2. The Genius Factory: The Curious History of the Nobel Prize Sperm Bank

I read The Genius Factory as a part of the 100+ Reading Challenge (check in on my progress here). Gamete donation is a pet topic of mine and I have been looking forward to the opportunity to curl up with this book for months.

When reading about the policy or ethical arguments against gamete donation, it is common to come across what I call the "Gattaca Worry." In short, the Worry is that gamete donation will be used to drive the achievement of creepy eugenic goals or, more commonly, to produce commoditized designer babies--saddled from birth with extraordinary parental expectations. In invoking the Worry, the Nobel Prize Sperm Bank is often cited alongside references to the outlandish hunt for the Faberge of human eggs, as evidenced by advertisements in the Stanford Daily, et al. For all the noise and Worry about the Nobel Prize Sperm Bank, David Plotz points out that the Bank only ever had three Nobel Prize donors. The labor of these donors was not fruitful: not a single Nobel offspring was produced by the Bank.

The thread of The Genius Factory that spoke to me was the story of Donor White--a man unusual in his sense of obligation to children conceived as a result of his donations, even those he did not know. Coincidentally, my donor pseudonym was also "White" and like Donor White I wonder often about the children that resulted from my donations--a wonder made more poignant by our respective personal circumstances (his childless marriage, my failed pregnancy as a 1L).

This book was extraordinary and I cheer David Plotz for his excellent research and storytelling.