Written
by Steve Jones, Illustrated / designed by
Borin Van Loon
Genetics is the newest of all sciences. Nothing useful was known about
inheritance
until just over a century ago and what Mendel learned then was used to
justify
eugenics and racism. Now genetics is exploding and we have discovered
the
complete sequence of the DNA letters of the 60,000 working genes needed
to make a human being. Introducing
Genetics takes us from
Mendel
to the human gene map and the treatment of inborn disease. It shows how
DNA was discovered and explains how some genes may act in their own
interests
as much as in the interests of those who carry them. No one can afford
to
be ignorant of genetics and, like it or not, many of us will have to
make
moral decisions in which genetics play a part. This book gives us the
information
needed to do so.
Changing
the diet migh avert bowel cancer...
A companion to Jonathan Miller's Introducing
Darwinand
once again
a chance to work with a high profile science populariser. It so happens
that Steve Jones (like Jonathan Miller) is a nice bloke, too. This
stands
in for the long lost 'DNA for Beginners' and covers the social and
political
repercussions of genetic advances as much as the science. Steve
provided
his text already split into bite-size pages, with accompanying briefs
for
virtually every illustration. While I can't claim to have followed
every
one of his suggestions, they certainly acted as a springboard for my
visual
input. A selection from the book featured with other Van Loon
DNA-related
work in an exhibition called 'Representations of DNA' at the Whipple
Museum, Cambridge, U.K. from
January, 2003. For more on DNA, see
Borin's mural in the Science Museum's Health
Matters Gallery.
DNA
Fingerprinting?
Reviews
Picked this book to
represent a summer school course entitled "Genetics" I took at
CU. About as confounding as the Logic course I took at Metro State. The
only test I ever flunked in college was the mid-term. I think most
everybody did. Got an A on the final but only a C for the course. One
of only two I got between Metro St. and CU. Date is approximate. Chris Gager (Nov 14, 2011). www.goodreads.com
Ah. Comic Books. Eric (Jan 28, 2010). www.goodreads.com
I bought and read this book in Ireland!
I wanted it because I was taking Genetics as a summer course at Pitt
when I returned to the US. Time flies.... Tasha
(Apr 18, 2009). www.goodreads.com
This is a good introduction to the
subject, and takes care to highlight dangerous ideological
distortions of the past like racism and eugenics. To be sure, this is
the most political field of scientific inquiry. Besides nephology, of
course. Isaac (Jun 05,
2008). www.goodreads.com
It will probably take a third reading
but I am determined to understand this stuff! Where are my ASC science
major friends when I need them? Kim Sasso (Nov 16, 2008). www.goodreads.com
Good high level over view of genetics.
Very engaging and written in the style of a graphic novel. Jessica (Oct 29, 2008). www.goodreads.com
This is a very curious little book, whose
purpose is, I suppose, to introduce non-scientists to the subtleties,
excitements and threats of modern genetics. It consists of a small
amount of much-fragmented text by Steve Jones squeezing into the little
areas on most pages not taken over by the obtrusive drawings of Van
Loon. Steve Jones often gets two lines or less to a page, and rarely
more than half the page. These bits of text tend to lack continuity and
consist mainly of small nuggets of genetic knowledge which will give
the reader a very simplistic view of the subject, though a few
impressive sentences may stick in his or her mind for use at parties. I
suppose the drawings are intended to fill in the gaps in the reader's
education, but they are really not designed for that purpose. The
drawings are clever, often witty, give recognizable portraits/cartoons
of Watson and Crick (several of each, which are surely meant to amuse a
small elite group of geneticists and molecular biologists), and of past
and a few present important figures. The drawings also get in as many
puns and jokes as possible. These can be amusing (Thomas Hunt Morgan,
the father of Drosophila genetics, is shown beneath a very large front
view of the fly, saying ' Time flies like an arrow, but fruit flies
like a banana!'. No, he did not really say that! The trouble with the
drawings is that they make very little contribution to the reader's
knowledge, and will in many cases mislead or confuse him. They may
well, however, help the book to sell more than Steve Jones'
contribution will, and it would not surprise me if it became a cult
book in a minor way. However, genetics is a very important subject, and
it is vital, in my opinion, that people and children who are acquiring
or have acquired a general education should gain an understanding of
both the principles of genetics and the problems and opportunities
arising from genetic technology. Publishers appear to be unwilling to
produce genetics textbooks designed for the uninitiated, though these
might sell well and encourage sales of books at an intermediate level.
