Using a genetic profile of the British royal family as a case example and working backwards and forwards, he speculates on the degree of detailed knowledge each of us may one day possess about our own heredity. Photos.

Public fascination with the Human Genome Project--the government-funded "big science" project to read the entire human genetic code--has been so great that now, with this new title, four popular books on the subject have been published. Unlike the others (Lois Wingerson's Mapping Our Genes , LJ 6/1/90; Joel Davis's Mapping the Code , LJ 9/15/90; and Jerry Bishop and Michael Waldholz's excellent Genome , LJ 7/90), this book is by a scientist and covers not just the project, but the entire past, present, and future of the science of genetics. Shapiro presents the technical material at a careful pace, separating more difficult passages with illustrative anecdotes and analogies, and using common terms instead of jargon.

. What emerges is a very comprehensible elucidation of the project in its broadest social, historical, and scientific context. While Bishop and Waldholz's account might be more engaging reading for a general audience, Shapiro's work answers more questions and engenders a broader appreciation of the whole science.

 St Martins Pr 031205873X / 9780312058739
Hardcover As New Condition New York out of Print 

Price: 22.05 USD