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Genome: The Autobiography of a Species In 23 Chapters |  | Author: Matt Ridley
Publisher: HarperCollins
Category: Book
List Price: $26.00
Buy Used: $0.05
as of 11/21/2009 04:51 MST details
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Seller: previously-enjoyed
Rating:  183 reviews
Sales Rank: 482397
Format: Unabridged
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 352
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.4
Dimensions (in): 9.2 x 6.2 x 1.3
ISBN: 0060194979
Dewey Decimal Number: 599.935
EAN: 9780060194970
ASIN: 0060194979
Publication Date: February 1, 2000
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com Review
Science writer Matt Ridley has found a way to tell someone else's story without being accused of plagiarism. Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters delves deep within your body (and, to be fair, Ridley's too) looking for dirt dug up by the Human Genome Project. Each chapter pries one gene out of its chromosome and focuses on its role in our development and adult life, but also goes further, exploring the implications of genetic research and our quickly changing social attitudes toward this information. Genome shies away from the "tedious biochemical middle managers" that only a nerd could love and instead goes for the A-material: genes associated with cancer, intelligence, sex (of course), and more. Readers unfamiliar with the jargon of genetic research needn't fear; Ridley provides a quick, clear guide to the few words and concepts he must use to translate hard science into English. His writing is informal, relaxed, and playful, guiding the reader so effortlessly through our 23 chromosomes that by the end we wish we had more. He believes that the Human Genome Project will be as world-changing as the splitting of the atom; if so, he is helping us prepare for exciting times--the hope of a cure for cancer contrasts starkly with the horrors of newly empowered eugenicists. Anyone interested in the future of the body should get a head start with the clever, engrossing Genome. --Rob Lightner
Product Description
The human genome, the complete set of genes housed in twenty-three pairs of chromosomes, is nothing less than an autobiography of our species. Spelled out in a billion three-letter words using the four-letter alphabet of DNA, the genome has been edited, abridged, altered and added to as it has been handed down, generation to generation, over more than three billion years. With the first draft of the human genome due to be published in 2000, we, this lucky generation, are the first beings who are able to read this extraordinary book and to gain hitherto unimaginable insights into what it means to be alive, to be human, to be conscious or to be ill. By picking one newly discovered gene from each of the twenty-three human 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. He finds genes that we share with bacteria, genes that distinguish us from chimpanzees, genes that can condemn us to cruel diseases, genes that may influence our intelligence, genes that enable us to use grammatical language, genes that guide the development of our bodies and our brains, genes that allow us to remember, genes that exhibit the strange alchemy of nature and nurture, genes that parasitise us for their own selfish ends, genes that battle with one another and genes that record the history of human migrations. From Huntington's disease to cancer, he explores the applications of genetics: the search for understanding and therapy, the horrors of eugenics and the philosophical implications for understanding the paradox of free will.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 183
 Professor unloads about basic concepts September 5, 2009
Doris Vader (California)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book may by now be sort of out of date but for folks like me who went to school before DNA was common knowledge it's a good read. My problem was with the author's analogies and metaphors. Clearly he's always preached to a captive audience. They are beyond quirky. He's English but that is no excuse. Any way the information about how genes work and mutate is good to know and here it is all in one place.
 Interesting but one sided June 11, 2009
Raymond G. Edwards
A look at the human species through its genome is the promise that the author makes. Ridley lives up to his pledge, offering a view of all aspects of the human being from disease to sexuality. However, Ridley forgets that our fate is not confined to either our genome nor our stars. We are more than our base pairs.
I suggest that the reader balance the perspective by investigating "The Triple Helix". If this is used in a classroom, the movie "GATTACA" will provide an interesting counterbalance.
 Good Beginner Science - Author Genetic Determinist May 4, 2009
K. Kent (Los Angeles, CA)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Ridley knows that the best way to both excite and soothe his readers about genetics - a field constantly riddled with controversy - is to endow them with some in-depth knowledge. And he has a wonderful aptitude for breaking it down for us. Furthermore, to translate what is understood, which comes more from studying a fruit fly than any other animal in the kingdom, into relevance at the level of human beings is a feat fit for kings.
Ridley can also be expert at highlighting the most impressive aspects of genetic discovery. This talent is critical, because he refuses to devote the entire book to the various diseases that result from one gene mutation or another found on the chromosome in question. Ridley stands firmly behind his motto that "genes do not cause diseases," leaving wide open the potential for the topics he does end up choosing to be rather plain.
He strongly supports the notion that much of our definition as humans arises from our genetic make-up. He believes that most of our language ability arises from our genes, that a great deal of our personality is determined by our DNA and that as much as 50% of our intelligence is limited by what we were born with. What's disappointing about this aspect of Genome, is that while it ends up being Ridley's main point, it is presented the least scientifically of all of them.
By the end of what started as a book about science the readers feels as if they have been dragged into an argument about the semantics of determinist behavior. Ridley's baggage is an albatross around his neck. The discussion no longer feels productive, but merely defensive. Free will is portrayed as selfish, and the other - any other than self - is portrayed as the enemy against which our innate pre-programmed desire is constantly struggling.
Great Read January 7, 2009
William Mahn (muskegon, MI)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
All you've ever wanted to know about genes and then some. Makes for a very fun read for those interested in the biology of genetics.
 Genome Review December 16, 2008
B. Abraham (Camas, WA United States)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book is great! I use it with my AP biology students. They read it as we learn about cells, genetics, evolution, and the human body. I mix up the chapters so they are reviewing what we learn in class by reading the appropriate chapter. They have to turn in a "scrapbook" showing me they read it with pictures and summaries of the chapter, important scientists, and scientific terms (vocabulary). Most of them have said they are really enjoying the reading. What they don't understand they skip over, but what they do understand is fascinating and reinforces what they are learning in class.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 183
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