Steve Jones had an opportunity to produce an elementary book which
would fire the enquiring readers to further efforts in self education
instead of letting them only admire the clever drawings and laugh at
the jokes. I think this book is an important missed opportunity.
ERIC REEVE, Institute of Cell, Animal and Population Biology,
University of Edinburgh, West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JT. Book
Reviews, 1994. [We're not convinced that the above
reviewer quite 'gets' the idea of documentary comic books, but suggest
he lightens up a bit...]
A
profusely and surrealistically illustrated
introduction for lay
people.
Covers the scene from before Mendel to present day ethical concerns and
dilemmas. I thank Dr S.Bapiraju for drawing my attention to this book
in
the British Library, Hyderabad. (202.41.85.102/kvsm/biojottings.html
(Biojottings))
(5 stars) Genetics is a
difficult subject. This book makes it
simple!
Genetics is an area of science that seems to be advancing at a
breathtaking
rate. Every week there seems to be some new disease which genetics has
found
the cause of, or some new procedure - such as genetically modifying
crops
- which generates hysteria in the popular press.
Introducing Genetics provides the reader with a good grounding in this
increasingly
important discipline of science. By separating fact from myth, this
informative
book shows the reader how this science has evolved, from its earliest
routes
in the writings of such renowned scientists as Charles Darwin, to the
groundbreaking
work on heredity that was conducted by Gregor Mendel.
This book also explains how the revolutionary work of twentieth century
scientists, such as James Watson and Francis Crick (amongst others) has
led to the opening of a Pandora's box of possibilities, that has the
potential
to affect all of mankind.
Subjects discussed in this concise and fully illustrated introductory
text,
include topics as varied as Eugenics, Genetic Engineering, and the
genetic
testing of unborn babies for inherited diseases. All of which allow the
reader to develop a good overall understanding of this increasingly
relevant
area of science. (sharmean69@lineone.net
from Manchester)
Borin van Loon?
This talented and incisive illustrator is
featured
in many of the books in the "Introducing ..." series. In this
book, collage and illustration are used with short, pithy text to
introduce
the concepts of heredity and some of the major figures in the
development
of genetics -- and eugenics. This book may be more appealing to people
who
already know the material and can appreciate the deftness of Jones and
van
Loon's touch. It is certainly recommended for anyone who's having
trouble
wrapping his head around genetics material in a basic biology setting,
and
will entertain and inform readers from high-school age up. Recommended? Yes. Caveats?
High-school students might go easy on quoting Mr.
Jones's
unsentimental remarks about the personalities of major figures in the
history
of genetics. Also, not all titles in the "Introducing ..." series
are available in the US. See the Icon Books list of US titles for more
information.
(Marmoset Media)
(4 stars) easy to read
The Author explains the basics of genetics via cartoons. This is an
amusing
book and very useful as an introduction. It is however very superficial
and therefore only really for newcomers to genetics or those who want
an
easy read with some humour. (A readerfrom Wilts UK)
(5 stars) DEOXYRIBOSE
NUCLEIC
ACID, G.C.T.A. AND H.Y.P.E. This review is of Introducing
Genetics (Introducing...) (Paperback)
This 2005 edition may exhibit an updated text. My own copy of the book
is a 2001 reprint of the original text from 1993, and one thing that
struck me as I read it was that over those 8 years there appeared to
have been no changes made. Not only is genetics a very modern science,
its profile has risen spectacularly within the scientific community
over a period of not many years, so I expect there must have been a
fair amount of updating to do. Nevertheless this is explicitly a book
for beginners, the approach taken is chronological in recounting the
successive discoveries, the author is a leading and eminent expert who
presumably would not have countenanced reprints of any statements he
wished to retract, so I have to suppose that the text as I have it
remains valid as far as it goes. We beginners have to begin at the
beginning, this is the beginning, reviews here are almost non-existent,
and it may be helpful in that case if I give my fellow neophytes some
idea of what to expect, even if I am not fully up to date.
