Greatly enjoyed this. Part explanation for the lay person, part historical journey through the history of genetics, this book and its notes were a joy to read. The DNA acrostic was fun, too- flashbacks of BIOCH 301. ( )

I adored Sam Kean's [b:The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements|7247854|The Disappearing Spoon And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements|Sam Kean|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1438018063s/7247854.jpg|8246153] -- it was quirky, educational, fast-paced and filled with both big concepts and tiny little stories of chemistry. So even though genetics is my day job, I figured The Violinist's Thumb was worth a look. And I readily admit that after all, this is what I do all day, every day and the resultant luster loss may bias my opinion. But the Violinst's Thumb lacked the pizzazz of the Disappearing Spoon for me. It hit the genetic high points: The Human Genome Project, Cloning, etc. But what I wanted were the tiny stories; the things that add color and interest to the big stories. There were a couple (yes, I know about DNA and RNA, but not the tons of other *NAs that are not just possible, but exist.) But overall, I found the book a drag to get through. I wish I'd enjoyed it more, but it might be me, not the book. ( )

This was one of the most fascinating books I've read in a long time. Kean covers so much ground and does so in a way that is both respectful (there are some touchy subjects discussed) and engaging. I had so many good conversations with people based on things in this book that I learned or started to understand the connections of, and the references and reading suggestions has a wealth of future reading as well. The nerd in me also really relished needing to use two bookmarks to easily flip back and forth to the notes section :) Highly recommend! ( )

This was essentially a series of essays on a variety of topics associated with genetics and some history on how we know what we do. It was interesting and engaging, but sometimes gross and disconcerting(ie topic such as cannibalism and attempts to make humanizes). It would be interesting to get some updates on further stuff we have learned since it was published. Also, I didn't care for how he romanticized rape in regards to Thomas Jefferson and maybe/probably the sexual encounters between humans and Neanderthals. ( )

This is a fascinating look at the history of genetics, both the science itself and the often quirky and peculiar personalities who moved it ahead. Sam Kean starts off with the story of his own parents--Gene and Jean Kean--and how their accidentally punny names both afflicted and fed his own interest in genetics.

That's merely the appetizer, though; the main course consists of the major breakthroughs in genetics, starting with Gregor Mendel, a wildly strong personality whose major work ground to a halt when he was elected abbot of his monastery, and whose notes (but not his published work, blessedly) were burned after his death, to avoid further scandal related, not to his scientific work, but to the tax dispute between the monastery and the Austrian government.

His work on inheritance and discovery of the basic principles of genetics was forgotten after his death, and not rediscovered until 1900, when Hugo de Vries and Carl Correns independently duplicated his work and then found his published papers. Darwin was unaware of Mendel's work, and when it was rediscovered, it was initially perceived as a major challenge to Darwinism. Darwin, like most after him until the rediscovery of Mendel's work, believed in "blended inheritance," rather than the discrete units of heritable characteristics and the essentially on/of nature of many characteristics due to dominant and recessive genes.

In the 1990s and early 2000s, we had the high-profile competition between Craig Venter and his for-profit Celera, and the non-profit Human Genome Project in the race to sequence the human genome. In between we had the adoption of Drosophila melanogaster (the common fruit fly) as the ideal vehicle for genetics research, Lynn Margulis' discovery of "jumping genes," and James D. Watson, Francis Crick Rosalind Franklin, and Maurice Wilkins' discovery of the DNA "double helix" structure.

It's a fascinating story, and very well told.

I received a free electronic galley of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. ( )