The Secrets of our DNA

How Genetics has Changed the World

De: Turi King

Go back even a quarter of a century and few people would have heard of DNA, except perhaps in a forensic case. Now genetics plays a part of our everyday culture and our interest in genetics is booming, particularly in the form of direct-to-consumer genetic testing for health, family history and ancestry testing.

So how did we get to the point where our understanding, and misunderstanding of genetics became so commonplace? Professor Turi King, the UK's preeminent scientist in DNA and genetics takes us on a journey through the key cases, legal and otherwise, which explain modern genetics and how it now informs policing, personal histories, migration, politics and health. From eugenics, to mistaken dinosaur DNA, the OJ Simpson trial to Angelina Jolie's BRACA1 gene, we are led through the science to discover how genetics has impacted and shaped our society, and how our growing knowledge of the building blocks of life can inform our understanding of our past and how it will affect our future.

Reseñas de la Crítica

A glimpse into the fascinating world of DNA under the guidance of a true expert.
Always accessible, enjoyable and thought provoking. Who could ask for more?

(Professor Lady Sue Black, Baroness Black of Strome, author of All That Remains)

Turi King combines fascinating history and science with brilliant storytelling, taking us from homicides to wildlife crime, DNA tests to eugenics. (Professor Alice Roberts)

Turi King is a brilliant scientist and an enticing storyteller which makes this book both thrilling and highly informative. I think Columbo would have loved it. (Robin Ince, comedian and author of The Importance of Being Interested)

The forensic use of DNA is as close to magic as anything in science today: that a tiny fragment of material can identify a dead king, convict a killer or exonerate the innocent. Turi King's eye-witness account of how this magic was invented is a fascinating read. (Matt Ridley, author of Genome.)

Learn about genetics and why it is so useful. (Sir Paul Nurse OM CH FRS,Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine 2001)

This enthralling book explains how modern genetics, underpinned by fast-moving DNA technology, has come to inform myriad areas of 21st-century life. (Caroline Sanderson)