Welcome to the Genome: A User's Guide to the Genetic Past, Present, and Future

Welcome to the genome, the miraculous blueprint of your DNA, coiled tight as a spring in the nucleus of each cell of your body. If unwound, the DNA from just one cell, while only a molecule in width, would stretch six feet in length! The information stored in its double helix structure - three billion bits worth - could fill 142 Manhattan phone books.

Yet far more amazing than these facts is the impact the study of genomics has had on so many areas of our lives. From the promise of personalized medicine and gene therapy to disputes over the safety of genetically modified (GM) foods, there is little doubt we are in the midst of the Genomic Revolution. Now how do we make sense of it all?

Welcome to the Genome takes you right into the thick of today's most cutting-edge science and its far-reaching implications. Authors Rob DeSalle, who curated the highly successful Genomics Revolution exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, and Michael Yudell, Assistant Professor of Public Health at Drexel University, have written a book which clearly explains the ongoing saga of our attempts to understand the mystery of biology's Rosetta Stone and use its code to better our lives.

This reader-friendly book employs an understandable style and eye-popping full-color illustrations to provide real insights into the complex science involved. It delves into the past discoveries that led to the sequencing of the human genome; it presents the challenges facing today's scientists and society and culture in general; and it considers the future possibilities of the developing genome era. Social issues, particularly questions of ethics, receive special attention, covering an important area too often overshadowed by science and technology.

If the genome really is the book of life, then we have only just opened to the first of its many pages. Those who triumphantly claim DNA is destiny may have spoken too soon; it is far more likely today's discoveries will lead to insights yet to be imagined. A stirring and informative introduction to a scientific epic still unfolding, Welcome to the Genome is an essential guide for understanding - and participating in - the incredible explorations, discussions, and realizations of the Genomic Revolution.

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All Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review:
18 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

An executive summary of genomics for the lay person., 2005-04-24
If you need a quick overview to the current state of the art of genetic science and its applications, you'll find this book to be a useful text. I appreciated the succinct style and depth of presentation.

However, as one who follows the news on the ethics of genetic testing, I was annoyed by the authors' obvious bias towards the multicultural viewpoint. They champion the view that there is no genetic basis for race, baldly stating on page 131 that "commonly used ethnic and racial categories do not accurately reflect human genetic variation." The endnote to support this claim is a reference to a 1997 study.

Being a 2005 publication, the authors had both the opportunity and the duty to cite more recent, conflicting studies that support the opposing view, namely that genetic variations fall closely into traditional groupings of race. For example, see the February 2004 American Journal of Human Genetics article by Neil Risch of the Stanford University School of Medicine.

My point is that neither view is definitively supported at this stage of understanding of the genome, yet the authors present the issue as a settled question. Other, similarly-slanted statements throughout the book stain the authors otherwise readable presentation of the science and the ethical questions to which it gives rise.

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