The Violinist's Thumb: And Other Lost Tales of Love, War, and Genius, as Written by Our Genetic Code

by Sam Kean

Did the human race almost go extinct? Can genetics explain a cat lady's love for felines? How does DNA lead to people with no fingerprints or humans born with tails? And how did the right combination of genes create the exceptionally flexible thumbs and fingers of a truly singular violinist?

Unravelling the genetic code hasn't always been easy - from its earliest days, genetics has been rife with infighting, backstabbing and controversial theories - but scientists can now finally read the astounding stories inscribed in our DNA. As we make advances into DNA mapping and modification, genetics will continue to be the hottest topic in science, shaping the very make-up of our bodies and the world around us.

With the same masterful combination of science, history and culture he brought to The Disappearing Spoon, Sam Kean untangles the secrets of our genetic code, explaining how genetics has shaped our past and how DNA will determine humankind's future.

• ISBN10: 0316202975
• ISBN13: 9780316202978
• Publish Date: 17 July 2012 (first published 1 January 2012)
• Publish Status: Active
• Imprint: Little Brown and Company
• Format: eBook
• Language: English

Reviews

[MurderByDeath]

Absolutely excellent read! Very accessible, well-researched, and entertaining. I really appreciate Sam Kean's writing style and I got an awful lot out of this book; even if I knew some of the information already, he offered an alternate way of looking at what can often be a controversial subject.

I'd highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys science.

[elvinagb]

The Violinist's Thumb: And Other Lost Tales of Love, War, and Genius, as Written by Our Genetic Code (by Sam Kean, Little, Brown and Company, July 17, 2012) is a book about genes and DNA. Sounds simple but it’s not. While this book took me back to studying biology in school, it also had enough gossipy bits about scientists and others to keep me really interested and to help reinforce the technical bits. The whole business of science, who discovers what, who gets credit and fame and fortune and who is destroyed by what they discovered or didn’t discover is all laid out. The more we have learned about what makes life on this planet and what makes us a truly unique place in the universe, the more we must realize what we don’t know or understand. Our current technology has helped us speed up discoveries but ultimately what we do with these discoveries may forever change what our species will become in the future. How long before you can operate your personal computer using DNA instead of a microprocessor? I read a digital galley of this book from the publisher so I can’t do the puzzle Kean left in the print copy. It’s enough of a challenge to make me want an actual hard copy of the book and to take some time in the future to read this again. A great read.