Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters

Arguably the most significant scientific discovery of the new century, the mapping of the twenty-three pairs of chromosomes that make up the human genome raises almost as many questions as it answers. In this work of popular science, Matt Ridley recounts the history of our species and its evolution from the dawn of life to the brink of future medicine. By picking one newly discovered gene from each pair of chromosomes and telling its story, Ridley probes the scientific, philosophical, and moral issues arising as a result of the mapping of the genome.