Next book

UNNATURAL SELECTION

THE PROMISE AND THE POWER OF HUMAN GENE RESEARCH

The Chinese curse, “May you live in interesting times,” is particularly apt in light of the progress scientists are making now in mapping and sequencing the human genome. For their progress carries with it portentous issues and ethical dilemmas, here addressed by Wingerson. She begins with absorbing accounts of some of the first single-gene-defect diseases to be discovered—Tay-Sachs and sickle-cell anemia—as examples of how to handle genetic information well (as Jewish groups did in the case of Tay-Sachs) and badly (as did the Air Force and others in the case of sickle-cell disease). These and other examples illustrate the many issues the author raises concerning the roles of the public, religious leaders, policymakers, commercial laboratories, obstetricians, genetic counselors, et al., as purveyors and users of genetic information. Then Wingerson (Mapping Our Genes, 1990) steps back, in almost a book-within-a-book fashion, to offer a history of the eugenics movement and sterilization laws from the turn of the century through the Nazi era, including telling profiles of the key players. Assisted by all of this stage-setting, the reader is well prepared to grapple with (and evaluate) the “promise and power” of human gene research, including the potential for “cherry-picking” only healthy clients under managed health care, prenatal testing for frivolous reasons, and the implications of behavioral-genetics studies indicating the existence of genes that are predisposed to violence or alcoholism. Intense debate is underway on such issues, with a spate of laws passed and bills proposed (enforceable or not) that can dizzy even the coolest head. In fact, it would be easy for the author to leave her reader lost in confusion or despair. But instead, Wingerson manages to conclude on an upbeat note: Human genome knowledge reveals the complexity of evolution, she affirms, since we are what we are due mainly to the interactions of multiple genes in our given environment. Few could be more knowledgeable than she is in guiding us through such hot topics.

Pub Date: Oct. 12, 1998

ISBN: 0-553-09709-1

Page Count: 416

Publisher: Bantam

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1998

Next book

WHY FISH DON'T EXIST

A STORY OF LOSS, LOVE, AND THE HIDDEN ORDER OF LIFE

A quirky wonder of a book.

A Peabody Award–winning NPR science reporter chronicles the life of a turn-of-the-century scientist and how her quest led to significant revelations about the meaning of order, chaos, and her own existence.

Miller began doing research on David Starr Jordan (1851-1931) to understand how he had managed to carry on after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake destroyed his work. A taxonomist who is credited with discovering “a full fifth of fish known to man in his day,” Jordan had amassed an unparalleled collection of ichthyological specimens. Gathering up all the fish he could save, Jordan sewed the nameplates that had been on the destroyed jars directly onto the fish. His perseverance intrigued the author, who also discusses the struggles she underwent after her affair with a woman ended a heterosexual relationship. Born into an upstate New York farm family, Jordan attended Cornell and then became an itinerant scholar and field researcher until he landed at Indiana University, where his first ichthyological collection was destroyed by lightning. In between this catastrophe and others involving family members’ deaths, he reconstructed his collection. Later, he was appointed as the founding president of Stanford, where he evolved into a Machiavellian figure who trampled on colleagues and sang the praises of eugenics. Miller concludes that Jordan displayed the characteristics of someone who relied on “positive illusions” to rebound from disaster and that his stand on eugenics came from a belief in “a divine hierarchy from bacteria to humans that point[ed]…toward better.” Considering recent research that negates biological hierarchies, the author then suggests that Jordan’s beloved taxonomic category—fish—does not exist. Part biography, part science report, and part meditation on how the chaos that caused Miller’s existential misery could also bring self-acceptance and a loving wife, this unique book is an ingenious celebration of diversity and the mysterious order that underlies all existence.

A quirky wonder of a book.

Pub Date: April 14, 2020

ISBN: 978-1-5011-6027-1

Page Count: 224

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Review Posted Online: Jan. 1, 2020

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2020

Awards & Accolades

Our Verdict

  • Our Verdict
  • GET IT


  • Kirkus Reviews'
    Best Books Of 2016


  • New York Times Bestseller

Next book

SEVEN BRIEF LESSONS ON PHYSICS

An intriguing meditation on the nature of the universe and our attempts to understand it that should appeal to both...

Awards & Accolades

Our Verdict

  • Our Verdict
  • GET IT


  • Kirkus Reviews'
    Best Books Of 2016


  • New York Times Bestseller

Italian theoretical physicist Rovelli (General Relativity: The Most Beautiful of Theories, 2015, etc.) shares his thoughts on the broader scientific and philosophical implications of the great revolution that has taken place over the past century.

These seven lessons, which first appeared as articles in the Sunday supplement of the Italian newspaper Sole 24 Ore, are addressed to readers with little knowledge of physics. In less than 100 pages, the author, who teaches physics in both France and the United States, cogently covers the great accomplishments of the past and the open questions still baffling physicists today. In the first lesson, he focuses on Einstein's theory of general relativity. He describes Einstein's recognition that gravity "is not diffused through space [but] is that space itself" as "a stroke of pure genius." In the second lesson, Rovelli deals with the puzzling features of quantum physics that challenge our picture of reality. In the remaining sections, the author introduces the constant fluctuations of atoms, the granular nature of space, and more. "It is hardly surprising that there are more things in heaven and earth, dear reader, than have been dreamed of in our philosophy—or in our physics,” he writes. Rovelli also discusses the issues raised in loop quantum gravity, a theory that he co-developed. These issues lead to his extraordinary claim that the passage of time is not fundamental but rather derived from the granular nature of space. The author suggests that there have been two separate pathways throughout human history: mythology and the accumulation of knowledge through observation. He believes that scientists today share the same curiosity about nature exhibited by early man.

An intriguing meditation on the nature of the universe and our attempts to understand it that should appeal to both scientists and general readers.

Pub Date: March 1, 2016

ISBN: 978-0-399-18441-3

Page Count: 96

Publisher: Riverhead

Review Posted Online: Dec. 7, 2015

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2015

Close Quickview