The mapping of the human genome has long been perceived as the key to solving all human health problems.
However Nessa Carey’s book contends that this perception is both premature and simplistic, as things that are genetically identical, such as identical twins, can actually be quite different from each other. This is the new science of epigenetics, which explores how identical sets of DNA are interpreted to produce very different outcomes.
Although the subject matter is specialist the book is written for the layperson and doesn’t assume that the reader has any prior knowledge. The science of DNA alteration is described, but this is linked to case studies such as the Dutch Hunger Winter (when a German blockade cut off food and fuel shipments in the Netherlands during the Second World War, causing mass famine) and the effect that had on then-unborn children for the rest of their lives.
This is a readable book that applies scientific theory to the everyday world.
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