Author Siddhartha Mukherjee
Publisher Allen Lane Penguin
Pages 592
Price 699/-
Siddhartha Mukherjee author of 2 books , The Laws of Medicine and The Emperor of ALL Maladies : A Biography of Cancer , the latter won for him the 2011 Pulitzer and the Guardian First Book Award .
Siddhartha Mukherjee is an assistant professor of medicine at Columbia . A Rhodes Scholar , he graduated from the Stanford , Oxford , and Harvard Medical School . He has identified genes that regulate stem cells and his team is internationally recognized for its discovery of skeletal stem cells and genetic alterations in blood cancers .
Obviosly , he is eminently suited to write for the layman on the subject of the Gene . Nowadays many people talk about Gene ,but they know pretty little about Gene , how it is formed , how it was discovered , what are its functions , how does it operate, how and why does it malfunction , is it amenable to corrective treatment . Siddhartha Mukherjee has the right kind of vast experience , international exposure, and his style is easy and flowing . He has a knack for putting a complex proposition or point in simple and lucid terms .
Siddhartha Mukherjee has more intimate connections with Gene and genetics , than what the reader might imagine or guess. His entire family was uprooted in East Bengal in 1947 and then the Mukherjees shifted to Kolkata . They lived as a joint family and did well for themselves . And then suddenly the terror struck,unannounced.
Within a brief period , Siddhartha Mukherjee’s three uncles were afflicted by various unravelings of the mind , and succumbed to their sicknes without any diagnosis . In those times ,lack of diagnosis and , therefore, no specific medication was the order of the day. Soon ,thereafter, three cousins of Siddhartha Mukherjee also were afflicted by mental disorder . One was diagnosed for schizophrenia , and ,for the other two , the strange taxonomy of mental illness was convenient while it lasted. Of the two, one entered an asylum and the youngest one just disappeared ,
By then, heredity ,illness ,normalcy , family, and identity had become a recurrent theme of conversation among Siddhartha Mukherjee’s friends and relatives . It would be idle to pretend that these did not affect Siddhartha Mukherjee merely because he does not discuss the calamity at length. But ,it surely gave him the determination to train himself up in understanding gene and undertake research.
I suppose he must have drawn courage and inspiration from his grandmother who had assumed with ferocity the role of public defender of the family .
Siddhartha Mukherjee says this book is the story of the birth, growth and future of one of the most powerful and dangerous ideas in the history of science : the “ gene “ , the fundamental unit of heredity, and the basic unit of all biological information. Three profound scientific ideas of the century are the atom , the byte and the gene. Each begins as a rather abstract concept but grows to invade multiple human discourses thereby transforming culture , society ,politics ,and language. It is the strength and the power of the gene that puts it beyond science. Siddhartha Mukherjee says it is one thing to understand how genes influence human identity or sexuality or temperament . It is quite another to imagine altering identity , or sexuality or behavior by altering genes . The latter thought is infected both by promise and peril .
The book is a veritable mine of information, explanations and futuristic designs in regard to genes and genetics to all of which justice can not be done in a review . It is worth keeping in your home library
Some of the views expressed about gene are worth noting and remembering. William Bateson , who did original work in genetics said that an exact determination of the laws of heredity will probably work more change in man’s outlook on the world, and in his power over nature, than any other advance in natural knowledge that can be foreseen. Will it ever happen? Bateson is hopeful,in about two decades.
Menelaus in The Odyssey points out that the blood of your parents is not lost on you.This view is held for generations. To which ,Philip Laerkin adds : -The parents – They f*** you up, your mum and dad, They may not mean to, but they do. They fill you with the faults they had, And add some extra, just for you .
How many scientists of different nationalities have over 5 decades contributed to identifying of gene , greater understanding of gene and improved manipulation of gene , will make a long story .
Siddhartha Mukherjee highlights that between 2012 and 2016 we have invented technologies that allow us to change human genomes intentionally and permanently and therefore, these will have to be carefully evaluated .
Siddhartha Mukherjee pays a loving tribute to his grandmother in dedicating this book to her for her courage to stand up to protect her family with resilience and grace.
