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SELECTED REVIEWS

Masterminds: Genius, DNA, and the Quest to Rewrite Life (Harper Perennial U.S. and U.K)
(Previously titled The Geneticist Who Played Hoops with My DNA... And other masterminds from the frontiers of biotech)

        Interviews about the book:

         Reviews:

  • "A Best Book of the Year" -- San Francisco Chronicle
  • "Duncan turns a scarily bright light on the exploding frontiers of biotechnology and genetic engineering, from stem-cell research to cloning to finding cures for deadly diseases." -- Vanity Fair
  • "Duncan turns his discerning eye toward the role of personality in science… remarkable profiles… Duncan's prose is lively and engaging..." -- San Francisco Chronicle
  • “Duncan argues that personality plays a pivotal role in what scientists do. Not content to merely profile these prominent researchers, he connects each one to a figure from literature, history or mythology… The connections work well…” -- The Washington Post
  • “His profiles are well drawn, lively and personal, and the scientists are variously enthusiastic, remarkable, intimidating and compelling.” -- The Independent
  • “Vivid, memorable portrayals of the scientists working on biology's most fascinating frontiers. I learned a tremendous amount from this book -- and enjoyed every chapter." -- James Fallows, Atlantic Monthly
  • "Rather then speculating about the future in a more conventional way, David Ewing Duncan, in his charming and often amusing book uses instead the personalities and thoughts of a coterie of exceptional geneticists.’ -- The Sunday Telegraph, Adrian Woolfson
  • "An interesting book… clear and helpful." -- Times of London, by Brenda Maddox, author of Rosalind Franklin: The Dark Lady of DNA
  • "Duncan raises some important questions... like whether tinkering with the human genome is monstrous or miraculous. Or as he puts it, "What if Frankenstein had... done the experiment right?" -- Wired
  • “A daring, and dead-accurate portrait of what it takes. Top notch.”-- Po Bronson, What Should I Do With My Life?
  • "200 year old people? Emails sent by brain waves? [Duncan] sketches the (possible) future." -- USA Weekend
  • "Illuminating profiles of some of our most brilliant scientists." – Booklist
  • "Fascinating..." Moira Gunn, National Public Radio's Tech Nation
  • "David Duncan explores the hyper-brave new world of biological manipulation. He takes us on a provocative, entertaining, and, yes, chilling journey..."-- Erik Larson, The Devil in the White City
  • "Duncan deserves kudos..." Wired News, from article, "Bioscientists: Gods or Monsters?" by biotech writer Kristen Philipkoski
  • “This collection of biographical studies… sparkle… [Duncan’s] willingness to inject himself into the story in unorthodox ways offers some of the book's highlights…” – Publisher’s Weekly
  • "This is a fascinating study on the role of personality in science... well written and very accessible." -- Michael Krasny, "Forum", KQED, public radio, San Francisco, listen to Krasny's complete hour-long interview with David here.
  • "This is a book for every human being who read the science section over the past few years and thought, Holy #@&!!, are they going to do that? This book is exactly what we need: clear, down to earth writing on a cloudy, larger-than-life issues.”-- Mary Roach, Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadaver
  • "A sparkling, fascinating book… Duncan brings alive the pioneering geniuses of this revolution -- wit, warts, and all -- and, without oversimplification, makes its issues, triumphs, and ethical dilemmas accessible and exciting." -- James Reston, Jr

Calendar: Humanity's Epic Struggle to Determine a True and Accurate Year (Bard, 1998)

