts of the world working on the same problem.
And then, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2009 was awarded jointly to Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, Thomas A. Steitz and Ada E. Yonath "for studies of the structure and function of the ribosome." And this book is all about this incredible journey and beyond.
This book can essentially bring about a lot of enthusiasm in young scientists and help them to never back out from the race even though sometimes in the middle of a road it may feel like a downfall. It’s one engrossing read is essentially sufficient to understand and absorb the deeper meaning of struggle and patience in scientific career. Finding the problem is the first step and it is difficult however getting along to solve the mystery is the exploratory phase and most exciting. It is about arriving into some new abstracts and concepts. Finally interpreting the results is the cumulative key to discovery.
“When we have a clear goal in mind, we think we are struggling to reach a summit. But there is no summit. When we get there, we realize we have just climbed a foothill, and there is an endless series of mountains ahead still to be climbed.”
Signing off with my favorite line from the book and I may revert back to it anytime soon when I feel the need to understand some basic concepts of crystallography or require some inspiration.
