Reddit reviews The Gene: An Intimate History
We found 10 Reddit comments about The Gene: An Intimate History. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
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Reddit reviews The Gene: An Intimate HistoryWe found 10 Reddit comments about The Gene: An Intimate History. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
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Ill go ahead and put in a plug for the book I'm reading right now: The Gene: An Intimate History by Siddhartha Mukherjee
The Selfish Gene is of course great, but I thought Dawkins' The Blind Watchmaker was a better written book.
However, a new and really really great book is "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee. Just a gorgeous book, and full of history that any biologist should know.
The Gene by Siddhartha Mukherjee.
Well written and explained book about genetics, medicine, and progression of our understanding of biology.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1476733503/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_4.ZQDbBHFP3J4
I'm currently reading this good book on the history of genetics, that's certainly my impression. Very surprising.
My favorite text on science as a whole is Genesis and Development of a Scientific Fact, by Ludwik Fleck. He describes the evolution of scientific ideas (and the cultural morass surrounding them) in elegant anecdotes that are, to me, more effective than many other philosophers of science that came after him.
In terms of recent popsci, The Gene: An Intimate History by Siddhartha Mukherjee was exceptional.
Joe, 26, Albuquerque, New Mexico (though spending a few days in Pasadena, California visiting family for the holidays)
Picture of me from Thanksgiving
Indeed!
If you are still curious, though, I suggest this book. I haven't read it, but the author is known for discussing medical topics in an interesting way that is understandable by non-experts.
https://www.amazon.in/Gene-Intimate-History-Siddhartha-Mukherjee/dp/1476733503
Well every thing on the planet that has cells, has DNA, right. DNA is the blueprint that tells each cell what to do, be, perform, etc. So you and I have 99.9% the same DNA cause we're both humans. You and I have 60% the same DNA as both a chicken and a banana.
But start going up the mammalian ladder and our DNA similarities get higher and higher because- 2 legs/2 arms/1 head/2 lungs/1 backbone/hair/carry our young/warmblooded etc everything that categorizes us as mammals comes from a very very similar set of DNA. Again, every cell has this code in it so that it knows how to perform its job.
Us and cats are 90% similar. It just happens that us and chimps/bonobos have the most DNA in common. Not something we purposely set out to prove, but once we mapped the genomes and stuck all of them side by side, that is where the data arranged itself.
Back to DNA - this is why stem cells are so fascinating, we can alter the DNA and tell the stem cell how to be, what to be, cause we already have all the DNA mapped so we're really just copying off of original DNA.
If you are interested in DNA and its complexity and how we figured all of it out, I highly recommend The Gene: An Intimate History by Siddhartha Mukherjee. You will understand it so much more and appreciate all the folks who moved along the science until now. ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ
Evolution keeps disease-causing genes around because in their recessive genotypes (non-disease causing) there is some benefit that we cannot readily see. For example, cystic fibrosis, in its pathological phenotype, will cause people to sweat out all their salt, cause organ failure and death. But if that cholera hits, those with the recessive CS genotype will be able to withstand bouts of diarrhea much better. I highly recommend The Gene, which goes over the history of how humanity came to discover heredity, DNA, etc. Well written, fascinating story. First science page turner I've read.