Genomic Sciences

Submitted by gkb on Fri, 06/11/2021 - 22:28
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The Twelfth Circle: Critical Thinking and Mental Skills

Can anyone recommend a book for lay readers that gives a good general overview of the developments in genetic sciences over the past 40 years?

ClareBroommaker's picture

ClareBroommaker

Thu, 07/08/2021 - 23:55

Is a college intro text on Genetics too much? Introductory texts usually have some emphasis on the history of the science. Thinking back to my own college class in genetics, it was very math heavy and took me to the margin of my math abilities, having to substitute a lot of algebra where others could take shorter routes using calculus. But yeah, even in 1993 that intro class covered a lot.

gkb

Fri, 07/09/2021 - 09:49

I'm not sure if a college level textbook is ideal. They usually take for granted that the reader has a lot of generall knowledge about the field already. I am learning the subject piecemeal by taking apart each ill-written 'definition' on a wild variety of websites and finding out that we are too made of sugar and spice. And that polymenrs of protein are just long chains of strangely arranged carbonized bits of ferrous earth, so we are too made of clay. I am looking for a synthesis that is not so techincal and gee-whiz scientific, but an overview that looks at the chemistry and the mystery of life combined.

ClareBroommaker's picture

ClareBroommaker

Sun, 07/25/2021 - 19:43

Hey, gkb, just in case you are still looking, I came across the book in the subject line, above. The author is Siddhartha Mukherjee and it was published in 2017. Here's where I stumbled onto it: https://www.powells.com/book/the-gene-9781476733524