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| | Description | The genome's been mapped.
But what does it mean? Arguably the most significant scientific discovery of the new century, the mapping of the twenty-three pairs of chromosomes that make up the human genome raises almost as many questions as it answers. Questions that will profoundly impact the way we think about disease, about longevity, and about free will. Questions that will affect the rest of your life. Genome offers extraordinary insight into the ramifications of this incredible breakthrough. By picking one newly discovered gene from each pair of chromosomes and telling its story, Matt Ridley recounts the history of our species and its ancestors from the dawn of life to the brink of future medicine. From Huntington's disease to cancer, from the applications of gene therapy to the horrors of eugenics, Matt Ridley probes the scientific, philosophical, and moral issues arising as a result of the mapping of the genome. It will help you understand what this scientific milestone means for you, for your children, and for humankind. | |
| | Product Details | | Author: | Matt Ridley | | Paperback: | 368 pages | | Publisher: | Harper Perennial | | Publication Date: | June 01, 2006 | | Language: | English | | ISBN: | 0060894083 | | Package Length: | 7.8 inches | | Package Width: | 5.2 inches | | Package Height: | 1.0 inches | | Package Weight: | 0.6 pounds | | Average Customer Rating: |  based on 188 reviews |
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| | Customer Reviews | Average Customer Review:
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 The Talented Mr.Ridley Jun 10, 2010
This is one of the most enjoyable popular-science books I've read. The author's device is to take one gene from each chromosome ( from largest chromosome to smallest) and let it inspire an essay on one facet of the subject. Thus a particularly ancient (unmutated) gene sparks an essay on the origin of life, a early-discovered disease gene inspires an essay on inherited errors of metabolism, and he even lets a useless gene lead him into an explanation of "junk DNA". The device lets him illuminate various areas of the subject (many of them discovered long since I was in school) without getting bogged down. Of course if you want a lot of technical detail you have to go elsewhere, because this IS popular science.
Only once does Mr. Ridley's British point of view get confusing to me as an American, when he talks about "widespread intelligence testing" in the US. I finally realized that he was talking about the SAT -- maybe I'm naive (or stupid).
My main complaint ( subtracting one star) is that the writer gets political in later chapters, and it is a gradual change that catches one off guard. I get the impression that he is trying to refute somebody without knowing what the Somebody is saying. Even here we get interesting information: that it was originally the Left, not the Right, that supported eugenics, at least in Ridley's native England. Very informative and entertaining.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
 Informative, entertaining and still relevant Jun 05, 2010
It is hard to underestimate the importance that genes play in determining who we as a species are. At the very fundamental level it can be argued that it is exactly our genome that determines which species we are to begin with. Ever since the work of Mendel we have known that hereditary information comes in discrete units, and when the structure of DNA had been deciphered we finally understood what those units are. Essentially, all genes are long strands of genetic code written with four "letters" A, C, G and T, and where each letter stands for a particular nucleic acid. These genes in turn determine the shape of proteins, the basic building blocks of any living organism. That at least is the general rule or the "central dogma" of biology. In reality things can be a bit more complicated than that, but for all practical purposes this is the most accurate bottom-up description of life.
This book talks about several of more interesting genes, and takes us on a journey from one human chromosome to the next. It is an interesting journey where many of our most cherished ideas about ourselves are challenged and some new ones are introduced. The author is extremely good at writing interesting and entertaining prose, and even those who have never read a popular science book before will probably enjoy reading this one. The author is also very good at handling several particularly prickly and difficult topics that both scientists and philosophers are debating to this day, of which the whole nature vs. nurture is probably the most prominent. Even though he has very strong opinions about of these debates and issues, the author ultimately leaves us to make up our own mind about them.
Even thought this book was written before the human genome project was completed, and we had learned a tremendous amount of new information since, all of the science in this book is still valid and relevant. It is a sign of good book that it has aged so well and continues to be informative long after it has been written.
Overall this is one of the best written popular science books and I strongly recommend it to anyone who is interested in learning more about our genetic makeup.
0 of 20 found the following review helpful:
 What a waste of opportunity! Mar 22, 2010
I started reading this book with great interest and anticipation-as the author was set to address one of the very universal, important and interesting aspect of human life -that is -the blue print of the life!
In the second paragraph of the chapter one, author writes that he feels to be fortunate that he was born near the discovery place of the structure of DNA.
Full stop.
I closed the book and kept aside. My objection being the author showed his very mundane flavor of the book and it terribly put me off. I wished he was neither born or/and/both written this book.
Can I give Zero Star?
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
A new view of DNA Mar 16, 2010
Although I've read books about DNA before, this one had quite a few new surprises and insights in it. For instance, each time a cell duplicates itself (during embyology or in the process of everyday bodily upkeep), a cell copies its DNA, but fails to copy the first few letters of each DNA strand. Thus the strand gets a little shorter each time it is copied. Each chromosome is equipped with a "telomere", a several-thousand letter buffer zone on the ends which can be safely discarded. Thus, one of the limits to human life spans (or other animals for that matter) is the number of times a cell can be duplicated before it starts to lose meaningful DNA. The DNA of sex cells do not shorten when copied because of a repair enzyme known as telomerase. Perhaps immortality depends upon (among other things) using telomerase in other cells.
Cells must be able to duplicate in order to repair damage due to daily wear and tear. But the duplication must be kept under strict control; cancer is the uncontrolled duplication of cells. Chemotherapy and radiation therapy work by damaging cell DNA, which triggers the body's own tumor-suppression genes to cause the tumor cells to self-destruct.
I had never heard before that genes can be switched on and off in response to external events, and that give a whole new dynamic view to the genome. Ridley explains that most genes in most cells at any given time are "turned off". But, for example, the body makes cortisol in response to stress, and cortisol is made by switching on a gene that produces an enzyme to convert cholesterol into cortisol. He gives the impression that this is not some isolated case, but commonplace in everyday events. This leads to implications on free will vs. genetic determinism.
Free will
Ridley gives the best description of free will I've ever heard: "If genes can affect behavior and behavior can affect genes, then the causality is circular. And in a system of circular feedbacks, hugely unpredictable results can follow from simple deterministic processes." This is an example of a chaotic system, like the weather. Tiny variations in input conditions soon yield enormous differences in output, and the weather is thus unpredictable in detail beyond a few days in advance (although we know general patterns, such as the fact that summer will be warmer than winter). "This interaction of genetic and external influences makes my behavior unpredictable, but not undetermined. In the gap between those words lies freedom."
Human Genome Jan 18, 2010
The author of this book did a great job of bring to light the location of some of our genes and its effects. He narrates the genes and its effects on Chromosome 1 through chromosome 22. The book is written by a journalist but he deserves the credit of helping lay people to understand the human genomic basics. I highly encourage students to learn what genes are located on each chromosome and its effects. But beware of the author's beliefs about his attempt to explain the human genome with macroevolution.
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