How To Clone The Perfect Blonde

I am one of those people who think cloning is a great idea. Being able to replace damaged human organs with a smaller chance of rejection and a better chance of healing makes a lot of sense to me. Eyes, heart, lungs, liver even blood could be grown and used by the original donor giving the person a shot at a longer, more normal life.

But, it seems sometimes like I am in the minority. I once sat in an ethics class where they discussed cloning and talked about how “New Hitlers” would be grown, or how we would be unleashing great evil or trying to play God. No matter how hard I tried to explain certain science facts, they insisted on sticking with science fiction and bad horror films.

See, it is really sort of simple. If we did have genetic material that would work from old Adolph and could grow a clone, it would just LOOK LIKE HIM. It would not necessarily BE HIM. Lets call this clone Alex. Alex might grow up to hate moustaches. He could love meat and not be a vegetarian. Shoot, if he was raised by a family named Goldberg, he would probably be Bar mitzvahed when he was ready. He might even become a doctor and marry a nice Jewish girl.

It would not be Adolph Hitler. It would be a genetic double, but not the same person. A clone is not a carbon copy, it is more a stencil of a person. While Star Trek Nemesis will always be the film that killed my favorite character from the Next Generation, it will also be the film that continued to give cloning a silly image and name.

In the film, the bad guys took genetic material from Captain Picard and grew a clone of him. The clone is bald at an early age and drinks the same type of tea Picard does. How? In the film, we are told that they never had any contact and the clone was turned into a slave away from anyone who was not a slave. So, how come this clone seemed to have every affectation Picard did? Yes, he would have looked like Jean Luc. He might have sounded like Jean Luc.

But, he probably would not have liked the same type of music, tea, women, books or anything else Jean Luc preferred. He is not an exact mental or emotional copy.

That is what the authors  Nelson and Hollingham try to show from the very first chapter. Making use of humor and often sarcastic wit, they use the latest scientific theory and explain it in ways that the average person can understand. It looks at cutting edge concepts and tells us if it is really possible to clone the “Perfect Blonde”.

No, the book will probably in ever make it in a science class. For one reason, it is not filled with 64 letter long words that can’t be understood by anyone without a degree in Biology or Physics. It is an easy to read book, designed for you and me. Not Professor So and So.

Want to live forever, or learn about teleportation? This is the book for you. Describing everything from the title idea to weight loss in easy to understand and follow terms the concepts are presented in a way that could make it possible. Someday. 

The ideas and topics discussed include biotechnology, quantum mechanics, gene therapy, black holes, , time travel, bionics, cybernetics, cryogenics, Nanotechnology, teleportation and my personal favorite,  parallel universes. I like the idea of a different universe where I am King of the Planet and Robert Heinlein and Stan Lee are recognized for their genius as they rightly deserve.

And the entire book is written in a way that makes it fun to keep going. You want to know what else you can learn; you find that the things you tended to drift off in during class now keeps you attentive and with a smile on your face.

While you might think that quantum mechanics and black holes would be boring, here Nelson and Hollingham make it enjoyable. Science teachers, students and just lay-people will find the book a treasure trove of information and ideas, presented in a way that will make them easy to discuss and to remember.