An Introduction to the Science and Technologies of Genes and Genetics from the 19th Century to the 22nd
Most of the science and much of the politics in today's newspapers is rooted in genetics: GM crops, the human genome project, cloning and designer babies, genes for IQ, homosexuality, mothering skills and autism, sociobiology and the canard of genetic determinism. Truly, the science and technologies of genetics are emerging as the most powerful agents of social and political change. Unless people understand what is going on, then the notion of democracy is lost. But how can anyone - even the scientists themselves - possibly keep abreast?
This book shows how the bewildering plethora of notions all spring from the work of Gregor Mendel, the Moravian friar who, in the 1860s, worked out the basic laws of heredity in his monastery garden at Brno. Once you understand what Mendel did, the rest falls into place.
