---
product_id: 70146700
title: "The Gene: An Intimate History"
price: "Bs.546"
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reviews_count: 8
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---

# The Gene: An Intimate History

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- **What is this?** The Gene: An Intimate History
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The Gene: An Intimate History [Mukherjee, Siddhartha] on desertcart.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. The Gene: An Intimate History

Review: A perfect read for anyone who wants to better understand and appreciate the considerable impact that genomics will have. - Interest in the power of the gene has heightened by the popularity of the numerous ancestry testing sites, like 23 & Me, which is the one I used to find out that I was 99% “Northwestern” European, which included Britain and Ireland (this would also include Scotland, which wasn’t a surprise) but the “Irish” ancestry was. The book provides a comprehensive history of the most intimate science of our time—the fundamentals of heredity. What better person to tell this story than the author of The Laws of Medicine and The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer, which won the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction and was voted one of Time’s 100 best and most influential books since 1923. Mukherjee is a Rhodes Scholar, a graduate of Stanford University and the University of Oxford, not to mention Harvard Medical School. The author has embarked on a most ambitious quest to understand human heredity’s influence on lives, personalities, identities, fates and the choices we make as individuals. Through the story, the author’s own family members were present, plagued by mental illness. The book is divided into two parts. A vivid history of the development of genetics and then a meditation of the study of what it means for biology and medicine (not to mention human identity). He also explores the challenges and dangers of genetic modification. For years, “experts” proposed that male homosexuality was caused by the distorted dynamics of a family, “by the fatal combination of a smothering mother who was often ‘close-binding’ and (sexually) intimate, if not overtly seductive, to her son and by a detached, distant father.” All of this changed in July of 1993 with the discovery of the so-called gay gene, which incited one of the most vigorous public discussions about genes, identity, and choice in the history of genetics. Just one of the surprises I came across in this eye-opening book. The author also explores the future of this new, quickly developing science with the following quote from Gina Smith, author of The Genomics Age, “Probably no DNA science is at once as hopeful, controversial, hyped, and even as potentially dangerous as the discipline known as gene therapy.” He goes on to say, “It would rebound from the ugliness of the initial trials and learn the moral lessons implicit in the “cautionary tale of scientific overreach.” Over the years, we can expect to see more headway on how genes can identify and prevent serious diseases. As I was writing this review, I listened to a story on Public Radio about a new test made possible through research at “T-Gen” (Translational Genomics Research Institute) here in Phoenix of a breakthrough that would decrease the test turn-around time for Valley Fever from 21 to only one day, which would accelerate the healing process. As far as my own 23 & Me test, I added Ireland to the countries I needed to visit, which is fairly straightforward. Not so for one of my close Guatemalan friends whose test indicated over 80% of his family comes from the Iberian Peninsula, which includes Spain. This was not a surprise, but the 20% of Indian influence (Mayan Indian, in this case)) was a surprise and opened up some interesting questions and speculation. Although over 50% of the population is Mayan Indian, they are still ignored and considered second-class citizens to a degree making this revelation an embarrassment to some. This book is possibly one of the greatest detective stories ever told. And Mukherjee tells a dramatic story that is sweeping and transcendent. A perfect read for anyone who wants to better understand and appreciate the considerable impact that genomics will have on our personal lives as well as new trends in health care.
Review: Well written and highly recommended! - Although the Gene is iterated more toward people without science background, from my opinion, it is a great book to read with or without science background. The field of genetics is so broad and yet still need to be continuously studied. The heaviness and profoundness of information have been a huge obstacle that prevent people who usually are not familiar with science from even attempting to understand it. Mukherjee did an excellent work of compiling the enormous information and place it into historical context. As someone who has a science background, I’m not unfamiliar with all those jargons in the field of genetics. However, it was after I read the Gene that I realized without knowing the history of genetics my understanding of genetics was limited and incomplete. I have been purely learning genetics by itself and ignoring all the history associated with it. Part of it is because professors and textbooks rarely mention about those history; part of it is I naïvely thought science can be isolated from the society as its own entity, therefore I intentionally avoided to put genetics into the context of whole society. I was so glad and grateful to have read the Gene. I was also impressed by Mukherjee’s literature attainment, which make the whole reading experience a lot more fun and enjoyable. The storytelling style is able to attract people who are naturally intimidated by cold science facts; it also makes all those scientists come to live instead of just being those names people mention a lot. By doing this, Mukherjee opens a door for everybody to join the important conversation about our future, identity and heritage besides just scientists. All in all, the Gene is a book I would highly recommend to read.

## Technical Specifications

| Specification | Value |
|---------------|-------|
| Best Sellers Rank | #918,012 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #8 in History of Medicine (Books) #40 in History of Civilization & Culture |
| Customer Reviews | 4.7 out of 5 stars 7,590 Reviews |

## Images

![The Gene: An Intimate History - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/514qXalERqL.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ A perfect read for anyone who wants to better understand and appreciate the considerable impact that genomics will have.
*by M***K on December 7, 2017*

