1042 3 JUNE 2022 • VOL 376 ISSUE 6597 science.org SCIENCE
ILLUSTRATION: DILIANNY ESPINOZASUMMER BOOKS
generations of technologies—ZFNs, TALENs,
CRISPR-Cas9—gasping in the dust” acciden-
tally caused a mass famine.
After being exposed to a mysterious
substance in a raid gone wrong, Ramsay
is quarantined, declared mutation-free,
and released. However, he soon notices his
mind and body changing—slowly at first,
then more quickly. Ramsay reads and eas-
ily comprehends Gödel, Escher, Bach—a
book he had tried and failed to finish sev-
eral times—in a single sitting. He beats hisdaughter at chess for the first time in years.
His doctor tells him his bones have grown
unusually dense. Ramsay has the sneaking
suspicion that he was infected with a gene-
editing agent and that it was not a coinci-
dence. As he races to uncover the truth, it
becomes clear that his own future is not the
only one at stake.
Crouch spends a fair amount of time ex-
plaining DNA, gene drives, and which of
Ramsay’s genes were edited, but these de-
tails are less interesting than how such mod-
ifications play out. The book also confronts
questions that society is wrestling with now:
What are the worst ways artificial intelli-
gence and facial recognition could be used?
What if CRISPR mosquitoes aren’t a good
idea? If the ability to edit genes becomes so
easy that anyone can order the materials on-
line, what will people do with it?
While Upgrade is ostensibly about genetic
editing, the story unfolds in a world in which
the effects of climate change have played out
to some extent. Parts of New York City and
most of Miami are underwater, and skyscrap-
ers are populated by nomadic tenants. The
arable parts of the world have shifted. Most
meat is synthetic, and restaurants upcharge
for the real deal. Geneticists have explored
how to use gene editing to fix climate change,
and the results are less than encouraging.
At its core, Upgrade is more thriller than
science fiction, following one man’s quest toUpgrade
Reviewed by Brittany Trang^1
In Blake Crouch’s new work of fiction,
Upgrade, gene editing is akin to an illicit
drug, complete with a shadowy underworld,
a black market, and widespread use. The
book’s protagonist, Logan Ramsay, is an
agent with the Gene Protection Agency, an
institution created after a futuristic gene-
editing technology that “left the previous
Summer reading 2022
A physicist searches for answers to life’s greatest mysteries. A pale-
ontologist celebrates the ascent of Earth's early mammals. A science
writer dives deep into the sensory worlds of other organisms. A biolo-
gist confronts outdated ideas in evolution. From a lively exploration of
the intertwined history of alcohol and medicine to a fi ctional foray into
illicit gene editing, the books on this year’s summer reading list encour-
age readers to push past well-trod assumptions about a variety of topics—
from farming to magic—and to have fun doing so. Read on to see what
our reviewers, all alumni of the AAAS Mass Media Science & Engineering
Fellows program, thought of eight science books set to publish in the
coming months. —Valerie Thompson
BOOKS et al.
INSIGHTS
Corrected 3 June 2022. See full text.