Scan barcode
Reviews
She Has Her Mother's Laugh: The Story of Heredity, Its Past, Present and Future by Carl Zimmer
angelsrgorgeous's review against another edition
5.0
Some really great stuff in here - I especially recommend the chapter on Chimerism, specifically for all women.
emilyjurlina's review against another edition
4.0
It's long, and at times complex, but 100% worth the 500+ page journey. Everyone needs to at least read the sections about genes and race. Completely blew my mind.
danajat's review against another edition
4.0
This was a great book. Pretty complete account of how our understanding of heredity has evolved from long ago to modern times. I especially liked the coverage of historical accounts of different (mostly incorrect) theories and their impact on society at the time. The discussion around the possibilities and ethics of new technology like CRISPR was also illuminating. On the downside, I felt it was a bit too long at 570+ pages and the middle half on cell heredity phenomena was slow.
jasoncomely's review against another edition
5.0
A thorough, and thoroughly interesting book on genetics and heredity. In this case, the book is as good as it's cover art (which is fantastic).
erboe501's review against another edition
3.0
I finished this audiobook in two chunks, with a many-month pause in between. So I don't remember much about the first half of this book. The second half was engaging. Sometimes I got lost in the technicalities, but the human stories were entertaining. Like the mosaic people who absorbed the DNA of twins in the womb, so they have both sets of DNA as adults. Or the implications for Crispr technology on disease and eugenics.
sofijakryz's review against another edition
4.0
A quality overview of the history and the advance in the fields of heredity and (not only) human genetics. The author only very briefly touches epigenetics and then beautifully circumnavigates it without delving into unnecessary complexities. He nicely balances out the technical aspects of biology without overloading the reader and making it primitive to read. Biology aside, the author also extensively discusses the ethical implications and past mis-applications of these sciences and their consequences to individuals or whole populations, referring to some popular, anecdotal stories and some less known but quite touching stories. Those from the related fields will learn little new other than history/ethics/social sciences but they will surely get a decent refresher while others with a general interest will surely have an interesting, informative read. Strongly recommended.