Book Description
The human genome, the complete set of genes housed in
twenty-three pairs of chromosomes, is nothing less than an
autobiography of our species. Spelled out in a billion
three-letter words using the four-letter alphabet of DNA, the
genome has been edited, abridged, altered and added to as it
has been handed down, generation to generation, over more
than three billion years. With the first draft of the human
genome due to be published in 2000, we, this lucky
generation, are the first beings who are able to read this
extraordinary book and to gain hitherto unimaginable insights
into what it means to be alive, to be human, to be conscious
or to be ill.
By picking one newly discovered gene from each of the
twenty-three human chromosomes and telling its story, Matt
Ridley recounts the history of our species and its ancestors
from the dawn of life to the brink of future medicine. He
finds genes that we share with bacteria, genes that
distinguish us from chimpanzees, genes that can condemn us to
cruel diseases, genes that may influence our intelligence,
genes that enable us to use grammatical language, genes that
guide the development of our bodies and our brains, genes
that allow us to remember, genes that exhibit the strange
alchemy of nature and nurture, genes that parasitise us for
their own selfish ends, genes that battle with one another
and genes that record the history of human migrations. From
Huntington's disease to cancer, he explores the applications
of genetics: the search for understanding and therapy, the
horrors of eugenics and the philosophical implications for
understanding the paradox of free will.
