Multiplicity

Plt;bPgt;The awe-inspiring, little-known story of Nobel laureate Frances ArnoldP#8217;s discovery of directed enzyme evolutionP#8212;and how it was sparked by reading Jorge Luis Borges.Plt;/bPgt;Plt;brPgt;Plt;brPgt;In 1976, a young engineering student from Princeton, Frances Arnold, happened upon Jorge Luis BorgesP#8217;s short story P#8220;The Library of BabelP#8221; while in Madrid. The tale recounts a vast honeycomb of a library that contains all the answers to the mysteries of humanity. Little did Arnold know that the story would change the course of her lifeP#8212;and the course of science.Plt;brPgt;Plt;brPgt;In Plt;iPgt;MultiplicityPlt;/iPgt;, Telmo Pievani explores her journey and the significanceP#8212;and scientific potentialP#8212;of BorgesP#8217;s legendary library and others like it. The famous evolutionist John Maynard Smith, for instance, had fantasized about the existence of a similar enormous library full of proteins rather than books. And in 1995 the philosopher of mind Daniel Dennett would devise a library no less confounding: one that collects all possible genomes, or all possible combinations of the nucleotide bases of DNA. Why? Because by comparing all the proteins, genomes, and plants and animals that exist and have existed throughout evolution, what is finally revealed is possibilityP#8212;what Plt;iPgt;doesnP#8217;tPlt;/iPgt; exist but Plt;iPgt;couldPlt;/iPgt;.Plt;brPgt;Plt;brPgt;For Arnold, the concept of such a library ultimately led to the discovery of the directed evolution of enzymes: a way of using natureP#8217;s own method to produce new and better enzymes. The revolutionary idea transformed protein chemistry and biotechnology and earned her the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2018. With literary echoes ranging from Borges to Italo Calvino, this slim book tells her brilliant story.