The Gene: An Intimate History

Very thought provoking writing

A truly riveting history of the research, over centuries, which went into the unravelling of what we understand today about genes

An accessible and gripping read on the progress of genetics as a field from Darwin and Mendel to current advances like CRISPR. The book also chronicles the uneasy relationship genetics shares with its sinister sister field of eugenics and how advances in genetics steered arguments in eugenics and consequently influenced politics in the West in early 20th century. The numerous footnotes in this book are also very informative.

Nicely written. Engaging. Perhaps too long but worthy.

I finished reading ‘The Gene’ by Siddhartha Mukherjee last month. It has been a fascinating voyage in the world of biology- genetics to be precise. As I wrote before too, it has been written with great erudition and is richly laced with metaphor and similes to make it comprehensible even for a non-biologist. It staggers my mind to think how must an ocean of research material have been mined for it, grasped, and then put to masterly use by the doctor-writer. Only a man of SM’s calibre who gave us a wonderful book on cancer ‘The emperor of all maladies’ before, could have done it. The gene book tells us in gripping detail the whole story of the gene right from early meanderings before the Christian era by the Greek Philosophers like Pythagoras (530 BC), Anaxagoras (400 BC), Aristotle (350 BC) and many others to unravel the mystery of inheritance. (Incidentally, Anaxagoras thought that the essence of heredity was carried by the male sperm, while the female only “shaped’ male semen in the womb to produce the foetus! And Aristotle argued that hereditary information is transmitted in the form of messages.) Nothing is in fact left out by the author in this long journey of man’s search for answers to the intriguing gene puzzle: Mendel’s experiments on pea to unravel the mystery of inheritance of characters, Darwin’s great voyage, how Watson and Crick cracked the DNA code, the human genome, how the new findings have helped mankind in understanding and curing genetic disorders by gene therapy, gene edting and gene surgery and the future scenario in regard to genomics and humankind. A lot has been done but a lot more still needs to be discovered. So many tricky genetic ailments such as Haemophilia, sickle cell anaemia etc which have afflicted mankind causing huge suffering, are now being cured thanks to new insights into the subtle working of the gene. Many more are on the threshold of being tamed and treated through gene therapy. The quest is on. Needless to say, the coming decades will see man (or a geneticist) playing God with gene editing and cloning technologies in his kitty. It will be for the humankind though to see and decide where to draw the line.What makes the book so outstanding is the interesting manner and the arresting narrative with which the whole story of the gene is laid bare before the mesmerized reader with fascinating details about the personal lives of Mendel, Darwin and all other luminaries who have been involved in their scientific endeavours in unravelling the mystery of the gene right from the beginning till date, their obsessions, devotion, dedication, foibles, failures, jealousies, the politics and so on.Having been a zoologist myself – though not a great one! – I could strike an instant chord with the book and had it fill many gaping voids in my understanding of the gene.Subhash Sharma, Palampur, Kangra HP

Awesome

Explore the world of gene and its evolution in a magnificent way 👍

Written in a very clear and chronological manner . The book is a page turner it is enjoyable to anyone who has basic understanding of high school biology. Others can also read and enjoy I feel.

