mw1994 's review for:

The Gene: An Intimate History by Siddhartha Mukherjee

5.0

informative reflective medium-paced

---

(I’m not going to comment on the minor epigenetic-related controversy with this book because I have nothing new to add and respect the author’s statement on the subject)

I was reluctant to read The Gene by Siddhartha Mukherjee for a while. As a guilty pleasure pop science reader (the same shameful-yet-indulgent way others are sluts for romantasy), I feared it would disappoint. Because Mukherjee is well-respected for factual accuracy, I was convinced The Gene would be the “worst of both worlds”—both boring AND a book in which a mildly nerdy layperson (tagging myself here as “midly nerdy layperson”) could easily identify factual flaws. 

Instead, I was joyfully surprised by not only the book’s content, but by the way the author so beautifully weaves together history, the politics of genetics, and his own family’s story. It was an engrossing refresher on high school and college biology. As a genetics nerd since 14 and a genetics lab intern in two labs at ages 17 (tending to drosophila and monodelphis) and 18 (learning to test gene expression in plants), it brought me back to my late childhood in a touching way. It touched on so many of my favorite parts of my science classes and personal research (specifically the interpersonal controversies surrounding the study of DNA from Watson and Crick to the Human Genome Project, the development of methods such as PCR and model organisms, and our biological understanding of gender). I also learned a ton (ex: the personal backgrounds of Mendel and Darwin, the history of stem cell research, the story of Ashanthi DeSilva). If I were a writer, I would aspire to write prose even a fraction as informative, engaging, and personal as Mukherjee’s.

The only reason I give this book 4.75 stars instead of 5 is because I listened to it as an audiobook. I categorically choose not to give audiobooks 5 stars as I cannot accurately judge them on one of my favorite aspects of a book: its “feel” on the page. That being said, if I ever see this at a thrift store, I might “reread” it to give it the full 5* it deserves.

Edit: I changed my mind and gave this 5*