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Indlæser... The Gene: An Intimate History (original 2016; udgave 2017)af Siddhartha Mukherjee (Forfatter)
Work InformationThe Gene: An Intimate History af Siddhartha Mukherjee (2016)
Indlæser...
Bliv medlem af LibraryThing for at finde ud af, om du vil kunne lide denne bog. Der er ingen diskussionstråde på Snak om denne bog. Un libro magnifico y maravilloso, una historia (del gen) impresionante, contada de una forma simplemente magistral. Después de leer este libro cambia (o reafirma) tu forma de ver la vida. Disfrute tanto leerlo!! (cuanto me hubiera gustado podérselo recomendar a mi padre para platicar/comentarlo con el). Siddhartha Mukherjee has that rare quality of making it sound like he’s cramming a bucketload of information in his words, all the while not losing brevity. In The Emperor of All Maladies, this quality was suppressed – the topic of cancer is weighty, and thus brevity was preserved over information density. This quality is out in full force in Gene, so you must take a breather every fifty or sixty pages. Genecovers so much information about genetics that after finishing it, you will feel that you have absorbed those information pellets sometimes found in science fiction. It follows a similar pathway to The Emperor, with Mukherjee tracking the story of genetics from its ancestors (including debunked theories such as the sperm-containing mini-children) to the present, where we’re making quantum leaps in the field every few years. Aside from its remarkable history, the novel delves into the gene and what makes it tick. For example - how mutations mess with (or improve) a genome, how DNA can be combined to form recombinant DNA not generally found on a genome, how gene editing works, and how our genome can have a genetic ‘memory’ of sorts. More soberly, however, Mukherjee illuminates the reader with digressions centred on his family – and how mental illness was so pervasive in his family. It lends the entire novel a human touch that you cannot help but reflect on. Saying that the gene has been at the forefront of modern is something else, but saying that it has impacted the author’s life brings it into some perspective – not missing the trees for the forest, if you will. Gene is a rich and illuminating history of genetics and digressions into its probable future. I am not sure where genetics will land in even twenty years – but I now know watching the field progress will be breathtaking.
The story of this invention and this discovery has been told, piecemeal, in different ways, but never before with the scope and grandeur that Siddhartha Mukherjee brings to his new history, “The Gene.” ... As he did in his Pulitzer Prize-winning history of cancer, “The Emperor of All Maladies” (2010), Mukherjee views his subject panoptically, from a great and clarifying height, yet also intimately. ... By the time “The Gene” is over, Dr. Mukherjee has covered Mendel and his peas, Darwin and his finches. He’s taken us on the quest of Watson, Crick and their many unsung compatriots to determine the stuff and structure of DNA. We learn about how genes were sequenced, cloned and variously altered, and about the race to map our complete set of DNA, or genome, which turns out to contain a stunning amount of filler material with no determined function. ...Many of the same qualities that made “The Emperor of All Maladies” so pleasurable are in full bloom in “The Gene.” The book is compassionate, tautly synthesized, packed with unfamiliar details about familiar people.... ... “The Gene” is more pedagogical than dramatic; as often as not, the stars of this story are molecules, not humans. Dr. Mukherjee still has a poignant personal connection to the material — mental illness has wrapped itself around his family tree like a stubborn vine, claiming two uncles and a cousin on his father’s side — but this book does not aim for the gut. It aims for the mind... Har tilpasningenHas as a reference guide/companionHæderspriserDistinctionsNotable Lists
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Thanks for the great update on what's going on in the genetics business. Just another reason for me to encourage my daughter to consider a career in biology or cellular biology or evolutionary biology. As we turn our attention to the little world under the microscope we see even more variety and complexity than we could have imagined....even 30 years ago. I couldn't agree with you more that I should be a little worried that scientists are plowing ahead with experiments genetically altering human embryos and accidentally creating unexpected mutations. While we learn more about genes influencing specific diseases these relationships are rarely one-to-one, have relationships contingent on the environment, and generally don't lend themselves to, ahem, cut-and-paste. I want to believe that gene therapy will yield big dividends for human health, reducing misery in the world, and promoting long useful lives. Genes, like leaves of grass, have a much longer evolutionary life than do humans. Bacteria, viruses also have been fighting the good fight for survival much, much longer than humans. And so I think fruitful to ask again, to what degree are we the masters of our fate, even when we monkey with the gene pool? I'll be staying up late nights to ponder that conundrum. ( )