What if I told you an eccentric millionaire, having decided that America was heading down the genetic tubes (pun intended), went on a crusade to artificially inseminate women with the sperm of geniuses? You probably would tell me that I should stop reading so many scifi books. When I read about "The Genius Factory", I immediately thought of the movie The Boys from Brazil, starring Gregroy Peck. "What a rip off" I thought initially. But then, as I read on, I realized it was true. Holy crap!

"The Genius Factory is the story of the most radical human-breeding experiment in American history: the Nobel Prize sperm bank. It opened to notorious fanfare in 1980, and for two decades, women flocked to the bank from all over the country to choose a sperm donor from its roster of Nobel-laureate scientists, mathematical prodigies, successful businessmen, and star athletes. But the bank quietly closed its doors in 1999--its founder dead, its confidential records sealed, and the fate of its children and donors unknown. While researching Nobelist William Shockley, a donor to the bank, award-winning Slate columnist David Plotz kept coming across references to the Repository. He realized that no one knew how this audacious venture had turned out. So in early 2001, Plotz set out to solve the mystery of the Nobel Prize sperm bank."

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Published: (2005-06-22 11:26:49.0)