The Gene: An Intimate History

Content warning for violence, abuse, medical descriptions, death, psychosis and other mental illnesses, and related topics. I was excited to read this book, but unfortunately, I was only really engaged for about a third of the book. There is a ton of information in this book, and I think some of that was hard for me. It read like a textbook in places. When the synopsis says that this is the story of the gene, it's not an exaggeration: every single scientific innovation that pushed the understanding of the gene forward is included. The sections that I did like were the ones that focused on genetic diseases and conditions. I also liked the sections that questioned the ethics of DNA manipulation. But overall, it felt like I was waiting for more narrative than I got.

This book is part history of the development of genetics, part explanation of the working of genes, and part explanation of how genetics influences or causes certain diseases or traits. There is also a discussion of current capabilities in gene-editing and its ethical implications, though this feels too brief especially as it leans on a familiarity with the movie Gattica, which I have not seen. I regularly read science news and listen to science podcasts so I didn't feel like I learned much from this book, though I think it's a good general overview for someone who doesn't follow science in the news. I found the sections on individual diseases and traits to be the most interesting and would like to read more about that. Overall, not as in-depth or engaging as Emperor of All Maladies, Mukherjee's tome on cancer.