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

by Sam Kean

From New York Times bestselling author Sam Kean comes incredible stories of science, history, language, and music, as told by our own DNA.

In The Disappearing Spoon, bestselling author Sam Kean unlocked the mysteries of the periodic table. In The Violinist's Thumb, he explores the wonders of the magical building block of life: DNA.

There are genes to explain crazy cat ladies, why other people have no fingerprints, and why some people survive nuclear bombs. Genes illuminate everything from JFK's bronze skin (it wasn't a tan) to Einstein's genius. They prove that Neanderthals and humans bred thousands of years more recently than any of us would feel comfortable thinking. They can even allow some people, because of the exceptional flexibility of their thumbs and fingers, to become truly singular violinists.

Kean's vibrant storytelling once again makes science entertaining, explaining human history and whimsy while showing how DNA will influence our species' future.

• ISBN10: 0316182311
• ISBN13: 9780316182317
• Publish Date: 17 July 2012 (first published 1 January 2012)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Little, Brown & Company
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 416
• 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.