AN Intelligent Person's Guide to Genetics

By Adrian Woolfson

Recent radical developments in genetics focus on a revolutionary new type of "synthetic" biology, which aims not just to understand how living things work, but to build them from scratch. At the same... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1585676632
• ISBN13: 9781585676637
• Release Date: March 2005
• Publisher: Overlook Books
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 7.2" x 1.0" x 5.0"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 12 and higher

Customer Reviews

Delightful and charming

A charming romp through the history and future of life. Woolfson contends that synthetic life is inevitable and that we are at the cusp of what he calls a new Enlightenment, which is every bit as significant as the periods of profound intellectual change which converted modern society from a religious to a secular mode of existence. He uses a panalopy of wonderful anecdotes drawn mostly from the Victorian world, descirbing the antics of a host of colourful characters such as Professor Henry Pepper's ghost and strange talking machines. He even discusses the possibility of making fairies and mythical creatures from scratch. This is not a 'genetics for beginners' book but more a cultured exposition of the most interesting and important parts of genetic and genomic theory. I did not expect all of this so was unexpectedly delighted. I highly recommend it!