The book begins as an intimate history of genetics but develops into the intimate future of one of the most powerful and dangerous ideas in the history of science: the gene, the fundamental unit of hereditary and the basic unit of all biological information.The power of the idea can be seen today in the way personal genomics is revolutionising drug development, therapy and precision oncology – preventing and treating diseases taking into account individual variability in genes , environment and lifestyle. Genomics is being combined with Artificial Intelligence to mine vast amounts of genetic information for new clues about disease, diagnosis or treatment and combining the amazing potential in AI and genetics for opening new horizons in healthcare.Why is the idea dangerous? Because like the other two profoundly destabilising scientific ideas of the atom and the byte that richochet through the 20th century, the gene has transformed culture, society, politics and language.Mukhergee goes right back to the first steps in understanding the mechanism and influence of genes with Mendel and Darwin and roller coasters through the 20th century. The scientific progress falls into 4 stages ; the establishment of the cellular basis of heredity: the chromosomes; the molecular basis of hereditary :the double helix; the informational basis : the genetic code and sequencing of the human genome; and finally the era of genomics: the deciphering, reading and understanding the human genome and developing medical applications.He tells history is told in an extremely personal and readable way describing how scientists built on each others’ contribution with accelerating progress. The book is full of detective stories – for example how it had taken Morgan and his team three decades to collect fifty fly mutants in New England. Then one night in 1926 Muller discovered the effects of radiation and mutated half that number in a single night. Or for example, the detective work of Watson and Crick in discovering the double helix structure of DNA following the groundbreaking work of Linus Pauling, Robert Corey, Maurice Wilkins and Rosalind Franklin.There is a feeling of balance in Mukhergee’s account of the race for sequencing the human genome, once Muller had discovered the way to copy a human gene in a test tube. The US National Institute of Health (NIH) was chosen as the lead agency to sequence the entire human genome with the US’s DOE and the UK’s Medical Research Council and Wellcome Trust joining the effort. However a little known, pugnacious, single minded neurobiologist at the NIH, Craig Venter, proposed a shortcut to genome sequencing. James Watson and the NIH were appalled at not only at Venter’s technique but at his proposal to patent genes. Scientists at Stanford had patented methods to recombine pieces of DNA to create genetic chimeras, Genetech had patented processes to express proteins such as insulin, Amgen had filed a patent for isolation of erythropoietin using recombinant DNA but nobody had patented a gene or piece of genetic information for its own sake. The race between the US and UK’s public agencies and Craig Venter’s privately funded company Celera was on. The Wellcome Trust doubled its funding and congress threw open the slices of federal funding. But a kind of truce was struck and in 2001 the Human Genome Project and Celera both published their results of the sequencing of the human genome marking the start of the era of genomics.But the history of the gene is told not just from the angle of scientific discoveries. The social effects of the development of the genetics are explored.The history of eugenics and its misuse widely in the USA for sterilising imbeciles to improve human intelligence is shown to be based on a totally fallacious theory of hereditary. The Nazi eugenic experiments and the holocaust gruesomely exposed the danger of false science.The Asilomar meeting in 1973 of leading virologists, genetiscists, biochemists and microbiologists addressed the growing concerns about gene – manipulation techniques. Asilomar II in 1975 got unanimous support for ranking the biohazard risks of genetic recombination.This has resulted until recently in three unspoken principles which guide the arena of genetic diagnosis and intervention. Firstly diagnostic tests have been restricted to gene variants that are singularly powerful determinants of illness – for examplehighly penetrant mutations like Downs syndrome and cystic fibrosis. Secondly, the diseases caused by these mutations have generally involved extraordinary suffering. Thirdly justifiable interventions have been defined by social and medical consensus, and all interventions have been governed by complete freedom of choice.But these boundaries could be loosening from these originals - of high penetrance genes, extraordinary suffering and justifiable interventions - to genotype-driven social engineering. Mukherjee provides examples of genetic diagnosis being transformed into clinical and personal realities. Individuals are inspired to get our personal human genome mapped which could lead to determining genetic fitness. Individuals are not so easily governed by guiding principles.Evidence of the influence this book has had on me is that I have now set out to get my personal genome sequenced!

I enjoyed the 'Emperor of all maladies' book from this author, so I was keen to read this new tome as well. I was not disappointed. His prose is engaging and his reports of some of the genetics luminaries are amusing (I wish I had someone like him as my Genetics professor at Uni). Most importantly, the concepts arising from genetic research and technology are explained in a way that is understandable by the vast majority of the public. For me the last chapters are particularly stimulating and thought provoking. a must read!

The Gene: An Intimate History is an epic story of how we have come to understand some of the fundamental building blocks of life on earth. From Mendel growing his peas via Darwin and the origin of species, eugenics and the Nazis, Crick and Watson discovering the double helix structure of DNA to the tantalising prospects of genome enhancement, Siddhartha Mukherjee takes us comprehensively through the whole history.It's a complex subject, but the writing is just the right level for someone (like me) with no biology or chemistry background at all to understand. He also covers the moral and ethical aspects of some of the research as well as the science. There's a lot to it, and it does take a while to read, but it's such a fascinating tale that it's well worth the effort.Awe-inspiring and downright mind-boggling in places, if popular science is your thing then you won't want to miss this one.

I'm not one to give praise too freely. I'm an author and scientist (in a different field) and a critical reader by disposition and training. This book, however, deserves the highest praise. It's a masterpiece. The science is pitched perfectly for a layman. The history is enthralling. The two are woven together in a beautiful, thoughtful way. I would make this book required reading for everyone. Bravo Mr Mukherjee.

I loved this book and had difficulty putting it down. It gives a clear picture of the progress made since ancient greece upto today. Technology and biology are not skated over but presented in an easily understood manner. I also found the notes and bibliography very useful. If you are interested in genes, human understanding of genes and potential evolutionary paths to human existence then this is a good read.