During my time off from work, I recently finished Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood. It was definitely not the kind of book that I expected from her, which just goes to show what a talented author she is. It's a bleak story narrated by Snowman, the main protagonist, telling us of a post apocalyptic world in the not-so-far-future and how it came to be that way. It touches a lot on modern day science and our reliance on pharmaceuticals and genetically modified organisms. In particular, I liked the part about 'pigoons' which are essentially genetically modified pigs used to grow human-tissue organs for transplants. Pretty disgusting but not really that far-fetched. More and more so, technology seems to be in equal parts both a blessing and a curse. If pharmaceutical companies can create cures to new diseases, what's to stop them from creating new diseases to cure in order to make more money? After reading this book, it doesn't seem too outlandish - less science-fiction and more science-fact.
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