The Violinist's Thumb: And Other Lost Tales of Love, War, and Genius, as Written by Our Genetic Code by Sam Kean
The readers can download The Violinist's Thumb: And Other Lost Tales of Love, War, and Genius, as Written by Our Genetic Code Audiobook for free via Audible Free Trial.
Summary
From New York Times bestselling author Sam Kean comes more incredible stories of science, history, language, and music, as told by our own DNA. In The Disappearing Spoon, bestselling author Sam Kean unlocked the mysteries of the periodic table. In THE VIOLINIST'S THUMB, he explores the wonders of the magical building block of life: DNA.
This audiobook, "The Violinist's Thumb: And Other Lost Tales of Love, War, and Genius, as Written by Our Genetic Code," is a delightful and humorous exploration of genetics that is both intriguing and slightly unsettling. Comparable to the works of Bill Bryson, it strikes the perfect balance of technicality for me - technical, but without requiring any prior knowledge. Each chapter is an independent essay, but the collection is skillfully curated to create an overall impact, which I found appreciable. The author enhances the scientific content with a personal touch, sharing his own experience of getting his genome tested, adding another layer of interest.
The book is brimming with fascinating information that falls under the category of semi-sensational science. For instance, it reveals that another creature is intertwined within every cell of our bodies, which is somewhat eerie! The Y chromosome displays peculiar behaviors that cause it to continuously shrink, yet it manages to persist. This fact alone is thought-provoking. While other primates have 48 chromosomes, we humans have only 46 - a peculiar discrepancy. Moreover, the book delves into the effects of toxoplasmosis on behavior, a phenomenon we're familiar with in rodents but is equally captivating when considering its impact on humans. The author also delves into the unsettling subject of attempts to create a 'humanzee,' which is quite disturbing.
The narrator's passionate delivery of these stories adds to the enjoyment of the audiobook. I thoroughly relished his performance.
For me, the best aspect of popular science is that it elicits a sense of wonder and amazement, reminding us of how captivating our world is and how many enigmas remain unsolved. I recognize that this book may not appeal to everyone, but personally, I found it highly enjoyable.
As someone with a background in biology, I found myself frequently frustrated by the author's lack of accuracy in this book. While I appreciate the effort to simplify the content for a wider audience, it seems to have gone too far in this case. If you have no prior knowledge of biology, you might not be bothered by this, but be aware that anything you repeat from this book may need to be corrected. Despite some potentially intriguing facts, I will have to verify them elsewhere due to the numerous inaccuracies presented in this source. A biologist serving as a proofreader could have easily caught many of these errors.
This audiobook, "The Violinist's Thumb: And Other Lost Tales of Love, War, and Genius, as Written by Our Genetic Code," is the second-best work by Sam Kean, falling just slightly short of his masterpiece, "The Disappearing Spoon." If you're a fan of painless educational experiences that delve into highly technical and cutting-edge topics in Popular Science, then this is definitely worth a listen.
Loading...
3 comments
Or use one of these social networks