A well-argued, approachable challenge to society’s preoccupation with the potential of genetic science.
Myles questions contemporary society’s preoccupation with population genetics.
Since scientists first sequenced the human genome two decades ago, there has been an “obsessive search for genetic explanation” for diseases, traits, and innate behavioral abilities, writes the author. A medical doctor and clinical researcher with The National Institutes of Health, Myles notes that, despite the revolutionary promises of genetic research, Americans today are even more unhealthy than they were before the completion of the genome project, citing record-high rates of food allergies, asthma, and diseases involving the immune system. Challenging the work of Richard Dawkins (The Selfish Gene, 1976) and Kathryn Paige Harden (The Genetic Lottery, 2021), this book argues that far too much weight has been placed on “genetic determinism.” While offering clear rebuttals to right-wing attempts to utilize debunked IQ science for racist purposes, the book focuses on the author’s own research on eczema, positing that an emphasis on genetic determinism among those researching allergies and rheumatology is “doing active harm to medicine and society.” Population genetics also distracts from what Myles believes are far more pressing issues, such as disease prevention and environmental concerns. “Genetic fanfare stole our collective focus,” he writes, as we have “stripped the key nutrients from our food” and “swaddled our children in baby blankets made from the chemicals found in car exhaust.” Acknowledging that his colleagues at the NIH may not agree with his skepticism regarding genetics, the author offers a nuanced, convincingly substantiated counternarrative from the vantage of an expert in his field. While the book’s almost 500 pages offer fellow researchers ample material for scholarly discussion, Myles balances its academic methodology with an engaging, jargon-free writing style. Bolstering this accessibility is the inclusion of multiple full-color images, charts, and diagrams. While appealing to lay readers with pop culture references generally works for the book’s narrative, it perhaps gives the 1997 SF thriller Gattaca an undue amount of attention (including referencing the film in its title).
A well-argued, approachable challenge to society’s preoccupation with the potential of genetic science.Pub Date: Oct. 21, 2023
ISBN: 9798989230914
Page Count: 474
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Jan. 5, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
The lessons to draw are obvious: Smoke more dope, eat less meat. Like-minded readers will dig it.
The chef, rapper, and TV host serves up a blustery memoir with lashings of self-help.
“I’ve always had a sick confidence,” writes Bronson, ne Ariyan Arslani. The confidence, he adds, comes from numerous sources: being a New Yorker, and more specifically a New Yorker from Queens; being “short and fucking husky” and still game for a standoff on the basketball court; having strength, stamina, and seemingly no fear. All these things serve him well in the rough-and-tumble youth he describes, all stickball and steroids. Yet another confidence-builder: In the big city, you’ve got to sink or swim. “No one is just accepted—you have to fucking show that you’re able to roll,” he writes. In a narrative steeped in language that would make Lenny Bruce blush, Bronson recounts his sentimental education, schooled by immigrant Italian and Albanian family members and the mean streets, building habits good and bad. The virtue of those habits will depend on your take on modern mores. Bronson writes, for example, of “getting my dick pierced” down in the West Village, then grabbing a pizza and smoking weed. “I always smoke weed freely, always have and always will,” he writes. “I’ll just light a blunt anywhere.” Though he’s gone through the classic experiences of the latter-day stoner, flunking out and getting arrested numerous times, Bronson is a hard charger who’s not afraid to face nearly any challenge—especially, given his physique and genes, the necessity of losing weight: “If you’re husky, you’re always dieting in your mind,” he writes. Though vulgar and boastful, Bronson serves up a model that has plenty of good points, including his growing interest in nature, creativity, and the desire to “leave a legacy for everybody.”
The lessons to draw are obvious: Smoke more dope, eat less meat. Like-minded readers will dig it.Pub Date: April 20, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-4197-4478-5
Page Count: 184
Publisher: Abrams
Review Posted Online: May 5, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2021
A remarkably thorough and thoughtful case for the reconciliation between science and faith.
A duo of French mathematicians makes the scientific case for God in this nonfiction book.
Since its 2021 French-language publication in Paris, this work by Bolloré and Bonnassies has sold more than 400,000 copies. Now translated into English for the first time by West and Jones, the book offers a new introduction featuring endorsements from a range of scientists and religious leaders, including Nobel Prize-winning astronomers and Roman Catholic cardinals. This appeal to authority, both religious and scientific, distinguishes this volume from a genre of Christian apologetics that tends to reject, rather than embrace, scientific consensus. Central to the book’s argument is that contemporary scientific advancements have undone past emphases on materialist interpretations of the universe (and their parallel doubts of spirituality). According to the authors’ reasoned arguments, what now forms people’s present understanding of the universe—including quantum mechanics, relativity, and the Big Bang—puts “the question of the existence of a creator God back on the table,” given the underlying implications. Einstein’s theory of relativity, for instance, presupposes that if a cause exists behind the origin of the universe, then it must be atemporal, non-spatial, and immaterial. While the book’s contentions related to Christianity specifically, such as its belief in the “indisputable truths contained in the Bible,” may not be as convincing as its broader argument on how the idea of a creator God fits into contemporary scientific understanding, the volume nevertheless offers a refreshingly nuanced approach to the topic. From the work’s outset, the authors (academically trained in math and engineering) reject fundamentalist interpretations of creationism (such as claims that Earth is only 6,000 years old) as “fanciful beliefs” while challenging the philosophical underpinnings of a purely materialist understanding of the universe that may not fit into recent scientific paradigm shifts. Featuring over 500 pages and more than 600 research notes, this book strikes a balance between its academic foundations and an accessible writing style, complemented by dozens of photographs from various sources, diagrams, and charts.
A remarkably thorough and thoughtful case for the reconciliation between science and faith.Pub Date: Oct. 14, 2025
ISBN: 9789998782402
Page Count: 562
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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