Siddhartha Mukherjee's "The Gene: An Intimate History" is a wonderful book to read at any time. During the COVID-19 pandemic, it may have even greater appeal.
The book is not just informative, it's also entertaining. And poetic. And personal. And, perhaps above all, accessible.
Mukherjee, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of "The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer," makes an incredibly complex subject simple enough that even I can understand what he's saying. And he does it with a mixture of styles and approaches. He includes scientific descriptions. He reaches back to Aristotle and Plato for historical context. He tells compelling narrative stories about situations that led to advances in the understanding of what genes are and how they work. He discusses how genetic issues have played roles in his own life and family.
Within all this, he also portrays the ethical quagmires and quandaries that have emerged with advances in fields of medicine, psychiatry and human development as we've learned how to manipulate genes. Finally, he also clearly demonstrates how much more remains to be learned, and he ignites the imagination with the astounding array of possibilities -- inspiring as well as frightening -- that lie ahead.
"The Gene" is a masterful success on every one of the many levels of literary, historical, scientific and philosophical thought it engages. It is both deeply pleasurable to read and powerfully educational.
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Today's Recommended Read: "The Gene: An Intimate History" by Siddhartha Mukherjee - Chicago Daily Herald
Recommendation and review posted by G. Smith
