Genome

The author, a science writer rather than a scientist, uses each chromosome in the human genome as a jumping-off point for a discussion of biology, chemistry, genetics, or history. His writing style is breezy without sacrificing scientific accuracy. Thus, his book works well on audio. Simon Prebble carries its approachability even further with a narration that is engaging even when the concepts are dense and challenging. Prebble varies the pace with respect to the difficulty of the material and pauses to let especially abstruse concepts sink in. The author opens with definitions of several terms, which listeners are unlikely to remember later in the reading. But that doesn't detract from the production, and most listeners should be able to infer the meaning of words they don't understand. R.C.G. (c) AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine


This is not a book about the Human Genome Project; rather, it focuses chapter by chapter on each chromosome and its newly discovered genes. Ridley takes you through emerging studies that show how the codes embedded in all of us through evolution determine our health, intelligence, emotional makeup, and sexuality. This is a fascinating yet highly accessible book. While not dumbed down, the text is set forth in language the ordinary person can understand. Paul Matthews has a charming British accent that ranges in tone from scholarly to curious. He doesn't allow the narrative to bog down in technical jargon but moves briskly along and even manages to interject some humor. An intriguing subject is beautifully delivered. D.G. (c) AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine

Starred review from January 31, 2000
HSoon we'll know what's in our genes: next year, the Human Genome Project will have its first-draft map of our 23 chromosomes. Ridley (The Red Queen; The Origins of Virtue) anticipates the genomic news with an inventively constructed, riveting exposition of what we already know about the links between DNA and human life. His inviting prose proposes "to tell the story of the human genome... chromosome by chromosome, by picking a gene from each." That story begins with the basis of life on earth, the DNA-to-RNA-to-protein process (chapter one, "Life," and also chromosome one); the evolution of Homo sapiens (chromosome two, which emerged in early hominids when two ape chromosomes fused); and the discovery of genetic inheritance (which came about in part thanks to the odd ailment called alkaptonuria, carried on chromosome three). Some facts about your life depend entirely on a single gene--for example, whether you'll get the dreadful degenerative disease Huntington's chorea, and if so, at what age (chromosome four, hence chapter four: "Fate"). But most facts about you are products of pleiotropy, "multiple effects of multiple genes," plus the harder-to-study influences of culture and environment. (One asthma-related gene--but only one--hangs out on chromosome five.) The brilliant "whistle-stop tour of some... sites in the genome" passes through "Intelligence," language acquisition, embryology, aging, sex and memory before arriving at two among many bugbears surrounding human genetic mapping: the uses and abuses of genetic screening, and the ongoing debate on "genetic determinism" and free will. Ridley can explain with equal verve difficult moral issues, philosophical quandaries and technical biochemistry; he distinguishes facts from opinions well, and he's not shy about offering either. Among many recent books on genes, behavior and evolution, Ridley's is one of the most informative. It's also the most fun to read. Agent, Felicity Bryan.