It's really fantastic, and I want to recommend it to EVERYONE, but in my heart I know the tone would bore some of my friends. Also just as physical sex is determined by genes so are many of the attitudes consistent with that sex. People, particularly in childhood, have an instinct for grammar, an inherent ability to arrange words in a meaningful way. There is no evidence showing the difference is due to heritability and in fact blacks raised among whites perform just as well as whites on IQ tests. On the other hand increased productivity and nutrition can save many lives particularly in developing countries.

Each chapter gives such an amazing introduction to each topic that every time I read a chapter I wanted to find out more about it before continuing. Ridley chooses the gene D4DR which codes for the manufacture of dopamine and is located on the short arm of chromosome 11.Another thing a little odd was the number of off topic digressions, often coupled with personal observations. Ridley concludes that the Human Genome Project is largely based on the inaccurate belief that there is one single human genome. The account of the (gene-carrying) retrovirus therapy and other genetic `engineering' tricks was riveting. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice.

As it was, I think I would have been better off reading anything in the book's bibliography than this book itself. The principles of what had seemed a highly esoteric field became much clearer and more straightforward. As always when reading popular science books, as well as becoming enthusiastic and wishing to retrain as an astrophysicist or quantum mechanic for instance, I am very interested in the 'rhetoric' of discourses, what emerges between the lines - often very powerful assumptions and values relating to conceptualising 'human nature'. Ridley also describes genetic studies of different types of peoples to isolate why people developed a mutation allowing adults to digest lactase in adulthood.who tend to leave the questions about the enormously important weight of human meat, including brain meat, as a passing aside.

So, from the formal science of genetics being explained to me in popular science fashion in "Genome: the Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters” I have expanded my knowledge of my own origins. If a gene gives us an unhealthy craving for sweets we can still choose to overcome it, perhaps with the help of another gene that makes us want to look good or enjoy good health. The feeling of stress can depend on our outlook, but the release of cortisol is an involuntary response by the body.He disagrees with the common positions that there is no free will because your actions are either dictated entirely by your genome or your actions are entirely random. By picking one newly discovered gene from each of the 23 human chromosomes and telling its story, Matt Ridley traces the history of our species and its ancestors. Various genetic phenomena are discussed, each in one of 23 chapters: each one named (= numbered) after the chromosome pair which is most relevant to that particular subject. This included gene IGF 2R on the long arm of chromosome 6, which may also be related to liver cancer. It is not understood why we and all animals have evolved in such a way that stress suppresses our immune systems.

He also puts a lot of the fears of genetic tinkering to rest by showing just how the data is being used.Our genome - that is all our genes in the form of 23 chromosomes - is present in almost every cell in our body.