This book covers the history of genes, right from the age old theories of heredity to the most recent developments on gene editing with CRISPR/cas9. Interleaved with this history are some personal stories about the author's family members who suffer from Schizophrenia. The book is divided into 5 parts based on the chronological and scientific themes. I would consider this book more as a textbook written in an accessible way than a non-fiction book. I certainly learned a lot about the various scientific developments in genetics and contributions of a bunch of Nobel Laureates and also people like Oswald Avery and Rosalind Franklin who were fully deserving of a Nobel.
When someone mentions that DNA has a double helix structure and is coiled within chromosomes, I always wondered, how do they know that? This book lays out a sequence of experiments which demonstrates that 1) Chromosomes are carriers of genetic information, 2) Using bio-chemistry, one can know the underlying chemical composition of DNA, and 3) Using X-Ray Crystallography and intelligent guess work, accurately predict the structure of DNA that is consistent with the experiments. Of course, Mukherjee is a fine story teller, so the sequence in which these concepts were introduced and explained is just spectacular. This book has many interesting things such as recombinant DNA, genetic treatment, ethics of genetic engineering, heritable vs inheritable traits, epigenetics, CRISPR/cas9, etc.
One of the unique aspects of this book is that it just does not introduce facts. It take us on a trip along the scientists performing the experiments to arrive at conclusions. It demystifies the black-box of Science and takes us on a path of experimentation and hypothesis validation. I would strongly recommend this book to any graduate student in any scientific discipline. What I found the most fascinating was that many scientists hypothesized that there should exist a material that transmits genetic information, well before DNA was ever known. Having read the book, I actually understand why you do not need to know about DNA to conclude that genetic information is passed in discrete chunks.
This book also explores many ethical issues regarding genetics. Eugenics, recombinant DNA, genetic sequencing of fetus, previvors, and designer babies. It highlights an ethical conundrum about incomplete penetration of a genetic sequence with a disease condition and therefore, the unintended consequences of premature decisions. Mukherjee focuses on the condition of schizophrenia and implores the ethics of terminating a pregnancy given the genetic information of fetus. He applies the same principles to genetic editing and "designer babies".
One of my first introduction to the world of Science was my 8th class (Grade 8 in american parlance) Science textbook that discussed evolution. The book was so well written, especially the chapters explaining evolution, that I found the enterprise on Science very exciting. I remember reading the book close to 50 times and every time I read it, I found the observations that confirmed the hypothesis of evolution more intriguing. I was a below average student (say 30 percentile) until my 8th class; but for some reason, my mindset and approach to Science and academics changed in 8th class, and from then, I was doing very well academically. My interests shifted to Math, Physics, and Chemistry and away from Biology. However, I always felt indebted to Biology, and more specifically, to Genetics and evolution for inspiring me to pursue Science. This book has been on my To-Read list for a while as I wanted to get back to Genetics at some point of time. I am really glad that I picked this book. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in Genetics.
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