Reiss MJ, Straughan R. 288 pages. New York: Cambridge Univ Pr; 1996. $24.95. ISBN 0521454417. Order phone 800-872-7423.

Field of medicine: Medical ethics and genetics.

Format: Hardcover book.

Audience: Researchers and clinicians involved in gene therapy.

Purpose: To clarify the biological and philosophical issues involved in genetic engineering.

Content: To determine whether genetic engineering constitutes an improvement on nature, this book examines its scientific underpinnings as well as its moral, ethical, and theological implications. Examples of genetic engineering in microorganisms, plants, nonhuman animals, and humans are considered. The need for public education is emphasized. The authors express their own views provisionally, maintaining that each case must be examined individually to determine whether genetic engineering is acceptable.

Highlights: Written in jargon-free language by a population geneticist-priest and a moral philosopher, this book integrates the disciplines of the authors through the logical development of topics analyzed from different perspectives. The scientific illustrations are simple and informative, the cartoons and quotations are engaging, and the cases are intriguing and clarifying.

Limitations: References and examples are drawn mainly from the United Kingdom. Geneticists may consider the science simplistic; philosophers may reach a similar conclusion about the discussion of ethical issues. Given the recent rapid developments in the field, it is not surprising that the material already needs updating.

Context: Few books are devoted entirely to this topic, and none that I know of addresses religious considerations and the applications of genetic engineering to nonhuman organisms. The most recent book on gene therapy-The Ethics of Gene Therapy by LR Walters and JG Palmer (Oxford Univ Press)-is not comparable in range.

Reviewer: Mary B. Mahowald, PhD, University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois.

Commentary: As genetic advances proliferate, researchers and physicians in all areas of medicine must deal with their implications. This book facilitates a better understanding of the science and the ethics that are increasingly inseparable from clinical practice.