Nonfiction science book recommendations involving insulin and/or diabetes

Описание: Book recommendations involving insulin & diabetes

Insulin: the crooked timber: a history from thick brown muck to Wall Street gold by Kersten T. Hall, 2022
If you’re anticipating a book about insulin, you might get more than you bargained for. Turns out, this book is a very wide-reaching science history book – covering topics such as early protein biochemistry, the birth of molecular biology, the genesis of biotech, and pharmaceutical shenanigans.
A great read for science history buffs, but definitely not what I was expecting, so know what you’re getting yourself into! (And it’ll help if you have a biochemistry and/or molecular biology background already)
Told in 3 parts:
1) Discovery of insulin – you might have heard of Banting & Best, perhaps even their feud with Macleod and Collip, but it actually turns out it’s way more complicated and there were others before them
2) Discovery of the nature of insulin – Fred Sanger figuring out its sequence, Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin solving its structure, etc.
3) Development of insulin as a pharmaceutical product – birth of biotech, development of different “designer” insulin, controversies over price, etc.


Insulin: A Hundred-Year History by Stuart Bradwel, 2023 
A much more accessible book than Hall’s “Insulin: the crooked timber”
Rather than focusing on the scientific discovery of insulin, it takes a patient’s perspective and covers diabetes treatment over time more broadly from more of a sociological perspective
Criticizes paternalistic treatment of people with diabetes over time
Takes a critical view of expensive “improved” versions of insulin while patients struggle to access &/or afford even the basic form
Takes on the incredible injustices in insulin (in)accessibility


Fred Sanger – Double Nobel Laureate by George G. Brownlee, 2014
Comprehensive biography from one of Sanger’s trainees that’s heavy on the science (just like I like it!) It includes extensive interviews with Fred Sanger and lots of great pictures and figures taking you through the development of Sanger sequencing (for DNA, RNA, and proteins – including, first and foremost, insulin!).
It also includes reminiscences by colleagues and peers.


Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin: Patterns, Proteins and Peace: A Life in Science by Georgina Ferry, 2014/2020 (Updated version)
The life story of one of my all-time favorite scientists, pioneering x-ray crystallographer and peace activist Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin who won the Nobel Prize in 1964 for solving the structure of vitamin-B12 (which required playing a significant role in developing crystallographic methods). Her real goal, however, was insulin, and she solved its structure (after years of wrangling with it) in 1969. 
The author does a great job of incorporating Dorothy’s own recollections, diary entries, etc. so you really feel like you get to know her as a person as well as a scientist. After doing so, she seems more awe-inspiring as a scientist, while at the same time also much more human. The book also gives a great behind-the-scenes of the early days of x-ray crystallography. It’s pretty hard-core on the science, but I highly recommend it for anyone interested in structural biology, especially!
More on Crowfoot Hodgkin: http://bit.ly/dorothycrowfoothodgkin


more recommendations for things to read, watch, & listen to; https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list...
Blog version: https://bit.ly/bbbookrecs 
Doc: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1v...

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