Book Description
From the author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning The
Beak of the Finch, the riveting story of a
biologist's search for the foundations of behavior.
Looking over the shoulder of some of the premier
scientists in the filed, Jonathan Weiner takes us into their
laboratories to show us how pieces of DNA actually shape
behavior. He focuses on the work of Seymour Benzer, who,
decades ago, with James Watson and Francis Crick, helped to
crack the genetic code. Then, in a simple experiment using a
few test tubes, a light bulb, and 100 fruit flies, Benzer
invented the genetic dissection of behavior. Now we see how
he and his students find and study genes that build our inner
clocks, genes that shape the way we love, and genes that
decide what we can (or cannot) remember. These breakthroughs
help explain secrets of human behavior and may lead to
advance treatments for behavioral disorders ranging from rage
to autism to schizophrenia.
In a narrative that sweeps from the first years of the
century to the present, Weiner makes the process of
scientific discovery and understanding almost tangible on the
page. Time, Love, Memory is a brilliant work of
scientific reportage.