The Gene

An Intimate History

By: Siddhartha Mukherjee

Narrated by: Dennis Boutsikaris

Length: 19 hrs and 21 mins

Publisher's summary

The Gene is the story of one of the most powerful and dangerous ideas in our history, from best-selling, prize-winning author Siddhartha Mukherjee.

Spanning the globe and several centuries, The Gene is the story of the quest to decipher the master code that makes and defines humans, that governs our form and function.

The story of the gene begins in an obscure Augustinian abbey in Moravia in 1856, where a monk stumbles on the idea of a 'unit of heredity'. It intersects with Darwin's theory of evolution and collides with the horrors of Nazi eugenics in the 1940s. The gene transforms postwar biology. It reorganises our understanding of sexuality, temperament, choice and freewill. This is a story driven by human ingenuity and obsessive minds - from Charles Darwin and Gregor Mendel to Francis Crick, James Watson and Rosalind Franklin and the thousands of scientists still working to understand the code of codes.

This is an epic, moving history of a scientific idea coming to life by the author of The Emperor of All Maladies. But woven through The Gene like a red line is also an intimate history - the story of Mukherjee's own family and its recurring pattern of mental illness, reminding us that genetics is vitally relevant to everyday lives. These concerns reverberate even more urgently today as we learn to 'read' and 'write' the human genome - unleashing the potential to change the fates and identities of our children.

Majestic in its ambition and unflinching in its honesty, The Gene gives us a definitive account of the fundamental unit of heredity - and a vision of both humanity's past and its future.

©2016 Siddhartha Mukherjee (P)2016 Random House AudioBooks

Mind blowing... and thorough.

This book just gave me a thoroughly hot air balloon level overview of the entire history of heredity and genetics, criss-crossed with personal stories, the stories of patients, of the scientists and the moral implications. I meep thinking to myself: what just happened!?

One of the best experiences I have had. It is 18h long so there are definitely times when a certain phrase annoyed me, or the narrator annoyed me but I still loved it so much. I’ll have to buy the paper copy as well.

A must read book for every member of our species

I remember that way back in 2003 i fell in love with physics when i read a brief history of time by Stephen hawking. It changed my perspective of what time, forces of nature and our universe. Similarly this book titled The Gene: an intimate history written by Siddhartha Mukherjee will change the way how you look at yourself, life and the reality of our existence itself by delving into the most important journey our species has ever taken: The journey to understand the foundation of life itself : DNA. This is a must read book for anyone who ponders the question of existence, life, disease and even fate.

Recommended for everyone

While at some points this book becomes very Technical and Scientific, it is a recommended listen to everyone.

GGeenneettiiccss. Unpacked

This is a truly remarkable volume where the author unpacks for the layperson the history of Genetics. Of equal importance, the current issues concerning genes and their manipulation, right up to the present day, are expounded and explained. I learned a great deal from this fine book.

Interesting subject, hard on audiobook

The subject is very interesting and the author was very good in intersecting the cientific advances with the sociological impact and reactions. It is also interesting to understand the relationship among researchers and their motivations. But the book is a little bit too technical for a layman and 2/3 of the book are filled with technical details. But the worse is dealing with this in an audiobook, when it is hard to back to check on something, take a little longer to read and reread a paragraph. I recommend the book, but not on audio. I might get a print copy to go back to some points that I want to understand better.