San Francisco-based radio journalist Gunn hosts National Public Radio's weekly Tech Nation program and its newer segment Biotech Nation . A Purdue mechanical engineer and former NASA scientist, she is well qualified to ask questions and makes the technical subjects she discusses accessible and entertaining, writing with a breezy style that should not be mistaken for fluff. Although she constantly questions her own background knowledge, the truth is that dynamically evolving biotechnology is more bleeding edge than cutting edge in many areas and so interdisciplinary and challenging that neither individuals nor institutions (nonprofit or for profit) are likely to succeed in getting a handle on these new technologies without collaboration. Finding out what nobody knows yet is an important beginning, and Gunn does a good job of introducing us to the current landscape, with intriguing and colorful characters, and reminding us that this is not textbook science but a set of very real challenges. Recommended for all science and technology collections.—Mary Chitty, Cambridge Healthtech, Needham, MA