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The Gene: An Intimate History

Siddhartha Mukherjee Β· back to the book

What’s in it

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24 books with the same feel

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The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

Rebecca Skloot Β· 381 pages

GeneticsPopular ScienceScience WritingMedicine
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The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race

Walter Isaacson Β· 560 pages

A scientific biography of Jennifer Doudna, a founder and co-developer of the CRISPR gene-editing mechanism, and an examination of what happened after CRISPR hit the marketplace.

GeneticsScience WritingPopular ScienceMedicine
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The Epigenetics Revolution: How Modern Biology Is Rewriting Our Understanding of Genetics, Disease and Inheritance

Nessa Carey Β· 339 pages

"Epigenetics can potentially revolutionize our understanding of the structure and behavior of biological life on Earth. It explains why mapping an organism's genetic code is not enough to determine how it develops or acts and shows how nurture combines with nature to engineer biological diversity. Surveying the twenty-year history of the field while also highlighting its latest findings and innova

GeneticsPopular ScienceScience WritingMedicine
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The Philadelphia Chromosome: A Mutant Gene and the Quest to Cure Cancer at the Genetic Level

Jessica Wapner Β· 323 pages

This work discusses the history of a genetic mutation, discovered in 1959, that causes chronic myeloid leukemia, and traces the research and breakthroughs that led to the creation of a drug that makes this once-fatal illness now treatable. It focuses on what is widely viewed as the 'poster child' of rational drug development in the cancer research world. The history of the founding of a genetic mu

GeneticsScience WritingPopular ScienceMedicine
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Physics of the Future: How Science Will Shape Human Destiny and Our Daily Lives by the Year 2100

Michio Kaku Β· 389 pages

Free ebook link: brautech.co.za/info/FuturePhysics.pdf

Science WritingPopular ScienceGeneticsMedicine
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Survival of the Sickest: A Medical Maverick Discovers Why We Need Disease

Sharon Moalem Β· 279 pages

Survival of the Sickest: The Surprising Connections Between Disease and Longevity is a 2007 New York Times Bestselling science book by Sharon Moalem, an evolutionary biologist and neurogeneticist, and Jonathan Prince, senior advisor and speechwriter for the Clinton administration. It was originally titled, Survival of the Sickest: A Medical Maverick Discovers Why We Need Disease.

GeneticsPopular ScienceScience WritingMedicine
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Genome: the Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters

Matt Ridley Β· 344 pages

The human genome, the complete set of genes housed in twenty-three pairs of chromosomes, is nothing less than an autobiography of our species. Spelled out in a billion three-letter words using the four-letter alphabet of DNA, the genome has been edited, abridged, altered and added to as it has been handed down, generation to generation, over more than three billion years. With the first draft of t

GeneticsPopular ScienceScience WritingNonfiction
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GeneticsPopular ScienceScience WritingNonfiction
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The Violinist's Thumb: And Other Lost Tales of Love, War, and Genius, as Written by Our Genetic Code

Sam Kean Β· 416 pages

"In The Disappearing Spoon, bestselling author Sam Kean unlocked the mysteries of the periodic table. In THE VIOLINIST'S THUMB, he explores the wonders of the magical building block of life: DNA. There are genes to explain crazy cat ladies, why other people have no fingerprints, and why some people survive nuclear bombs. Genes illuminate everything from JFK's bronze skin (it wasn't a tan) to Einst

GeneticsPopular ScienceScience WritingNonfiction
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River Out of Eden: A Darwinian View of Life

Richard Dawkins Β· 172 pages

How did the replication bomb we call "life" begin and where in the world, or rather, in the universe, is it heading? Writing with characteristic wit and an ability to clarify complex phenomena (the New York Times described his style as "the sort of science writing that makes the reader feel like a genius"), Richard Dawkins confronts this ancient mystery. Dawkins has been named by the London Daily

GeneticsPopular ScienceScience WritingNonfiction
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Popular ScienceScience WritingMedicineHistory
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Time, Love, Memory: A Great Biologist and His Quest for the Origins of Behavior

Jonathan Weiner Β· 310 pages

The story of a biologist's search for the foundations of behavior. Looking over the shoulder of some of the premier scientists in the field, biologist Weiner takes us into their laboratories to show us how pieces of DNA actually shape behavior. He focuses on the work of Seymour Benzer, who, decades ago, with James Watson and Francis Crick, helped to crack the genetic code. Then, in a simple experi

GeneticsScience WritingPopular ScienceNonfiction
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A Crack in Creation: Gene Editing and the Unthinkable Power to Control Evolution

Jennifer A. Doudna, Samuel H. Sternberg Β· 304 pages

**A trailblazing biologist grapples with her role in the biggest scientific discovery of our era: a cheap, easy way of rewriting genetic code, with nearly limitless promise and peril.** Not since the atomic bomb has a technology so alarmed its inventors that they warned the world about its use. Not, that is, until the spring of 2015, when biologist Jennifer Doudna called for a worldwide morator

GeneticsPopular ScienceScience WritingNonfiction
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Rabid: A Cultural History of the World's Most Diabolical Virus

Bill Wasik, Monica Murphy Β· 288 pages

Charts the history, science, and cultural mythology of rabies, documenting how before its vaccine the disease caused fatal brain infections and sparked the creations of monsters, including werewolves, vampires and zombies.

