- Paperback: 368 pages
- Publisher: Vintage; New edition edition (3 Jan 2002)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0099288753
- ISBN-13: 978-0099288756
- Product Dimensions: 19.2 x 12.8 x 2.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,092,640 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
If an obscure MittelEuropean monk named Gregor Mendel hadn't spent the middle part of the last century messing about with peas, the world would be a very different place today. It was Mendel's pea-based experiments in heredity that led directly to the theory of genetics, which provided the missing keystone in Darwin's Theory of Evolution, and which in turn resulted in our genetically obsessed modern world, with its Frankenstein foods, designer offspring, and ever more intense arguments over the pre-determination, or otherwise, of human personality. In a way, without Mendel there would have been no Natural Born Killers.
This is the fascinating history charted by well-known science writer Colin Tudge (The Variety of Life). From Mendel's Moravian allotment, through Crick and Watson's discovery of DNA, to the horrors of Nazi eugenics, Tudge pursues the sometimes tortured and always controversial life-story of the genetic concept. Unwilling to shirk an argument, Tudge frankly confronts the virtues and vices of sociobiology (the idea that natural selection moulded the human psyche), along with the long-term Darwinian prognosis for homo sapiens as a species (ie are we going to keep "getting better?"). Throughout this lucid and well-written work the monastic spirit of Mendel himself seems to preside: the whole has an air of wry, detached sagacity.--Sean Thomas --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Book Description
'A comprehensive and accessible account of the genetic revolution - its history and its prospects - by 'the ablest scientific writer in Britain today' Spectator
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Part narrative history, part philosophy of science Tudge's book takes for its subject the science of genetics. Seemingly this subject has, in one form or another, been highly relevant for a century and a half, though as the author points out that relevance has not always been understood.
The titular Mendel was much more than the gardening monk that some histories have portrayed him as, he was, as Tudge contends, a true scientist. A contemporary of Darwin, Mendel made an observation regarding the nature of our heredity that would eventually provide the mechanism by which natural selection works.
Neither Mendel nor Darwin would live to see the unification of their works in the New synthesis or Neo-Darwinism, in all probability Darwin may have been only vaguely aware of Mendel's studies. Few then understood then quite what this work meant.
Everything that has come since, Tudge tells us, is merely a footnote to that original work. If so it has to be one the most interesting of footnotes and he explains it all with great clarity. He takes us from the discovery of the DNA, how it works and the ways in which humans are beginning to manipulate it. The gene's central role in our evolutionary story and the previously maligned field of evolutionary psychology are also opened up to the reader. Like all good popular science writing the author satisfies the curiosity whilst at the same time whetting it further.
It is in the last chapter that Tudge moves from 'is' to 'ought', or at least tries to frame how the discussion of 'ought' might be carried out. He warns against hubris and selfish motivations in deploying such powerful technologies. At the last, Mendel has more to teach us, as much by example as by intellect.
The titular Mendel was much more than the gardening monk that some histories have portrayed him as, he was, as Tudge contends, a true scientist. A contemporary of Darwin, Mendel made an observation regarding the nature of our heredity that would eventually provide the mechanism by which natural selection works.
Neither Mendel nor Darwin would live to see the unification of their works in the New synthesis or Neo-Darwinism, in all probability Darwin may have been only vaguely aware of Mendel's studies. Few then understood then quite what this work meant.
Everything that has come since, Tudge tells us, is merely a footnote to that original work. If so it has to be one the most interesting of footnotes and he explains it all with great clarity. He takes us from the discovery of the DNA, how it works and the ways in which humans are beginning to manipulate it. The gene's central role in our evolutionary story and the previously maligned field of evolutionary psychology are also opened up to the reader. Like all good popular science writing the author satisfies the curiosity whilst at the same time whetting it further.
It is in the last chapter that Tudge moves from 'is' to 'ought', or at least tries to frame how the discussion of 'ought' might be carried out. He warns against hubris and selfish motivations in deploying such powerful technologies. At the last, Mendel has more to teach us, as much by example as by intellect.
2 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I haven't finished this book yet, but wanted to review it, because it ahs made a big impression on me!
Colin Tudge's writing style is good, but he strays from the actual point a lot and describes things that are not relevant to his original meaning. Although this can be confusing, it is also brilliant! Although it hasn't given me much more information on DNA etc (go for Steve Jones' "The Language of the Genes") it has given me more information about the history of the discovery of certain aspects of Genetics.
I would reccomend buying it, @ all costs! I am deeply enthralled and can't put it down!
One last bit of advice, don't be put off by his writing style, you soon get used to it!
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