Nessa Carey

I feel like the author hasn’t mastered conveying this message to a general audience. It’s like I’ve read all the “stories” and examples before. So, it doesn’t give the impression like there’s anything new here. It’s like a mash up of a serious paper and a light “science” book meant to entertain, it could work, but in this book it feels like the two sides hasn’t completely merged. Almost as if there already was a paper and it was decided to make it into a book, so stories where added here and there to make it more visual and accessible.
Took me forever to finish it.… (more)

98% of our DNA has until recently been considered "junk." That's the percentage that's not devoted to recipeing proteins, which for decades was supposed to be what DNA was all about. But the view of so-called junk DNA has been slowly changing. Better tools and procedures have allowed researchers to locate mutations implicated in rare genetic diseases, and many of these mutations turn out to be located in the "junk" areas. As clues mount, scientists can start connecting dots and developing theories regarding multitudes of previously unconsidered ways in which genetic errors can cause problems.

Ms. Carey's book does not make many generalizations about junk DNA's overall purposes might be. Instead she relates disparate tales of research results as relating to known genetic disorders. Her stories exemplify the strange, non-intuitive ways that genetic information can interact. It doesn't seem likely that science will soon have an orderly story to tell about how it all works.

Many of the interactions are actually epigenetic rather than genetic, meaning that they concern markers added to the the genetic code rather than the code itself. Epigenetic markings can be prompted by changes in the cell environment. Their purpose is to enable, amplify, damp down, or turn off individual genes. Their role and presence vastly complicates the whole genetic picture. Richard Dawkins's view of genes as simple, coherent actors seems increasingly naive.

This book is well and entertainingly written, but may be too technical for some readers. Something of a refresher course in cell biology might be advisable before giving this a go.… (more)