Professor Steve Jones of University College London is well known, at
least in Britain, from television. Everyone has heard of DNA these days
even if they do not know what those letters stand for (see my caption
above). We have clearly opened another Pandora's box by dabbling in
this matter, and in my edition Jones concludes by touching on the
ethical and political issues that our new discoveries raise. Whatever
additions or amendments he may have added in retrospect, his remarks
reflect his mindset, which is level-headed and humane, and his media
appearances have not suggested to me that he has espoused any
significantly new views in these respects.
The main narrative is historical, in the simple chronological sense.
Jones really starts with Mendel and his experiments on peas, having
given Darwin only a cursory mention before that. Other major figures
are given what I take to be their due mention, the main actors are,
expectedly, Crick and Watson the discoverers of the double helix, and
subsequent research is also noted in my edition up to `the 1990's'. The
picture I gained was much what I would have thought - advances in
research have shown the matter to be enormously more complex than even
Crick and Watson, let alone Mendel, envisaged. However the basic models
that these pioneers created seem to have stood the test of time and
look likely to continue to. The tedious debate over creationism is
mercifully ignored, although the author readily admits that the
phenomenon of being alive, whereby living tissue creates new tissue,
remains a mystery, at least so far. Science can now trace the processes
at work in detail, but what these processes ultimately are seems
unidentified.
The original text is credited to not just Steve Jones but also to the
illustrator Borin Van Loon [sic]. Every page from start to finish, or
at least until we reach Jones's `footnote', is larded with illustrative
matter, mostly cartoons. Whether some readers may find this style
patronising I don't know, but if so I for one was quite happy to be
patronised. For all the clarity of Jones's exposition the main text
can't avoid being slightly heavy going here and there, and I found that
the illustrations lightened my own going very successfully. It all
seems very simple to start with, but here and there new terms creep in
without prior explanation, although they are usually clarified before
too long. The style is basically that of a good lecturer with a sense
of how to keep the audience's attention without diluting or
over-simplifying the message.
Jones comments wryly that while for scientists the four letters of the
genetic `alphabet' are G C T A, now that the subject has got well and
truly into the public and tabloid domain H Y P E might sometimes seem
to characterise the discussion better. Genetics explains much, and it
opens up enormous possibilities in real life, whether these be seen as
promises or as threats. In the text as I have it, he hedges his bets
and does not over-commit himself to either side of the argument.
However he permits himself some down-to-earth observations to the
effect that whether or not genetically modified crops may be in some
way dangerous, there is no `whether' about it when the food in question
is cheeseburgers; and whatever may be said about human cloning the
phenomenon is not new but as old as the first ever pair of identical
twins.
As an introduction I found this book admirable. We all have, it seems
to me, a responsibility to inform ourselves as best we can about
subjects as important as this is. When the matter is set out for us as
clearly as it is here it is something approaching irresponsible not to
take the opportunity we are given, and worse than irresponsible to
promote points of view from a basis of culpable ignorance.
By DAVID BRYSON
(Glossop Derbyshire England), 3 Oct 2007
(3 stars) Good try at telling the
history of
genetics. This review is of Introducing Genetics
(Introducing...) (Paperback)
I'm generally a fan of these 'Introducing' comic strip style guides,
but I wouldn't rate this as one of their best efforts, despite it being
authored by a geneticist who already has penned some of the most
popular science guides on the subject - Steve Jones of UCL.
The approach of the book is to explain a technically very difficult
subject through means of a colourfully sketched outline of its history.
For the first few pages, when dealing with the background to Darwin's
dangerous idea, this works well. Then we get to Mendel and his peas and
things get a little more complicated and before you know it you have
gone from looking at funny cartoon pics of Darwin and his simean
ancestors, to the very complicated mechanics of RNA and protein
synthesis, all in the space of a few pages. Genetics is probably not
the easiest of subjects to simplify for the beginner, but perhaps the
comic strip style doesn't really help here.
For the more humanities minded general reader (for whom the introducing
series is intended, I guess) the book becomes far more digestible again
towards the end, when Professor Jones leaves the technical intricacies
behind him and discusses some of the growing number of ethical issues
that abound since the birth of Dolly, the cloned sheep. Here, as in
other parts of the book, I found the left-leaning bias of the author
slightly irksome, a tendency that unfortunately does infect many of the
titles in this otherwise admirable series.
To sum up, excellent for the history and background to the subject, but
as far as the mechanics go, you will probably need to read one or two
other introductions with it.
By Bruno, 29 Jul 2008
Introducing Genetics
DNA
Fingerprinting?