The Gene: An Intimate History

It is a story that begins in an obscure Augustinian abbey in 1856 where a monk stumbles on the idea of a 'unit of heredity'. It intersects with Darwin's theory of evolution, and collides with the horrors of Nazi eugenics in the 1940s. The gene transforms post-war biology. It reorganizes our understanding of sexuality, temperament, choice and free will. It is driven by human ingenuity and obsessive minds.

And woven through it is also an intimate history--of Mukherhee's own family and its recurring pattern of mental illness, reminding us that genetics is vitally relevant to everyday lives. Majestic in its ambition, and unflinching in its honesty, The Gene is the story of a scientific idea coming to life--and a vision of both humanity's past and its future.