The sting is in the tale Won for All – Michael Ashburner (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, New York) ISBN 0-87969-802-0

Research is driven as much by new technology as by new ideas. Just think of the way biology has changed out of all recognition during the last 35 years as a result of, amongst other things, DNA cloning, Southern blotting, microarrays, mass spectroscopy, and high throughput DNA sequencing. The pace of change shows no sign of slackening as we are promised the ability to sequence a mammalian genome for $100,000 by the end of 2006, with the $1,000 human genome sequence apparently in sight. At a pro rata rate a Drosophila genome sequence would then cost $50, much the same as a batch of restriction enzyme. A critical step on the way to these almost unimaginable achievements was the sequencing of the genome of the fruitfly Drosophila, Drosophila melanogaster to be precise. In almost a single bound, this took genome sequencing, at least for Drosophila, from a cottage industry to mass production, and in the process put many Drosophila researchers through emotions similar to those which I imagine were experienced by the hand-weavers of northern England when confronted by the dark satanic mill of the industrial revolution, although in this case the process turned out satisfactorily for all concerned. The story of what happened between the first appearance of the mill owner, Craig Venter, and publication of the 'complete' Drosophila genome sequence about eighteen months later, is the tale told by Michael Ashburner in 'Won for All'. There are in fact two parallel stories. The first is the story of the handloom weavers of Drosophila sequencing, whose relatively peaceful world is thrown into turmoil by the mill owner, but who prove indispensable to the project as only they have the power to interpret the coded messages spewing from the banks of ABI3700s (DNA sequencing machines) in the mill. The second is a collection of the mini-stories of the individuals whose paths intersect during the events of the main tale. These run alongside the main story and are told in the staccato voice of 150 footnotes that are like the diversions of a raconteur talking over a few drinks in the bar at the end of a long day at a conference. These stories are brought up to date in a Postscript which, like the credits of films such as 'Chariots of Fire' or 'Motor Cycle Diaries' — motorcycles appear in surprising places in Ashburner's story — tells us what has …