Review by Booklist Review
Scientists have a penchant for straight lines, clearly defined categories, and orderly progressions, but the more that geneticists learn about the surprising number of genes shared by such disparate entities as a yeast and a person, the more barriers between species disintegrate, and the more convoluted the path of evolution is revealed to be. Ackerman proves to be an exciting and eloquent tour guide through the complex realm of heredity, writing about genes, chromosomes, protein molecules, antibodies, and pheromones--the "deep-down world" --with the same sense of adventure she brought to her book about the sea, Notes from the Shore (1995). Adept at selecting vivid analogies sure to please nonscientific readers, she marvels at the spectacular array of life-forms one set of genes can generate, nature's grand balancing act between stability and change, and the intrinsic connections between plants and animals. Using events in her life as catalysts for each phase of her discussion, Ackerman makes vital and relevant such tricky subjects as "junk" DNA, "timekeeping" genes, and the caprice of inheritance. Donna Seaman
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Ackerman (Notes from the Shore) offers another series of natural science essays, this one concerning the continuity and discontinuity of cellular, sometimes molecular, existence. A fascination with the "natural history of heredity" may be written into Ackerman's DNAher youngest sister has a rare genetic syndromeand propels her career as a science reporter, so that even the mechanics of genes make for quite personal reporting, early Annie Dillard-style (viz. her conception of genetics as "the past whispered in bone and blood"). Terms that many readers will recall from biology texts become for Ackerman, a relative newcomer to molecular science via the biology "of the whole organism," characters in a thrumming, deep-time performance piece by proteins, enzymes and mitochondria: "the cosmos of molecules and cells has surprising beauties and minute dramas." She chases her themes in and out of the nucleus, up and down the phylogenic tree from E. coli to the giant squid's eye to her own daughters in uteroall points of departure for 18 energetic expositions on genetics and other biomechanisms like morbidity, sexual reproduction, the immune system and the oldest of senses, smell. Some attempts to project the microscopic up to a visible-to-laypersons scale fall flat, but her style overall is a sweet hybrid of popular science and expansive prose. A sense of wonder and clearheaded respect for the raw biochemical chance that shadows evolution leads Ackerman into interesting corners not explored in recent genetics titles like Matt Ridley's Genome. Agent, Melanie Jackson. (June 1) Forecast: Ackerman will tour as part of Houghton's Literature in Science series. The house is bullish on her, and booksellers love her, too. With handselling and good reviews, the first printing of 25,000 should sell nicely. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
Recent discoveries in molecular biology have shown that genes governing life processes in widely different organisms from yeast to humans are essentially alike. That is the underlying theme of this book as it looks for meaning in the natural world while exploring complex questions in molecular genetics. Ackerman, a former staff writer for National Geographic and a nature author (Notes from the Shore), weaves her own personal experiences into this popular account of the natural history of heredity. (When she is pregnant with her first child, Ackerman worries that the baby will inherit the gene that caused the retardation of her younger sister.) Moving from topics such as development and sex determination to biological clocks and cell death, this is an engrossing book written in delightful prose that will please most readers. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 2/15/01.] Leila Fernandez, Steacie Science Lib., York Univ., Toronto, Ont. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Science writer Ackerman (Notes from the Shore, 1995) takes her title from a motion sculpture that, when activated by a crank, may drop a marble into a cupor may jiggle a blade to fall like a guillotineher metaphor for evolution in general, as well as ones own hereditary fate. Ackerman personalizes her tale of the wondrous interplay of genes and environment in the history of life on earth with biographical details: growing up with a sister born microcephalic (small-brained), the early cancer death of her mother, the rapid decline of her witty grandmother to Alzheimers disease, and her own intense pleasure in giving birth to normal, healthy daughters. These events ground her orderly exposition of the role of heredity in shaping evolution and individual life, from the fertilization of the egg to old age. So as she ponders the cause(s) of microcephaly, she discourses on the history of genetics, DNA, and the gene families common to humans, fruit flies, and worms. She reminds us that nature continually dips into the same bag of tricks when creating and maintaining life. Genes mastermind body shape and organ development in the embryo, repair DNA, orchestrate cell death, and elaborate the nervous, immune, and endocrine system proteins that enable cross-talk between cells and their environment. Mutations of the gene are common in cancer (which is why oncologists speak of all cancers as geneticthe cancer cells DNA becomes deranged in ways that allow it to multiply uncontrollably). Women who have given birth may be more prey to autoimmune diseases (like lupus or rheumatoid arthritis) because their bloodstream carries more foreign cells to trigger an immune reactiondue to two-way cellular traffic across the placenta. These are among the scores of research findings Ackerman details, along with cross-species comparisons of olfaction and vision, the importance of symbiosis in nature (think of all those helpful bacteria that colonize your gut), and discussions of circadian rhythms, the meaning of sex, and the process of aging. All this is related in a rich, baroque style, one that allows Ackerman to celebrate the unity of nature even as she marvels at evolution as a unfolding scroll shot through with mystery. Author tour
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Review by Booklist Review
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Review by Library Journal Review
Review by Kirkus Book Review