  • "Calendar sparkles… Gripping, expansive and scholarly, it will be indispensable reading for years to come. Duncan has achieved a rare feat in turning something ordinary into an extraordinary metaphor of life." – Amanda Foreman, The Observer (U.K.)
  • "An astonishing book." Le Figaro (Paris)
  • "In this finely researched book, David Ewing Duncan chronicles how mankind has gradually moved towards a common calendar... Mr. Duncan brilliantly evokes the more philosophical tensions within Christianity about the nature of time." – The Economist
  • "Duncan writes the way good teachers teach, conversational, yet informed… [he] is a populizer and storyteller…" – Bob Minzesheimer, USA Today (Editor’s Pick)
  • “David Ewing Duncan has written a fascinating book, spelling out a highly complex subject with a minimum of jargon.” – Bill Maxwell, The Irish Times (Dublin)
  • "David Duncan’s book… is more than just timely… he illuminates a grand quest that lies close to the very heart of science… Though Duncan’s research shows itself in every chapter, it’s his clear and lively descriptions of people and places that hold the reader." – Dan Falk, Toronto Globe and Mail
  • "David Ewing Duncan’s The Calendar is a charming and well-written ramble through history... We encounter heroes and villains, popes and emperors… He breathes life into numerous nearly forgotten historical figures… a good read…" – Kristen Lippincott, The Times of London
  • "Duncan is a master at weaving together various threads and anecdotes… He sketches out fascinating characters… By using a tiny thread to guide us through ages, cultures and religions, Calendar is a fascinating exploration of the history of ideas – and a chance to reflect on the exact nature of the little grid of boxes that rules so much of our lives." – Minal Hajratwala, San Jose Mercury News
  • "As the new millennium approaches, this fine book will prove to all readers that the establishment of a consistent and useful calendar is no dull work of drones and bean counters, but one of humanity's greatest achievements and the embodiment of our cultural history and progress." Stephen Jay Gould
  • "Among human inventions, few have required the contributions of more minds across more millennia than the calendar…Lively and fascinating… Involving a surprising number of subplots, Duncan’s story resonates not only with the cool rationality of astronomers… but also with the unruly passions of royal lovers whose risky liaison brought Egypt’s calendar to Rome…" Booklist
  • "Duncan provides vivid portraits of the various figures who played roles in this process and of their time. A fascinating cross-section of history." Kirkus Reviews
  • "How [our] calendar came into being is the central story of David Ewing Duncan’s book, Calendar. Julius Caesar’s calendar, the Julian Calendar had calculated the year at 365 and ¼ days. It was off by about eleven minutes, and by the middle ages those eleven minutes had added up to more that a week…" – Host Robert Siegel interviewed David Ewing Duncan July 14, 1998 on NPR's All Things Considered (Click to hear interview)
  • "This engaging volume is an account of the human grasp, measurement and use of time. It is comprehensive and detailed, yet enthralling in the way the history is told and the technical aspects explained. David Duncan takes his place in the ranks of the best explainers in print." Hugh Downs
  • "Absorbing…extensively researched…this accomplished interdisciplinary work will appeal to all readers tyrannized by the date book." Publishers Weekly
  • "Forget Stephen Hawking: The Calendar is a brief history of time that we can all understand and enjoy." – William Hartston, The Independent (U.K.)
  • "…excellent… fascinating… By A.D. 4909 [the calendar] will be one day ahead of the true year. A pity Duncan won’t be around to write about that as informatively and entertainingly as he has covered the calendar to date." Fordyce Maxwell, The Scotsman
  • "…highly readable… wonderful…" Focus (U.K.), * * * * (4-stars, highest), "Book of the Month"
  • "The story about our age-old efforts to stay in step with the clock-like movements of the moon, sun and stars is funny and sad, dramatic and comical, and David Duncan tells it beautifully, even poetically. This book is as irresistible as the flow of time itself." Dr. Michael Guillen, ABC News
  • "Tonight, we’re going to examine the previous thousand years of history and look ahead to the next thousand years. It’s a lot to handle and still get off the air on time…"–-Aaron Brown, Host, ABC Nightline, "The Millennium", Aired 1/2/97; Producer and Correspondent: David Ewing Duncan
  • "Veteran science and travel writer Duncan has assembled a lively history dating back 13,000 years to the first known timetable of the attempt to follow our exact place in the whirl of days, lunar cycles, seasons, and years." Outside Magazine
  • "From Caesar’s reform to the cesium oscillator, Duncan’s engaging story of how we fabricated time weaves precise science with the threads of human concern the very side of the coin of conflict that gave rise to the calendar as we know it today." Anthony Aveni, Professor of Astronomy, Colgate University
  • CALENDAR is a selection of the Book of the Month Club and the History Book of the Month Club. First serial: Smithsonian (US), The Saturday Telegraph (UK). Featured as a 5-part radio series on BBC.

Hernando de Soto: A Savage Quest in the Americas (Crown/OK Press, 1996)

  • "…an admirable tour de force… the meticulous reconstruction of the fate of Soto’s glittering Renaissance army of 600 men across 4,000 miles in a frustrated and exhausting search for an imaginary golden empire… [also a] tremendously enjoyable account of de Soto’s early years." – Fernando Cervantes, The New York Times Book Review
  • "…a vibrant, gripping biography." – Publisher’s Weekly (starred review)
  • "An epic adventure of conquest, brutality, and greed in the sixteenth century New World. Duncan tells this tale vividly, sensitively, and with respect for the historic sources… He forges a highly readable and authoritative biography." – Kirkus
  • "Soto moves across the rich tableau of Duncan’s book as a complex but dynamic figure – soldier, conspirator, explorer, conqueror…– Jonathan Kirsch, Los Angeles Times
  • "…in these pages Spanish conquistadors are epic, hot-blooded individuals – audacious, ambitious, greedy and ruthless…" – Washington Post Book World

Residents: The Perils and Promise of Educating Young Doctors (Scribner, 1996)

  • Residents was the subject of "The Intern," a 2-part ABC Nightline Documentary; aired September 16-17, 1996, Produced by David Ewing Duncan.
  • "Duncan… captures dramatically what goes wrong, not only during medical training but also in much of the care provided by American hospitals today… I hope someone is listening." – Washington Post Book World
  • "Duncan has written a chilling exposé that should be read at all hospitals and medical schools." – Publisher’s Weekly
  • "David Duncan has taken a scalpel to the body of medical denial, probing the wrongs and suggesting a course of healing. A brave book." – Samuel Shem, M.D., author of the bestselling House of God.
  • "No-punches-pulled scrutiny of the flawed system that produces our nation’s doctors… An up-close and sobering picture of medical education’s imperfections." – Kirkus Reviews
  • "Duncan has gathered a riveting collection of facts and stories and fairly presented all sides of this vital and complex issue. Duncan’s presentation of the powerful tension between differing pedagogic ideals is highly recommended." – Library Journal