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{{Short description|1999 popular science book by Matt Ridley}}
{{Infobox book
| name = Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters
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| congress = QH431 .R475
}}
'''''Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters''''' is a 1999 [[popular science]] [[book]] by the science writer [[Matt Ridley]], published by Fourth Estate. The chapters are numbered for the pairs of human [[chromosomes]], one pair being the X and Y [[sex chromosome]]s, so the numbering goes up to 22.▼
▲'''''Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters''''' is a 1999 [[popular science]] [[book]] by the science writer [[Matt Ridley]], published by Fourth Estate. The chapters are numbered for the pairs of human [[chromosomes]], one pair being the X and Y [[sex chromosome]]s, so the numbering goes up to 22 with Chapter X and Y couched between Chapters 7 and 8.
The book was welcomed by critics in journals such as ''[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]'' and newspapers including ''[[The New York Times]]''.<ref name=Kealey/><ref name=Silver/> The ''[[London Review of Books]]'' however found the book "at once instructive and infuriating".<ref name=Coyne/>▼
▲The book was welcomed by critics in journals such as ''[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]'' and newspapers including ''[[The New York Times]]''.<ref name=Kealey/><ref name=Silver/> The ''[[London Review of Books]]'' however found the book "at once instructive and infuriating", as "his right-wing politics lead him to slant the implications of the research".<ref name=Coyne/>
==Context==▼
▲==Context==
The book's author, [[Matt Ridley]], is a British journalist and businessman, known for writing on science, the environment, and economics.<ref>{{cite web| publisher=Real Clear Science |date=August 2013| url=http://www.realclearscience.com/journal_club/2013/08/08/the_worlds_top_thought_leaders_106624.html | title=World's top thought leaders}}</ref> He studied zoology, gaining his [[DPhil]] in 1983.<ref name=dphil>{{cite thesis |degree=DPhil |publisher=University of Oxford |title=Mating system of the pheasant (Phasianus colchicus) |first=Matthew White |last=Ridley |date=1983 |url=http://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/OXVU1:LSCOP_OX:oxfaleph013858922 |oclc=52225811 }}{{dead link|date=October 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>
==Structure==
The book devotes one chapter to each pair of human [[chromosome]]s. Since one (unnumbered) chapter is required to discuss the [[sex chromosome]]s, the final chapter is number 22. Ridley was inspired to adopt this model by [[Primo Levi]]'s book ''[[The Periodic Table (
;Chapter 1, Life
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;Chapter 2, Species
Ridley discusses the history of human kind as a genetically distinct species. He compares the human genome to [[Common chimpanzee|chimpanzee]]s, and ancestral [[primates]]. He also points out that until the 19th
;Chapter 3, History
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;Chapter 4, Fate
[[Huntington's
;Chapter 5, Environment
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;Chapter 11, Personality
Ridley chooses the gene [[D4DR]] which codes for the manufacture of [[dopamine]] and is located on the short arm of [[chromosome 11]]. Interactions between dopamine, [[serotonin]] and other [[Serotonin|serotonin neurochemistry]] are lightly covered.
;Chapter 12, Self-Assembly
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;Chapter 19, Prevention
It might be possible to prevent or cure [[Alzheimer's disease]] and [[coronary heart disease]]. APO genes like APOE influence fat and cholesterol metabolism. The E4 allele of EPOE contributes to the plaque buildup of Alzheimer's. [[Genetic testing]] may help patients take early preventative action.
