Main description:

This short memoir mixes science with human interest. It charts the author's journey working at the forefront of In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF), test tube baby research. It recounts the challenges that went into establishing IVF in the wake of Steptoe and Edwards and provides a cautionary tale of how necessary it is to pay attention to what's going on in your own family. There are no other published books that detail the development of IVF in the UK from the perspective of someone who was at the cutting edge, but it is told from a very human and personal view point to appeal to a wide variety of readers. The author started as a homeless teenager from Grimsby and later became one of the founding fathers of IVF. Throughout the 1980s and 90s and for years after that, he played a key part in its scientific progress. The dedication to bring children into the lives of thousands of infertile families, came at a cost of losing his own family.