Customer Reviews

When a Gene Makes You Smell Like a Fish: ...and Other Amazing Tales about the Genes in Your Body

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

So why didn't I award five stars if it was all of the above? Page after page of jaw-breaking scientific terminology, words with endless numbers of letters, arcane and almost unpronouncable terms, etc. made the task difficult. Any science writer must occasionally use the language of their profession. Cosmology, physics, geology, mathematics - all use technical terms that are difficult for outsiders to comprehend.
Biology is at a disadvantage due to its taxonomy and its use of Latin as a universal tongue. Yet Gould proves that one can speak to both the layman and the professional with his essays (layman) and large detailed technical works (professional).

How much easier (and enjoyable) this work would have been if the Appendix had become a preface! There are incredible tales here - the story of how genes affect us in all our myriad ways from the way we smell to what we can eat or taste. The heartbreaking stories of those with rare but now identifiable genetic ailments again demonstrate the incredible workings of the human body. The way proteins, DNA, chromosomes and genes interact is nothing short of a miracle.

One can almost understand the belief in Intelligent Design until one realizes that the "design" aspect in these cases is not only faulty but also malevalent. Perhaps the most interesting aspect was not the weird afflictions but the workings of the body - how genes work together, turning on and off chemical reactions in an astounding, continuous series of billions of simultaneous reactions. The good thing is that for the first time in history we are at the point of correcting nature's mistakes and ending much misery. Ms Chiu makes a good case for natal scanning of a wide range of diseases and hopefully we will soon have the tools to fix the defective ones we find.

This book is a good read if your into understanding genetics and all the weird quirks that make people the way they are. If you have no background in science, there will be parts that go over your head. Even if you do enjoy science, there are sections that do bore but are necessary its purpose. Overall, it was fun and enlightening. I am a biology major so I am somewhat bias.

A nice, easy book to read with many examples of where the science of genomics is now shedding light on hitherto mysterious diseases. Anyone who is interested in genetics, the human genome or rare diseases will find this an informative study from a capable science writer, and it may point to how medicine will change in the years and decades to come as this increased understanding allows more precise targeting of disease pathways by the next generation of (personalized or precision) medicines.

The book starts off promising enough with the case of Sandy who smelled, as the title of the book proclaims, like a fish. The author takes the reader through the biology behind trimethylaminuria (TMAU) also known as the fish-odor syndrome.

I had hoped that the rest of the book would be case studies of unusual genetic diseases; instead, the author takes a highly technical approach of biological genetics.

As most of you know, I'm majorily fond of medical history especially genetic disease and while I enjoyed the book on the first read, I didn't quite enjoy it as much on the second read, hence my downgrading the rating from 5 to 4 stars.

This isn't a book for the casual reader as it is much too technical.

But for those who are seriously into genetics and gene consequences, this is definitely the book for you!

The editor is correct. This is a meatier book than the title implies. It does contain much well researched and presented information. I bought this book for my son, the father my first grand-child. He's been very interested in genetics and how each trait was passed to Adeline. However, when I asked him if the hospital had performed a PKU test, he had no idea. There is an excellent overview on why this common test is a necessary event for every newborn (beginning on page 21). I would suggest that every prospective parent needs to understand the importance of this test as a positive safeguard for his or her child's early development. Risk is slight, but early knowledge is imperative.