Interest in the power of the gene has heightened by the popularity of the numerous ancestry testing sites, like 23 & Me, which is the one I used to find out that I was 99% “Northwestern” European, which included Britain and Ireland (this would also include Scotland, which wasn’t a surprise) but the “Irish” ancestry was. The book provides a comprehensive history of the most intimate science of our time—the fundamentals of heredity. What better person to tell this story than the author of The Laws of Medicine and The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer, which won the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction and was voted one of Time’s 100 best and most influential books since 1923. Mukherjee is a Rhodes Scholar, a graduate of Stanford University and the University of Oxford, not to mention Harvard Medical School. The author has embarked on a most ambitious quest to understand human heredity’s influence on lives, personalities, identities, fates and the choices we make as individuals. Through the story, the author’s own family members were present, plagued by mental illness. The book is divided into two parts. A vivid history of the development of genetics and then a meditation of the study of what it means for biology and medicine (not to mention human identity). He also explores the challenges and dangers of genetic modification. For years, “experts” proposed that male homosexuality was caused by the distorted dynamics of a family, “by the fatal combination of a smothering mother who was often ‘close-binding’ and (sexually) intimate, if not overtly seductive, to her son and by a detached, distant father.” All of this changed in July of 1993 with the discovery of the so-called gay gene, which incited one of the most vigorous public discussions about genes, identity, and choice in the history of genetics. Just one of the surprises I came across in this eye-opening book. The author also explores the future of this new, quickly developing science with the following quote from Gina Smith, author of The Genomics Age, “Probably no DNA science is at once as hopeful, controversial, hyped, and even as potentially dangerous as the discipline known as gene therapy.” He goes on to say, “It would rebound from the ugliness of the initial trials and learn the moral lessons implicit in the “cautionary tale of scientific overreach.” Over the years, we can expect to see more headway on how genes can identify and prevent serious diseases. As I was writing this review, I listened to a story on Public Radio about a new test made possible through research at “T-Gen” (Translational Genomics Research Institute) here in Phoenix of a breakthrough that would decrease the test turn-around time for Valley Fever from 21 to only one day, which would accelerate the healing process. As far as my own 23 & Me test, I added Ireland to the countries I needed to visit, which is fairly straightforward. Not so for one of my close Guatemalan friends whose test indicated over 80% of his family comes from the Iberian Peninsula, which includes Spain. This was not a surprise, but the 20% of Indian influence (Mayan Indian, in this case)) was a surprise and opened up some interesting questions and speculation. Although over 50% of the population is Mayan Indian, they are still ignored and considered second-class citizens to a degree making this revelation an embarrassment to some. This book is possibly one of the greatest detective stories ever told. And Mukherjee tells a dramatic story that is sweeping and transcendent. A perfect read for anyone who wants to better understand and appreciate the considerable impact that genomics will have on our personal lives as well as new trends in health care.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Well written and highly recommended!
*by Y***G on January 30, 2017*

Although the Gene is iterated more toward people without science background, from my opinion, it is a great book to read with or without science background. The field of genetics is so broad and yet still need to be continuously studied. The heaviness and profoundness of information have been a huge obstacle that prevent people who usually are not familiar with science from even attempting to understand it. Mukherjee did an excellent work of compiling the enormous information and place it into historical context. As someone who has a science background, I’m not unfamiliar with all those jargons in the field of genetics. However, it was after I read the Gene that I realized without knowing the history of genetics my understanding of genetics was limited and incomplete. I have been purely learning genetics by itself and ignoring all the history associated with it. Part of it is because professors and textbooks rarely mention about those history; part of it is I naïvely thought science can be isolated from the society as its own entity, therefore I intentionally avoided to put genetics into the context of whole society. I was so glad and grateful to have read the Gene. I was also impressed by Mukherjee’s literature attainment, which make the whole reading experience a lot more fun and enjoyable. The storytelling style is able to attract people who are naturally intimidated by cold science facts; it also makes all those scientists come to live instead of just being those names people mention a lot. By doing this, Mukherjee opens a door for everybody to join the important conversation about our future, identity and heritage besides just scientists. All in all, the Gene is a book I would highly recommend to read.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Excellent and Beautiful History -- Not Much Science
*by D***A on December 10, 2025*

First and foremost, this book is a tour de force of modern scientific prose writing. It's not quite on the literary level of, e.g., Cajal's memoirs, but it is strikingly more pleasant to read than any other contemporary public-oriented piece of scientific writing. The author masterfully combines a history of genetics, relevant personal anecdotes, and a seemingly unfathomable well of cultural and literary adjacencies into a literary product that stands far above its peers. Secondarily, the book is extraordinarily well researched, even compared, again, against contemporary scientific writing. While some of the subtler scientific points could be said to be presented in a misleading fashion, given the lack of theoretical granularity offered in what is a deliberately surface-level treatment, there are very few obvious mistakes or out-of-lane tricks of overconfidence, and what few there are can be put down to unconversance with quantum physics or trivial misattributions of apocrypha about infinite stacks of turtles. It really is a surprisingly tight piece of work. But...for its length and precision, it leaves VERY much to be desired by the expert reader. While one may be induced to recollect -- and in some cases, learn for the first time -- various names and dates in the long history of the development of the field of genetics, there is no actual science in this book of history that even rises to the level of a middle-school survey of the field. It is of course a deliberate choice of the author to present a history rather than a scientific primer, much less a theoretical review or in-depth scientific analysis, but the lack of *scientific* rigor in such a masterfully rigorous history was a bit disappointing to this reader. Generally, I would give a book with such little science as this a maximum of three stars. As it stands, I had trouble subtracting even one from the final score -- it really is that well written. Bravo, Dr Mukherjee.

## Frequently Bought Together

- The Gene: An Intimate History
- The Song of the Cell: An Exploration of Medicine and the New Human
- The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer

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*Last updated: 2026-02-21*