Popular ScienceScience WritingMedicineHistory
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The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York

Deborah Blum Β· 327 pages

The untold story of how poison rocked Jazz Age New York City. A pair of forensic scientists began their trailblazing chemical detective work, fighting to end an era when untraceable poisons offered an easy path to the perfect crime. Chief medical examiner Charles Norris and toxicologist Alexander Gettler investigate a family mysteriously stricken bald, factory workers with crumbling bones, a diner

Science WritingMedicinePopular ScienceHistory
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How to Clone a Mammoth: The Science of de-Extinction

Beth Shapiro Β· 220 pages

"Could extinct species like mammoths and passenger pigeons be brought back to life? The science says yes. In [this book], Beth Shapiro, evolutionary biologist and pioneer in 'ancient DNA' research, walks readers through the astonishing and controversial process of de-extinction. From deciding which species should be restored, to sequencing their genomes, to anticipating how revived populations mig

GeneticsScience WritingPopular ScienceNonfiction
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Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers

Mary Roach Β· 304 pages

A hilarious and witty look into the history of using cadavers for science, grave diggers, and options to consider about your burial plan. A dark and uncomfortable subject made more palatable and downright funny.

Science WritingPopular ScienceMedicineHistory
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Pandora's Lab: Seven Stories of Science Gone Wrong

Paul A. Offit Β· 287 pages

What happens when ideas presented as science lead us in the wrong direction? History is filled with brilliant ideas that gave rise to disaster, and this book explores some of these missteps: from opium's heyday as the pain reliever of choice to recognition of opioids as a major cause of death in the U.S.; from the rise of trans fats as the golden ingredient for tastier, cheaper food to the heart d

Science WritingPopular ScienceMedicineHistory
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The Demon Under the Microscope: From Battlefield Hospitals to Nazi Labs, One Doctor's Heroic Search for the World's First Miracle Drug

Thomas Hager Β· 340 pages

The Nazis discovered it. The Allies won the war with it. It conquered diseases, changed laws, and single-handedly launched the era of antibiotics. It was sulfa, the first synthetic antibiotic. Science writer Hager chronicles the history of the drug that shaped modern medicine. Sulfa saved millions of lives--among them those of Winston Churchill and Franklin Delano Roosevelt Jr.--but even more, it

Science WritingPopular ScienceMedicineHistory
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Phineas Gage: A Gruesome but True Story About Brain Science

John Fleischman Β· 96 pages

Phineas Gage was truly a man with a hole in his head. Phineas, a railroad construction foreman, was blasting rock near Cavendish, Vermont, in 1848 when a thirteen-pound iron rod was shot through his brain. Miraculously, he survived to live another eleven years and become a textbook case in brain science. At the time, Phineas Gage seemed to completely recover from his accident. He could walk, ta

Science WritingMedicinePopular ScienceHistory
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A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived: The Stories in Our Genes

Adam Rutherford Β· 408 pages

In our unique genomes, every one of us carries the story of our species--births, deaths, disease, war, famine, migration, and a lot of sex. But those stories have always been locked away--until now. Who are our ancestors? Where did they come from? Geneticists have suddenly become historians, and the hard evidence in our DNA has blown the lid off what we thought we knew. Acclaimed science writer Ad

GeneticsPopular ScienceHistoryNonfiction
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Napoleon's Buttons: How 17 Molecules Changed History

Penny Le Couteur, Jay Burreson Β· 384 pages

Napoleon's Buttons is the fascinating account of seventeen groups of molecules that have greatly influenced the course of history. These molecules provided the impetus for early exploration, and made possible the voyages of discovery that ensued. The molecules resulted in grand feats of engineering and spurred advances in medicine and law; they determined what we now eat, drink, and wear. A change

Popular ScienceScience WritingHistoryMedicine
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Hallucinations

Oliver Sacks Β· 352 pages

Have you ever seen something that wasn't really there? Heard someone call your name in an empty house? Sensed someone following you and turned around to find nothing? ---------- Hallucinations don't belong wholly to the insane. Much more commonly, they are linked to sensory deprivation, intoxication, illness, or injury. People with migraines may see shimmering arcs of light or tiny, Lilliput

Popular ScienceScience WritingMedicineNonfiction
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Saxons, Vikings, and Celts: The Genetic Roots of Britain and Ireland

Bryan Sykes Β· 306 pages

A study based on a decade-long DNA survey traces the genetic makeup of British Islanders and their descendants, ranging from prehistoric times to the genetic heritage of Americans of British descent.

GeneticsPopular ScienceHistoryNonfiction
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