Evelyn Fox Keller (1936–2023)

Keller isn't a great stylist, but does a good job of covering the complex topic of genetics in a manner that is comprehensible for the non-scientist reader. Since I'm reading this book a dozen years after it was first published (2000), I am certain that much of what she reports here has been superseded by new research & thinking in the field. I am curious about that, in the same way that I'm curious about developments in cosmology post String Theory, for example. I suffer from a perpetual show more outdatedness exacerbated by the primitive notions about science that were inculcated in me during 12 years of Catholic education back in the 50s and 60s. Such primary instruction so often intrudes and blocks new learning (what I know about American History suffers from the same distortion). One of the more intriguing notions that I've come away with after reading The Century of the Gene is that the gene is not a thing, but a complex web of functional, regulatory & developmental processes; "What then should we count as the beginning and end of a gene?" Another is the possibility that "mechanisms for evolvability could themselves have evolved" which would be "a serious provocation for neo-Darwinian theory, for it carries the heretical implication that organisms provide not just the passive substrate of evolution but their own motors for change; it suggests that they have become equipped with a kind of agency in their own evolution." show less

Barbara McClintock was a brilliant female scientist, unwilling to settle for a “woman’s job” teaching when she was clearly cut out for research. Her intelligence and insight eventually put her discoveries so far ahead of the rest of her field that it took decades for her to receive the recognition she deserved. In this biography, we learn about both her struggles as a women in science and the details of her Nobel prize winning research.

I very much enjoyed the human element of this show more book. As a woman in science, it always makes me feel appreciative to hear about the women whose uphill battle led to our equal recognition in the field today. It’s impressive, but also a little intimidating, to read about someone this brilliant and focused! Quotes and anecdotes were very well integrated into the story and I felt like we really got to know Barbara McClintock.

Unfortunately, not all of the science in the book was as enjoyable for me. I’ve never been especially interested in cellular replication and a while is spent on that. The less basic concepts are then explained much less clearly and in much detail. Even with a little knowledge of genetics, I sometimes found it hard to follow.There was some interesting discussion of some broader questions in science: the necessity of a common language and tacit assumptions which allow communication, the danger of letting our expectations and prior knowledge color our interpretation of data and what we throw out as anomalous. This made for an interesting read, but I did skim some of the more technical bits. show less

This slenderish book has some large objectives — to describe the life and work of a prodigiously productive scientist, to describe experiments to a general audience that contemporary experts in the field couldn't understand, and to suggest a theory on the philosophy of science. There are some comical moments, as when a ridiculously complex bunch of paragraphs are tied up with something like, "Now that you understand that, I will now spend the next chapter briefly reviewing the history of show more genetics." On my second or third reading, I'm still not sure that I grasp what makes transposition quite so revolutionary. But there's something that draws me to this book, even when what I remember is mostly the inscrutable discussions of ring chromosomes and regulators. I think it might be McClintock's voice, which comes through so clearly. show less

This book re-qualifies our understanding of the gene model of genetics. In most science and medical communication, we have portrayed genes as pieces of template code which drive features in a mechanical manner. The story, however, is much more complicated than this, and this is not just a story of science communication but one of the politics and business of science.