SELECTED REVIEWS FOR
Experimental Man
What One Man's Body Reveals about His Future, Your Health, and Our Toxic World

"...gives us a brilliant view of what cutting-edge medical technology can - and -cannot tell us about our future health."
-- Financial Times

SELECTED REVIEWS FOR
Masterminds
Genius, DNA, and the Quest to Rewrite Life

Duncan turns his discerning eye toward the role of personality in science ... remarkable profiles ... Duncan's prose is lively and engaging
-- San Francisco Chronicle

An interesting book . . . clear and helpful.
-- The Times (London)

Explores the personalities and motivations of researchers now operating at the cutting edge of headline-making science.
-- Washington Post Book World

Vivid, memorable portrayals of the scientists working on biology's most fascinating frontiers.
-- James Fallows, Atlantic Monthly

200-year-old people? Emails sent by brain waves? [Duncan] sketches the (possible) future.
-- USA Weekend

A book for every human being who read the science section over the past few years and thought, "Holy #@&!!"
-- Mary Roach, author of Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers

A provocative, entertaining, and, yes, chilling journey.
-- Erik Larson, author of The Devil in the White City

A sparkling, fascinating book about the most important phenomenon of the new millennium, the biotech revolution.
-- James Reston, Jr., author of Galileo: A Life

Duncan turns a scarily bright light on the exploding frontiers of biotechnology.
-- Vanity Fair

Daring and dead-accurate. Top notch.
-- Po Bronson

Valuable insights into the debates within genetic science . . . intriguing
-- New Scientist

SELECTED REVIEWS FOR
The Geneticist Who Played Hoops with My DNA

Read an article about the book in the San Francisco Chronicle, June 19, by Rebecca Maksel

David on NPR's Morning Edition with Renee Montaigne, complete interview June 23, 2005.

David on NPR's BioTech Nation with Moira Gunn, complete interview

David on Michael Krasny, "Forum," KQED, Public Radio, San Francisco, complete interview

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

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

Valuable insights into the debates within genetic science... intriguing... good stuff.
-- The New Scientist

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

Intriguing… an easy read and fun…
– Nature

The book approaches its subjects in the irreverent spirit of Lytton Strachey's Eminent Victorians.
– Washington Times

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.

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.

SELECTED REVIEWS FOR
Calendar
Humanity's Epic Struggle to Determine a True and Accurate Year

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

SELECTED REVIEWS FOR
Hernando de Soto
A Savage Quest in the Americas