The Gene: An Intimate History
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.44 (666 Votes) |
| Asin | : | B01D3BXLP8 |
| Format Type | : | |
| Number of Pages | : | 477 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2017-12-02 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
From the Pulitzer Prize-winning, best-selling author of The Emperor of All Maladies, a magnificent history of the gene and a response to the defining question of the future: What becomes of being human when we learn to "read" and "write" our own genetic information? The extraordinary Siddhartha Mukherjee has written a biography of the gene as deft, brilliant, and illuminating as his extraordinarily successful biography of cancer. Throughout the narrative, the story of Mukherjee's own family - with its tragic and bewildering history of mental illness - cuts like a bright red line, reminding us of the many questions that hang over our ability to translate the science of genetics from the laboratory to the real world. As The New Yorker said of The Emperor of All Maladies, "It's hard to think of many books for a general audience that have rendered any area of modern science and technology with such intelligence, accessibility, and compassion. Weaving science, social history, and personal narrative to tell us the story of one of the most important conceptual breakthroughs of modern times, Mukherjee animates the quest to understand human heredity and its surprising influence on our lives, personalities, identities, fates, and choices. In superb prose and with an instinct for the dramatic scene, he describes the centuries of research and experimentation - from Aristotle and Pythagoras to M
"We used to think our future was in the stars. Now we know it's in our genes." Genetics is humanity and life writ large, and this book on the gene by physician and writer Siddhartha Mukherjee paints on a canvas as large as life itself. It deals with both the history of genetics and its applications in health and disease. It shows us that studying the gene not only holds the potential to transform the treatment of human disease and to feed the world’s burgeoning population, but promises to provide a window into life’s deepest secrets and into our very identity as human beings.The volume benefits from Mukherjee’s elegant lite. "The author's biggest success is in weaving a beautiful narrative. Starting with the emotionally-charged personal links to" according to NJ. Gene is a must-read history book on genetics. Many accounts have been penned on Relativity and Quantum Mechanics, for instance, to make their importance known to the non-professionals. Gene fills the void for the equally important science of Genetics.The author's biggest success is in weaving a beautiful narrative. Starting with the emotionally-charged personal links to the field to the frequent detailing of personalities of or anecdotes involving famous scientists, the subject is kept 'human'. There are abundant scientific notions to satisfy any reader picking up. Jacqueline Coolidge said Must-read!!!. This should be considered a must-read book for anyone who wants a good understanding of biology, evolution, medicine, and many important aspects of the human condition. Mukherjee is very accessible, but also rigorous. I think if I had been able to read this book when I was still a young woman in high school, it would have motivated me to persevere and overcome the obstacles of crappy teachers and to stick with "real" science (as opposed to switching to the pseudo-science of economics).Perhaps more importantly, it helped me process a recent revelation - that my bel