Time, Love, Memory: A Great Biologist and His Quest for the Origins of Behavior (edition 1999)

by Jonathan Weiner

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493	10	49,999	(3.71)	28
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 experiment using a few test tubes, a light bulb, and 100 fruit flies, Benzer invented the genetic dissection of behavior. Now we see how he and his students find and study genes that build our inner clocks, genes that shape the way we love, and genes that decide what we can (or cannot) remember. These breakthroughs help explain secrets of human behavior and may lead to advance treatments for behavioral disorders ranging from rage to autism to schizophrenia.--From publisher description.… (more)

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Member:	minimoose
Title:	Time, Love, Memory: A Great Biologist and His Quest for the Origins of Behavior
Authors:	Jonathan Weiner
Info:	Knopf (1999), Edition: 1, Hardcover, 320 pages
Collections:	Shelves
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Time, Love, Memory: A Great Biologist and His Quest for the Origins of Behavior by Jonathan Weiner

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Showing 1-5 of 10 (next | show all)

As a researcher having being working on flies for nearly a decade, I found this book is still full of useful information. The stories also have been elegantly told, which is rare in scientific field.

I just have been bothered sometimes by the lack of biological or fly genetics common sense of the author, which is inevitable for a non-fly geneticist. Also, the author is too rumbling in some chapters. (

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zhliu0124 | Aug 7, 2017 |

I've read books on evolutionary biology and other sciences, but for some reason found this one a little confusing. Maybe my natural biases of the role of genes in behavior influenced how I understood the progression of the research's varying interpretations of the nature-nurture debate. Still, not a difficult or long read, and recommended to anyone with a natural interest. (

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Cheryl_in_CC_NV | Jun 6, 2016 |

time, Love, Memory is Seymour Benzer's story. While Charles Darwin was obsessed with finding the origins of species, Benzer was obsessed with figuring out the origins of behavior. He dedicated his research to finding out the riddle of both animal and human behavior. He wanted to dig deeper into the concepts of nature and nurture, knowing that life was a balance of both. The the diea of reading a book about genes, fruit flies and DNA sounds boring, don't worry. Weiner's style of writing adds a warm and humorous texture to the otherwise scientific plot. (

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SeriousGrace | Nov 24, 2013 |

amusing, informative, and somewhat melancholy biography of Seymour Benzer; nice history of early genetics and genetic mapping

FKarr | Apr 10, 2013 |

A fascinating look into the history and study of genes through drosophilia; so much we have learned and oh so much we have yet to learn. (

)

BryeWho | Jan 10, 2009 |

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thingScore 75

Weiner's book is well written and fun to read, although the question arises, who is the audience? This is scientific reportage and as such should not be expected to provide in-depth analysis of tenets and conclusions. Therefore, those who wish to find a critical assessment of neurogenetics should look elsewhere.

added by jlelliott | editNature, Yadin Dudai (Apr 29, 1999)

Weiner's book is a fascinating history of the effort, led by Benzer, to find the specific genes that regulate time, love and memory in fruit flies and therefore to demonstrate something larger about the connection between genes and behavior. Benzer was dealing with what Weiner calls one of the ultimate questions, like the origin of the universe.

added by jlelliott | editThe New York Times, Richard Bernstein (Apr 21, 1999)

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Awards

National Book Critics Circle Award (Finalist – General Nonfiction – 1999)

Royal Society Trivedi Science Book Prize (Shortlist – General – 2000)

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Epigraph

Little Fly,
Thy summer's play
My thoughtless hand
Has brush'd away.

Am not I
A fly like thee?
Or art thou
A man like me?

-William Blake,
"The Fly."
from Songs of Experience

Dedication

For two good friends: my brother, Eric, and John Bonner.

First words

Seymour Benzer's laboratory runs along two corridors of Church Hall at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

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This is a science that is dedicated to exploring the inward infinity that Pascal imagined and to reading the writing on John Locke's slate - for even Locke knew that the slate is not blank.

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(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)

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▾Book descriptions

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 experiment using a few test tubes, a light bulb, and 100 fruit flies, Benzer invented the genetic dissection of behavior. Now we see how he and his students find and study genes that build our inner clocks, genes that shape the way we love, and genes that decide what we can (or cannot) remember. These breakthroughs help explain secrets of human behavior and may lead to advance treatments for behavioral disorders ranging from rage to autism to schizophrenia.--From publisher description.

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