Welcome to the Genome. Michael Yudell

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

      Second editions test the foundations of longstanding collaboration, especially when a book’s research and writing goes on far longer that either collaborator had predicted (or, for that matter, hoped). But here we are. Welcome to the Genome (the second edition) is a book way too many years in the making. The slow pace at which we wrote, however, actually turned out to be a good thing. The science evolved. As did our own perspectives on genomics. And if you look at the tone of the two editions of the book, our evolution on the genomic revolution is clear. We went from “Hey, this is awesome and it will change the world” (first edition) to “The science and technology of genomics are amazing, especially as they impact basic science. But, as far as the genome’s impact on our collective health and wellbeing, well, way too much hype” (second edition).

      This second edition, built on the foundation of the first, owes so much to the many librarians and archivists who guided us through both editions. We also remain thankful to the many members of our team who made this book possible. At the American Museum of Natural History, Maron Waxman, formerly Special Publications Director, who is now enjoying retirement, was a dedicated editor, staunch advocate, and good friend, and remains the reason why we wrote this book in the first place.

      The staff of the American Museum of Natural History’s photo studio, including Denis Finnin and Craig Chesek, helped us put together the images seen in both the first and second editions. Some of these images began as components of the Museum’s exhibition “The Genomic Revolution,” an exhibit that ran at the Museum and then nationally from 2002 to 2010. We are grateful to the Museum’s exhibition team, including Vice President for Exhibitions, David Harvey, and exhibition designer, Tim Nessen.

We remain grateful for the inspiration and contributions from the writers and researchers in the Museum’s Exhibition Department, who played an important role shaping this book, especially the first edition. Lauri Halderman, Karen de Seve, and Martin Schwabacher were the writers for “The Genomic Revolution.” Some of the passages and case studies in both editions were originally researched and written by the exhibition’s writing team. We especially relied on their approach and writing in Chapter 10, which looks at genetically modified organisms. And we must also thank and recognize Dr. Yael Wyner for her efforts in guiding the exhibition’s content and thus for her intellectual contributions to this book.

      The entire staff of the Museum’s library and archives deserves our special thanks for helping us with this project. Finally, we want to thank Museum President, Ellen Futter, and Museum Provost, Michael Novacek, whose continued support and commitment to public education about the genome project helped get both volumes of this book off the ground.

      Two colleagues read the manuscript in its entirety. Dr. Holly Tabor, Associate Professor of Medicine at Stanford University, and David Randle from the American Museum of Natural History offered detailed comments on the book. Suzanne Grossman, my former research assistant here at Drexel, spent almost a year working with Rob and I completing the book, editing the text, gaining photo and image permissions, and making sure we got the damn thing done. We are so grateful to Suzanne! Thank you! We are grateful for the additional research assistance provided along the way by Katia Duey and Jaime Earnest at Drexel.

      Finally, we are very grateful for the patience and ongoing support of Antony Sami, Priya Subbrayal, and the entire team at John Wiley & Sons, who helped shepherd this second edition to completion.