![]() A firm believer of the simultaneous forces of nature and nurture, Ridley has little patience for behaviorists, and stresses that genetic effects from physiology to psychology are pervasive but also complex. The chapter titles range from conflict to intelligence, highlighting that the genetic landscape has a nebulous and important impact on our lives. The book is broken into twenty-three chapters corresponding to a given chromosome, and each chapter highlights a specific gene native to that chromosome. ![]() Do to its abstract nature, the field of genetics is prone to analogies, many of them confounding, but Ridley does a good job at finding appropriate comparisons and articulating how satisfactory the concurrence is between these conceptual shorthands and underlying reality. His specific knowledge of genetics and biology has helped him hone in on the key principals that one need appreciate to understand the central dogma behind modern biology and genetics. ![]() ![]() Ridley is a well-respected journalist with The Economist, and knows how to write authoritatively on issues of popular science. I knew I would not be disappointed with Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters as I had read Ridley’s previous book The Red Queen, about the biological origins of sexual reproduction with great delight. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |