Bibliograph

The violinist's thumb, and other lost tales of love, war, and genius, as written by our genetic code, Sam Kean

Type

Label

The violinist's thumb, and other lost tales of love, war, and genius, as written by our genetic code, Sam Kean

Language

eng

Bibliography note

Includes bibliographical references (pages 385-389) and index

Illustrations

illustrations

Index

index present

Literary Form

non fiction

Main title

The violinist's thumb

Nature of contents

bibliography

Oclc number

853664614

Responsibility statement

Sam Kean

Sub title

and other lost tales of love, war, and genius, as written by our genetic code

Summary

There's enough DNA in our bodies to stretch roughly to Pluto and back. Somewhere in the tangle of strands are the answers to many historical mysteries about human beings that were once thought lost forever. Unraveling the genetic code hasn't been easy from its earliest days, the field of genetics has been rife with infighting, backstabbing, and controversial theories-but now scientists can finally read the astounding stories inscribed in our DNA, stories millions of years old, among them the explanation for how human beings (barely) managed to conquer the earth eons ago

Table Of Contents

Genes, freaks, DNA : how do living things pass down traits to their children? -- The near death of Darwin : why did geneticists try to kill natural selection? -- Them's the DNA breaks : how does nature read -- and misread -- DNA? -- The musical scores of DNA : what kinds of information does DNA store? -- DNA vindication : why did life evolve so slowly -- then explode in complexity? -- The survivors, the livers : what's our most ancient and important DNA? -- The Machiavelli microbe : how much human DNA is actually human? -- Love and atavisms : what genes make mammals mammals? -- Humanzees and other near misses : when did humans break away from monkeys, and why? -- Scarlet A's, C's, G's, and T's : why did humans almost go extinct? -- Size matters : how did humans get such grotesquely large brains? -- The art of the gene : how deep in our DNA is artistic genius? -- The past is prologue -- sometimes : what can (and can't) genes teach us about historical heroes? -- Three billion little pieces : why don't humans have more genes than other species? -- Easy come, easy go? : how come identical twins aren't identical? -- Life as we do (and don't) know it : what the heck will happen now? -- Epilogue : genomics gets personal

Classification