Scan barcode
A review by kblincoln
The Violinist's Thumb: And Other Lost Tales of Love, War, and Genius, as Written by Our Genetic Code by Sam Kean
5.0
Sam Kean writes deep science so that even lit lovers like me both understand and are engaged by it. His gift is taking the lives of people; scientists, Neanderthals, strange genetic cases, cat-hoarders, Abraham Lincoln, Paganini, and many others to weave a story of DNA and the history of genetics in an irreverent, illuminating way.
If you want to know how polar bear liver can peel your skin, discover possible post-humous diagnoses for Abraham Lincoln and Einstein, find out which of Thomas Hunt Morgan's "fly boys" was a lothario, hear gossip about what humans and Neanderthals got up to during cold nights in prehistoric Earth and the evidence left in our DNA to prove it, and learn about the nun who discovered "jumping" genes, this is the book for you.
Always readable, often snarky (on Neanderthal-human interaction: "Boys eyed girls, tyrannical hormones took over, and pretty soon little humanderthals were running around") and the science of chromosones, genes, DNA/RNA, and mutations presented in completely digestible-sized bits, I love his writing.
It makes me feel well-read and smart while satisfying the need for salacious gossip. And as Kean did in Disappearing Spoon, this book takes well known scientists such as Darwin and Watson/Crick and makes them human-- explaining some of their drive for science in terms of their personalities and backgrounds in ways that make even scientific juggernauts sympathetic and understandable.
Excellently done. Recommended for anyone.
If you want to know how polar bear liver can peel your skin, discover possible post-humous diagnoses for Abraham Lincoln and Einstein, find out which of Thomas Hunt Morgan's "fly boys" was a lothario, hear gossip about what humans and Neanderthals got up to during cold nights in prehistoric Earth and the evidence left in our DNA to prove it, and learn about the nun who discovered "jumping" genes, this is the book for you.
Always readable, often snarky (on Neanderthal-human interaction: "Boys eyed girls, tyrannical hormones took over, and pretty soon little humanderthals were running around") and the science of chromosones, genes, DNA/RNA, and mutations presented in completely digestible-sized bits, I love his writing.
It makes me feel well-read and smart while satisfying the need for salacious gossip. And as Kean did in Disappearing Spoon, this book takes well known scientists such as Darwin and Watson/Crick and makes them human-- explaining some of their drive for science in terms of their personalities and backgrounds in ways that make even scientific juggernauts sympathetic and understandable.
Excellently done. Recommended for anyone.