;Chapter 20, Politics
The sheep brain disease [[scrapie]] appeared to be infectious but did not involve a microorganism. The disaster of [[
;Chapter 21, Eugenics
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==Reception==
''Genome'' has been reviewed in scientific journals including ''[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]''<ref name=Kealey>{{cite journal |last1=Kealey |first1=Terence |title=Book Review Genome:The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters |journal=Nature |date=2000 |volume=24 |issue=21 |pages=21 |doi=10.1038/71638 |
▲''Genome'' has been reviewed in scientific journals including ''[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]''<ref name=Kealey>{{cite journal |last1=Kealey |first1=Terence |title=Book Review Genome:The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters |journal=Nature |date=2000 |volume=24 |issue=21 |doi=10.1038/71638 |url=http://www.nature.com/ng/journal/v24/n1/full/ng0100_21.html}}</ref><!--details please if you have the full text!--> and in medical journals such as the ''[[New England Journal of Medicine]]'', where Robert Schwartz notes that Ridley speculates, "sometimes wildly". The book is a "gambol" through the human chromosomes. All the same, Schwartz writes, the book is "instructive, challenging, and fun to read. I envy Ridley's talent for presenting, without condescension, complex sets of facts and ideas in terms comprehensible to outsiders."<ref name=Schwartz>{{cite journal |last1=Schwartz|first1=Robert S. |title=Book Review Genome: The autobiography of a species in 23 chapters |journal=New England Journal of Medicine |date=2000 |volume=342 |page=1763 |doi=10.1056/NEJM200006083422321 |url=http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJM200006083422321#t=article}}</ref>
Lee M. Silver, reviewing ''Genome'' in ''[[The New York Times]]'', argues that the book's theme is that each individual's genome contains "echoes" (Ridley's word) of their ancestors' lives. Silver calls Ridley "adamant" in believing that the use of "personal genetics" must not be left for doctors or governments to control, following on from the mistakes of [[eugenics]] a century ago, but that it's a fundamental human right to "see and use the messages in their own DNA as they see fit." Silver describes the book as remarkable for focusing on "pure intellectual discovery", providing "delightful stories". He suggests that even practising geneticists will gain a sense of wonder from the "hidden secrets" in the book.<ref name=Silver>{{cite news |last1=Silver |first1=Lee M. |title=Map of Life |url=https://www.nytimes.com/books/00/02/27/reviews/000227.27silvert.html?mcubz=3 |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=27 February 2000}}</ref>
The biologist [[Jerry Coyne]], writing in the ''[[London Review of Books]]'', criticises ''Genome'' as "at once instructive and infuriating. For each nugget of science, Ridley also includes an error or misrepresentation. Some of these derive from poor scholarship: others from his political agenda."<ref name=Coyne>{{cite journal |last1=Coyne |first1=Jerry |title=Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters by Matt Ridley |journal=London Review of Books |date=27 April 2000 |volume=22 |issue=9 |url=https://www.lrb.co.uk/v22/n09/jerry-coyne/not-an-inkling}}</ref> For example, Coyne mentions Ridley's incorrect claim that "half of your IQ is inherited";<ref name=Coyne/> that Ridley assumes that the marker used by Robert Plomin, IGF2R, is the purported "intelligence gene"<ref name=Coyne/> that it marks; and that social influences on behaviour [always] work by switching genes on and off, something that Coyne states is "occasionally true".<ref name=Coyne/> Coyne argues that Ridley is an "implacable"<ref name=Coyne/> genetic determinist, denying the influence of the environment, and calling his politics "right-wing".<ref name=Coyne/> He calls the book's structure "eccentric"<ref name=Coyne/> and "bizarre",<ref name=Coyne/> the chapters matching the 23 pairs of human chromosomes, and notes that ''Genome'' is the third of Ridley's books that "tries to popularise" [[evolutionary psychology]].<ref name=Coyne
The science writer [[Michael Shermer]] finds Ridley's technique "at once clever and delimiting: Each chapter represents a chromosome, for which he has chosen a single entity supposedly determined or influenced by that chromosome."<ref name=Shermer>{{cite web |last1=Shermer |first1=Michael |authorlink=Michael Shermer |title=The Metagene Gene |url=https://michaelshermer.com/2001/01/the-metagene-gene/ |publisher=[originally in American Scientist] |date=January 2001}}</ref> In Shermer's view, "It is a facile literary device to help readers get their minds around this illimitable subject, but I fear that it gives the wrong impression, disclaimers notwithstanding, that such things as intelligence, instinct, or self-interest are wholly located on that chromosome (and, therefore, genetically programmed and biologically determined)."<ref
==Awards and distinctions==
''Genome'' was shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize in 2000.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Samuel Johnson Prize |url=http://thebailliegiffordprize.co.uk/books/genome-autobiography-species-23-chapters-4th-estate-by |date=2000}}</ref>
==References==
{{reflist|30em}}
[[Category:1999 non-fiction books]]
[[Category:Books by Matt Ridley]]▼
[[Category:Genetics books]]
[[Category:Genetics in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Human evolution books]]
▲[[Category:Books by Matt Ridley]]
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