Genetic Maps and Human Imaginations: The Limits of Science in Understanding Who We Are [Hardcover]

Barbara Katz Rothman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 17, 1998

The new genetics and race, illness, and procreation.

Scientists are racing to unravel the code of life in our DNA sequences. But once we know the code, will we know what life means? Will we know what to do with the powerful — healing, destructive, and marketable — information we will have?

Barbara Katz Rothman's warm, learned, passionate, and humorous voice is just the one we need to guide us through some of the most loaded issues and technologies of our time — ones that bear on the most intimate aspects of our lives. Her astute observations about the new genetics are combined with personal reflections: about raising a black child; the risks of cancer; midwives and pregnancy; the social web into which we are born; motherhood; time, growth, chance, and all the indefinable things that make us human. She helps us to think about the place of genetic science in our own lives, its role in our social world, and how we choose to think about human life itself.

A genetic map will take us places, but we need an imagination to see the relationship between DNA and public policy, between genes and the society we live in, and to understand why human life can't be reduced to genetics. Rothman inspires that imagination, in a book that is essential reading.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Contemporary media has gone "gene crazy," producing endless reports on genes that make people fat, gay, criminal, sad, happy or ill, according to Rothman. In this updated version of her 1998 book, this astute and opinionated social critic offers a commonsense exploration of the intersection of science, ethics and politics, separating the science from the politics and hype. "Genetics isn't just a science," she declares. "It's a way of thinking, an ideology." Although she discusses new advances in human gene research, Rothman is equally concerned with narrating the intellectual history and political implications of genetics. She ably navigates a wide range of complex topics, including anti-Semitic conceptualizations of Jews as a race; the idea of a "gay gene"; Susan Sontag's discussion of the waning metaphorical power of cancer; and the controversial theory that men with XYY chromosomes are likely to become violent. Rothman is frank about her progressive politics, calling The Bell Curve (Charles Murray's polemic on genes, race and intelligence) "disgusting" while she systemically and convincingly exposes its scientific and logical fallacies. Throughout, she approaches the ethical parameters of her topic with zest, humanity and caution. Even when Rothman's approach is quirky (e.g., she explores cultural and scientific myths about cancer via Thomas Aquinas's proof of God's existence), she can be both playful and illuminating. At her best for example, when charting how changing social ideas about women as well as cancer radically reshaped current understanding of breast cancer, or looking at the theological implications of DNA or eugenics she inserts an incisive and fresh voice into the debate on genetic science, ethics and politics.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

From Booklist

Millions are excited by what scientists promise as they crack the genetic code: the secrets of human evolution, new treatments of terrible diseases, a generation of superbabies. But for Rothman, these promises stir less excitement than fear. Fear that a twisted genetics will kindle a new and respectable racism. Fear that biological technospeak will displace ethical dialogue. Fear that genetic engineering will turn beauty and intelligence into market commodities. Fear that the mystery of human identity will dwindle into memorized formulas. These fears spring not from ignorance but from an anxious wrestling with the latest genetic research and from a deeply personal engagement with the people at risk of losing their dignity at the hands of DNA specialists. To protect a dignified future for the not-so-ordinary people we know as children, parents, siblings, and spouses, Rothman sounds an urgent warning about how genetic maps can be used to build dangerous cultural highways. Lucid arguments informed by honest emotions make this a critically important book for those debating the construction of these highways. Bryce Christensen

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; 1st edition (October 17, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393047032
• ISBN-13: 978-0393047035
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.7 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,735,302 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good, not great, book, April 17, 2006

By 

Katherine M. Rudoff - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Genetic Maps and Human Imaginations: The Limits of Science in Understanding Who We Are (Hardcover)

I thought the book was generally well written, although as one reviewer stated, felt as though I was back in undergraduate lecture halls through some. She raises some interesting and thought provoking questions, but it sometimes takes her awhile to make her point. It was an interesting book, and certainly made me evaluate where I stand on some issues.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Important Issues, July 7, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Genetic Maps and Human Imaginations: The Limits of Science in Understanding Who We Are (Hardcover)

A former medical researcher and now a historian of medical ethics, I take a position between the two that have been expressed to date. We absolutely must consider the consequences of any new technology, and Rothman explores the possible deeper implications of the human genome-- which has at this point been deciphered. At times, her writing smacks of revised undergraduate lectures with all their attendant hyperbole, but for the most part she presents crucial questions in a clear and readable manner. I would recommend this book to persons who want to think responsibly about genome issues, but with the caveat that they should also read other points of view.

9 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Fear of Technology, November 4, 1999

By 

Donald P. Martin (Hawthorn Woods, IL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Genetic Maps and Human Imaginations: The Limits of Science in Understanding Who We Are (Hardcover)

Very negative book that exaggerates dangers of a new technology. To demonstrate her exaggeration, turn to page 14 where she states "Every possible area of basic research has been cut, and cut again, and cut yet again. But genetics gets funded." Between the books that exaggerate the negative and those which ignore the dangers exist more balanced books. One such book is Lois Wingerson's "Unnatural Selection: The Promise and Power of Human Gene Research." Lois correctly points out on page x that "There are exaggeration and misinformation at both ends of that spectrum--and a wealth of important detail in between, steadfastly overlooked by both sides." In my opinion, "Genetic Maps" represents the pessimistic end of that spectrum, and should be avoided.