She has her mother's laugh : the powers, perversions, and potential of heredity

A thorough, and thoroughly interesting book on genetics and heredity. In this case, the book is as good as it's cover art (which is fantastic).

When people meet my children I often hear comments along the lines of; he is just like you, your daughter reminds me so much of your wife and similar comments. And it is true, their genetic inheritance comes directly from me and my wife and the blend of our genes has made three very different and

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unique children. What gets passed on and how is the subject of this weighty tome.

In this very researched book, Zimmer takes us back through our genetic history to show how these fragments make up our very being. Of the trillions of cells in our bodies, those that contain our DNA make us who we are, what we look like, how our health will be and countless other factors. But there is more to it than that, our genetic code is not the only thing passed from mother to child, echoes of past event from our father and his parents can be seen in the code, we get our first immune system via the placenta and the various microbes that ensure that we can live as passed on too.

There is a fascinating chapter on Chimeras – these are people who carry more than one set of DNA. This was never thought to be possible, but after various anomalies including where a mother was witnessed giving birth to a child, the DNA test said that it wasn’t her child. The investigation into it discovered how DNA can transfer between non-identical twins after one dies in the womb. A mother can even absorb some of the DNA from the child she is carrying.

There is a wealth of information and details in this substantial, but still a very readable book. Not only does he consider where we have got to in our understanding on DNA, but he contemplates the future of inheritance and what heredity will mean in years to come. Even though I never did biology while at school, Zimmer manages to make this fairly substantial tome a straightforward book for readers like me.

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Very readable, despite covering some chewy topics. The wonders of the mechanisms of inheritance in all of its forms made somewhat clearer in these pages.

Quite well done. The writing is clear and engaging about a complex subject.

Carl Zimmer creates a very readable history of the good and bad uses of genetics and heredity. He offers compelling prose woven from the odyssey of genetic scientists who have brought us to the brink of genetic engineering. It is all very different than you might expect. Darwin gave us an elegant

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theory of evolution without ever understanding the genetics who admitted: “The laws governing inheritance, are quite unknown.” Darwin's speculation about Pangenesis, turned out to be spectacularly wrong. It is disturbing to learn that genetic theories were used for several centuries by scientists, social sciences, scholars and politicians to justify a genteel racism and really frightening eugenics. Poised as we are on the brink of a genetic engineering revolution Zimmer is giving us a stern warning about misuse of this new power.

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Superb science writing. All about heredity, genetics, etc. I read a lot about this stuff, so much in the book was familiar already - but a lot was brand new to me also. Great discussions about social implications including some of the best writing about the long and complex history of eugenics that

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I’ve ever read.

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Another great introduction to genetics, this is relatively non-technical with an historical and biographical structure. If the book has a flaw, it is that it covers a lot. The chapter titles are a little oblique, so here is what is discussed:

1. The Habsburgs and the history of our conceptions of

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heredity.
2. Hugo de Vries, Luther Burbank, Charles Darwin and the history of breeding. Gregor Mendel. August Weissman. The death of the theory of pangenesis and genetic discoveries at the turn of the 20th century.
3. The Vineland Training School, Francis Dalton, Henry Goddard, Charles Davenport, and eugenics.
4. Pearl S. Buck and phenylketonuria.
5. Mendel's law and the origin of life. Bacteria, viruses, and CRISPR. Eukaryotes and meiosis. Thomas Hunt Morgan and Drosophila melanogaster.
6. The author's personal family tree; genealogy; Alex Haley and Roots; Charley Chaplin, ABO blood types, and paternity; the Romanovs and forensic DNA analysis
7. The author’s genome is sequenced. Joseph Chang and we are all cousins. Mitochondrial Eve. SNPs. Race and scientific bigotry.
8. Big data and the analysis of the human genome. The chopstick effect. The origin of Ashkenazi Jews. Svante Pääbo, David Reich, and ancient DNA. Neanderthals and Denisovans.
9. The genetics of height. Nature and nurture. Genome-wide association studies. Polygenic and omnigenic traits.
10. The genetics of intelligence. Nature and nurture. Twin studies. Karl Pearson. Cyril Burt. The Flynn effect.
11. Embryology. Mary Lyon and the X chromosome.
12. Witches’ broom and somatic mutation. Joseph Merrick. Cancer. Mosaicism.
13. Chimeras. Devil facial tumor disease. Canine transmissible venereal tumor.
14. Bacterial symbionts. Mitochondria.
15. Peloria. Epigenetics. Lamarckism. Trangenerational epigenetic inheritance.
16. Culture and memes.
17. CRISPR. Ground cherries. Donor insemination. Genetic engineering. In vitro fertilization. Three parent children.
18. CRISPR. Germline editing. Stem cells. In vitro gametogenesis.
19. The possible consequences of CRISPR gene drive and what we've already done to our biosphere.

I've been asked which I would recommend more highly, Zimmer's book or Adam Rutherford's A Brief History of Everyone Who Has Every Lived. There is nothing wrong with reading both, but if you only want to read one, I guess I would recommend this book if you know very little about genetics and Rutherford if you know more. [In retrospect, I don't think that is true, and I guess I would say that you can flip a coin and that I slightly favor Rutherford's book.]
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The author refers to August Weismann as having "squinted" through a microscope, but, of course, that is not how a microscope is used.
The discussion of diabetes as a Jewish disease in chapter 7 is new to me.
The extent of chimerism in normal human development (chapter 13) is fascinating - mother’s have incorporated cells from their children, children from their mothers, and second children may have incorporated cells from their older sibling! The possible link with autoimmune disease in women is also interesting.

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One of the most fascinating books I have read. The history of man, heredity, genetic engineering in animals, plants and humans. At times a bit technically complex beyond my understanding, but none the less interesting. Questions on ethics and what science risks with experiments and research are

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discussed finishing with a thought inducing wrap up for the future of our species and our planet. Loved this book.

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