The Gene: An Intimate History

As others have stated, the writing is both clear and elegant. Modern genetics is a hugely important topic, but the future of genetics technology is murky. Mukherjee deals nicely with the complexities although there are bound to be disagreements about his conclusions and musings. More to the point, understanding modern genetics is far from easy especially for those of us without the appropriate scientific background. Toward the end of the book when he discusses many of the modern technologies the going gets rough. However, I have a fairly good lay understanding of genetics, and have read many attempts to explain how all this works. It's just hard work. There were certainly places where I didn't completely follow although perhaps a second or third reading might have done the trick. At any rate this is by far the best introduction to modern genetics although something like Genetics for Dummies would make a nice companion for help in clarification. The latter is somewhat too simplified (and now dated), but it is useful for relatively non-technical explanations. The author nicely integrates discusses individual cases including those from his own family which makes for a more interesting reading. He also does a superb job of bringing the history to life by focusing on individual scientists and their contributions. It would have been fun to read more about the various personality conflicts and rivalries, but such gossip while interesting is hardly central to the story. The early part of the book dealing with early genetics through Watson and Crick is engaging, and in fact I could hardly put the book down during the first half when the technical issues are not so complicated. The latter half is certainly less of a page turner, but there's just no way to give a reasonable explanation in page-turning mode. This book is certainly too long and too detailed for the causal reader, but it's brilliant for those of us willing to invest some time. Even the parts I didn't fully understand were interesting if a bit opaque. Highly recommended so long as potential readers do not expect an easy go of it. The negative reviews are mostly about delivery failures and Kindle mishaps which are not relevant to the worth of the book. These are not issues likely to affect the majority of us and say nothing about the book itself. This is not the best place for complaining about such matters although, of course for some items consistent problems in manufacture and delivery are important to know. Not true here. And there are legitimate complaints about some material that might have been included but wasn't. However, the lack of such material is hardly reason to denigrate the whole book. I too missed material that I wish had been included, but the book is long and inevitable decisions must be made about what gets in and what doesn't. Missing material, which is not extensive in any case, is hardly reason to give the book really low ratings. It's important to have such lapses pointed out, but they have to be balanced against the many strengths of the book.

Interest in the power of the gene has heightened by the popularity of the numerous ancestry testing sites, like 23 & Me, which is the one I used to find out that I was 99% “Northwestern” European, which included Britain and Ireland (this would also include Scotland, which wasn’t a surprise) but the “Irish” ancestry was. The book provides a comprehensive history of the most intimate science of our time—the fundamentals of heredity. What better person to tell this story than the author of The Laws of Medicine and The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer, which won the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction and was voted one of Time’s 100 best and most influential books since 1923. Mukherjee is a Rhodes Scholar, a graduate of Stanford University and the University of Oxford, not to mention Harvard Medical School. The author has embarked on a most ambitious quest to understand human heredity’s influence on lives, personalities, identities, fates and the choices we make as individuals. Through the story, the author’s own family members were present, plagued by mental illness. The book is divided into two parts. A vivid history of the development of genetics and then a meditation of the study of what it means for biology and medicine (not to mention human identity). He also explores the challenges and dangers of genetic modification. For years, “experts” proposed that male homosexuality was caused by the distorted dynamics of a family, “by the fatal combination of a smothering mother who was often ‘close-binding’ and (sexually) intimate, if not overtly seductive, to her son and by a detached, distant father.” All of this changed in July of 1993 with the discovery of the so-called gay gene, which incited one of the most vigorous public discussions about genes, identity, and choice in the history of genetics. Just one of the surprises I came across in this eye-opening book. The author also explores the future of this new, quickly developing science with the following quote from Gina Smith, author of The Genomics Age, “Probably no DNA science is at once as hopeful, controversial, hyped, and even as potentially dangerous as the discipline known as gene therapy.” He goes on to say, “It would rebound from the ugliness of the initial trials and learn the moral lessons implicit in the “cautionary tale of scientific overreach.” Over the years, we can expect to see more headway on how genes can identify and prevent serious diseases. As I was writing this review, I listened to a story on Public Radio about a new test made possible through research at “T-Gen” (Translational Genomics Research Institute) here in Phoenix of a breakthrough that would decrease the test turn-around time for Valley Fever from 21 to only one day, which would accelerate the healing process. As far as my own 23 & Me test, I added Ireland to the countries I needed to visit, which is fairly straightforward. Not so for one of my close Guatemalan friends whose test indicated over 80% of his family comes from the Iberian Peninsula, which includes Spain. This was not a surprise, but the 20% of Indian influence (Mayan Indian, in this case)) was a surprise and opened up some interesting questions and speculation. Although over 50% of the population is Mayan Indian, they are still ignored and considered second-class citizens to a degree making this revelation an embarrassment to some. This book is possibly one of the greatest detective stories ever told. And Mukherjee tells a dramatic story that is sweeping and transcendent. A perfect read for anyone who wants to better understand and appreciate the considerable impact that genomics will have on our personal lives as well as new trends in health care.

Eye-opening, well written and thought provoking book

Muy buen libro, explica de forma sencilla pero concisa conceptos importantes sobre genética y biotecnología, además que la forma de llevar la historia lo hace de acuerdo a los eventos más relevantes y en orden cronológico sobre dichas áreas.

Gründlich recherchiert, super geschrieben. Dr. Mukherjee ist ein begnadeter Erzähler, ebenso wie sein vorheriges Werk "The Emperor of all Maladies" ist auch "The Gene" absolut empfehlenswert. Auch für nicht-medizinisch / biochemisch vorgebildete Leser ist dieses Buch leicht verständlich und spannend geschrieben. Bezieht sich auf die englische Ausgabe (die ich auf Grund des feinen Erzählstils nur empfehlen kann, eine deutsche Übersetzung kann da nicht mithalten).

De schrijver, van oorsprong oncoloog, beschrijft zijn zoektocht naar de genetische informatie die van de chromosomen vanaf de moestuin in het klooster dat Mendel kan worden afgelezen. Met verbazing kijkt hij achterom en ziet de ongelooflijk secure wijze waarop de wetenschappers grip krijgen op de "zwarte materie"die zich in de celkern bevindt. Maar ook beschrijft hij de pseudowetenschappelijke eugenetica van het Duitse Rijk onder Hitler, die een voortzetting van de gedachtenexperimenten van o.a. Galton, de neef van Darwin bleken te zijn. Van de chromosomen en de genen dalen we af in de getordeerde wereld van het DNA en RNA met als bouwteen voor de informatie de vier welbekende aminozuren. Erfelijkheid is echter afhankelijk van de dubbel aanwezige genen en de genexpressie. De zoektocht naar de locatie van het gen voor homoseksualiteit (Mukherjee noemt alleen de mannelijke variant) is een schoolvoorbeeld van inductie vanuit de wereld van tweelingen. Harde conclusies zijn er niet. Fraai uitgewerkt is het epigenetische geheugen met het intron als essentieel onderdeel. De zoektocht naar gentherapie is aanvankelijk een onthutsende beschrijving van gedroomde resultaten op basis van onvoldoende geverifieerde inzichten. Het zal anders worden, wanneer het enzymmechanisme van het HIV-virus wordt gebruikt om de echte gentherapie te ontwikkelen. Dit alles is geschreven in prachtig Engels. Lezen, zou ik zeggen..

A very interesting introduction to the science behind genetics and genomics that reads like a thriller. Not a dry and uninteresting text book, but the sort of book you can't put down until the last page. Comprehensive and well written, with plenty of references to the original research documents quoted if you want to go deeper into the subject.