The Gene An Intimate History
Reviews
The Gene: An Intimate History is a comprehensive and thoroughly researched exploration of genetics and its impact on humanity. The book is lengthy, but the depth of information and engaging storytelling make it a worthwhile read. Mukherjee masterfully weaves together scientific discoveries, personal stories, and ethical dilemmas to provide a nuanced understanding of genetics. Although some sections may be dense for readers unfamiliar with biology, the author's ability to explain complex ideas in accessible language makes this book a valuable resource for anyone interested in the history and future of genetics.
what a ride
An exhaustive (and exhausting) book on history of genetics. I'm glad I read it, but boy oh boy, am I ever glad I am done. My brain is overloaded with amazing information that will take a long while to digest. Some people find the author's constant digressions to his own family's history distracting and unnecessary, but I really enjoyed those. It created a personal narrative among the piles of tedious scientific data. Read it if you are seriously looking into the subject, but skip it in favour of something more casual, if passing interest is your only motivation.
Genes are fucking wild. They have a much bigger impact than I was aware of, and we know much more about them than I expected. This book thought me a lot about how life and DNA works, and is an incredible history of genetic biology. It also makes me incredibly excited/terrified of what we will be capable of in the future. Just a random example, but one of the craziest things is the existence of Eutelies, which are organisms like C. Elegans that have an exactly fixed number of cells at adulthood. An adult C. Elegans has 1031 cells when it reaches maturity, and scientists have traced the course every individual one of those cells goes through until it lands in its final position. Wild!!!
Great overall survey but a little repetitive.
A little too long and repetitive, but I learned some very cool stuff! Loved the sections on old theories of genetics and the history of the human genome project.
I found the narrative surprisingly riveting.
** spoiler alert ** Yazarın “Tüm Hastalıkların Şahı” kitabında da olduğu gibi bu kitapta da “gen” kavramının ilk ortaya çıktığı zamanlardan kitabın yazıldığı güne kadar gelinen noktayı; gen, genetik, genom tanımlarını, ne olduğumuzu ne yapabileceğimizi anlatıyor. Nedenleri anlayabilmek için mükemmel bir rehber. Çok yol aldığımızın ama aynı zamanda tıpkı kanser konusunda olduğu gibi aldığımız yolun bir arpa boyu olmadığının ispatı. Konu hakkında bilgisi olan veya olmayan herkes için harika bir bilimsel kitap.
What I love most about this book is how it took me through the history of how humans came to understand the gene, trying to answer fundamental questions around evolution, heredity and more. Once enthralled by the success of human beings in discovering the source of instructions that affect all aspects of our development as individuals and as a species, it then takes us into the new paradigm. What is the opportunity, and the danger, humans have now that we have tools that can fundamentally change the most fundamental set of instructions that guides our development.
Awesome book
The Gene made me feel like I took a semester long seminar on the history of genetics. This book is truly astonishing in its scope. From Mendel's experiments breeding pea plants in a monastery to mapping the full human genome and cloning, this book is a brilliant and highly readable journey through the field as well as an exploration of the difficult ethical issues we still have to contend with as our scientific and technological capabilities expand at an exponential rate. I enthusiastically recommend this book to anyone interested in learning more about what makes us us. It's an undertaking for sure, but so worth it.
What an amazing book. As a physics student, I've never been too attracted to biology, but this author writes so well that I just loved the book. I was a bit apprehensive at first, since the book is so long, but it is well worth the effort and reading the book is a breeze. The author packs in a huge amount of detail for someone like myself who knows a lot about science, but has never delved into the specifics of biology. It frankly makes me excited for the future and interested in taking more classes in genetics. Fantastic writing. Read this book. You won't regret it.
