This is long-listed for the Royal Society Winton
prize for science books 2014. In The Compatibility Gene,
leading scientist Daniel M Davis tells the story of the
crucial genes that define our relationships, our health
and our individuality. We each possess a similar set of
around 25,000 human genes. Yet a tiny, distinctive
cluster of these genes plays a disproportionately large
part in how our bodies work. These few genes, argues
Davis, hold the key to who we are as individuals and our
relationship to the world: how we combat disease, how
our brains are wired, how attractive we are, even how
likely we are to reproduce. The Compatibility Gene
follows the remarkable history of these genes'
discovery. From the British scientific pioneers who
struggled to understand the mysteries of transplants to
the Swiss zoologist who devised a new method of
assessing potential couples' compatibility based on the
smell of worn T-shirts, Davis traces a true scientific
revolution in our understanding of the human body: a
global adventure spanning some sixty years. ''Unusual
results, astonishing implications and ethical
dilemmas''. (The Times). ''Packed with an insider's
knowledge''. (New York Times). ''He makes immunology as
fascinating to popular science readers as cosmology,
consciousness, and evolution''. (Steven Pinker). ''An
elegantly written, unexpectedly gripping account''.
(Bill Bryson Guardian, Books of the Year). Daniel M
Davis is director of research at the University of
Manchester's Collaborative Centre for Inflammation
Research and a visiting professor at Imperial College,
London. He has published over 100 academic articles,
including papers in Nature and Science, and Scientific
American. He has won the Oxford University Press Science
Writing Prize and given numerous interviews for national
and international media. He was elected a Fellow of the
Academy of Medical Sciences in 2011. |
|