Common Thread

John Sulston never meant to become involved in the three ring circus of the Human Genome Project. All he wanted was to read the genetic code of the nematode worm. He couldn't have imagined how the worm was going to lead him into one of the most momentous enterprises in modern science. The Common Thread is the inside story of the race to sequence human DNA in its entirety and to offer the world the secrets of life that lie within that sequence. It takes us behind the scenes of one of the largest international scientific operations ever undertaken to reveal the politics, personalities and controversy that shaped seven groundbreaking years of research. Compelling and impassioned, this is not only the story of the most exciting scientific breakthrough in decades, it also reveals the very significant ethical issues involved, in particular Sulston's own quest to ensure that the sequence was freely available and that profit must not be allowed to restrict research. Ultimately The Common Thread offers a unique view of our shared human heritage, offering hope for the future and a whole new way to understand ourselves through science.