The Genius Factory

The Genius Factory (The Curious History of the Nobel Prize Sperm Bank) (2005) by David Plotz. Plotz traces the inception of the sperm bank and its founder, Robert Graham, from 1980 to the present. Although the title sperm bank is now closed, there is abundant material for the book concerning past sperm donors and the children they "fathered." Plotz, at the time of the writing of the book, was employed by Slate, the online magazine, and he made good use of the Internet to find mothers and children and to try to track down the sperm donors, whose identities were kept secret by the sperm bank. It's a bit of a slow read at points, but finishes strong. Grade: B+