Gene,The:An Intimate History - Hardcover

Siddhartha Mukherjee

4.36

49,793 ratings by Goodreads

9780670087143: Gene,The:An Intimate History

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0670087149 ISBN 13: 9780670087143

Publisher: Penguin Books Limited, 2016

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Spanning the globe and several centuries, The Gene is the story of the quest to decipher the master-code that makes and defines humans, that governs our form and function. The story of the gene begins in an obscure Augustinian abbey in Moravia in 1856, where a monk stumbles on the idea of a unit of heredity . It intersects with Darwin s theory of evolution, and collides with the horrors of Nazi eugenics in the 1940s. The gene transforms post-war biology. It reorganizes our understanding of sexuality, temperament, choice and free will. Above all, this is a story driven by human ingenuity and obsessive minds from Charles Darwin and Gregor Mendel to Francis Crick, James Watson and Rosalind Franklin, and the thousands of scientists still working to understand the code of codes. This is an epic, moving history of a scientific idea being brought to life, by the author of The Emperor of All Maladies. But woven through The Gene, like a red line, is also an intimate history the story of Mukherjee s own family and its recurring pattern of mental illness, reminding us that genetics is vitally relevant to everyday lives. These concerns reverberate even more urgently today as we learn to read and write the human genome unleashing the potential to change the fates and identities of our children. Majestic in its ambition, and unflinching in its honesty, The Gene gives us a definitive account of the fundamental unit of heredity and a vision of both humanity s past and future.

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Review:

"History repeats itself, in part because the genome repeats itself. And the genome repeats itself, in part because history does. The impulses, ambitions, fantasies, and desires that drive human history are, at least in part, encoded in the human genome. And human history has, in turn, selected genomes that carry these impulses, ambitions, fantasies, and desires" --S. Mukherjee What a book. Every biologist should read this. --By Gopalakrishnan K on 24 May 2016

The greatest science writing book i ever had. A long search history led by a thousand explorers, from Aristotle, Pythagoras to Mendel to Francis Collins and to j.Craig venter in search of genetic hereditary 'thing' and what makes us. Brilliantly written. I wish, I would have read this book just two years ago. Wonderful and enjoyable (must) read if you love genetics. Beautifully carried, and connected all missed and available pieces of history of a gene... To his familial heredity. Siddhartha Mukherjee (author)- is really a extraordinary writer. --By mayur pawale on 29 May 2016

Siddhartha mukherjee weaves a story that brings together the twin fabrics of science and personal past together. He does the same thing to medicine that William Darlymple did for history- making it interesting,personal and passionate. This book is a must read for everyone who want to know about genes and themselves. Because we are all as the book so wonderfully unveils are but made of genes. --By Arun Gautham on 23 June 2016

Book Description:

The Gene is the story of one of the most powerful and dangerous ideas in our history, from bestselling, prize-winning author Siddhartha Mukherjee.

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