A review by stwriter92
The Violinist's Thumb: And Other Lost Tales of Love, War, and Genius, as Written by Our Genetic Code by Sam Kean

funny informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

I started reading this book last year and read about half of it before the start of the school year, at which point most of my pleasure reading took a regrettable pause. However, I was able to finish the other half on my flight back from India and it made my lack of a working TV and charging port much better. 

The Violinist’s Thumb discusses the history and impact of the tiny building blocks of life itself: DNA. I have always had a general interest in science, despite being a woman of the arts, and this book absolutely did not disappoint. The accessibility of the information and Kean’s masterful way of explaining difficult concepts made reading this book an absolute joy. Never did I think I’d find myself giggling to myself over a book about genetics, but I found myself trying to quiet my laughter on my flight back. 

I absolutely recommend this book to anyone that has even a slight interest in science and genetics. Not only is this book informative, it manages to make the information accessible and interesting in a way that a general textbook never could.