Discusses basic genetics, explaining how the combination of genes passed on from our parents makes each of us a unique individual.

Presents a history of the human understanding of heredity and how it has shaped society, chronicling the transitions brought about by genetic research and making predictions about how evolving understandings are likely to impact the future.

"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. There are genes to explain crazy cat ladies, why other people have no fingerprints, and why some people survive nuclear bombs. Genes illuminate everything from JFK's bronze skin (it wasn't a tan) to Einstein's genius. They prove that Neanderthals and humans bred thousands of years more recently than any of us would feel comfortable thinking. They can even allow some people, because of the exceptional flexibility of their thumbs and fingers, to become truly singular violinists. Kean's vibrant storytelling once again makes science entertaining, explaining human history and whimsy while showing how DNA will influence our species' future"--

"The bestselling author of Leonardo da Vinci and Steve Jobs returns with a gripping account of how the pioneering scientist Jennifer Doudna, along with her colleagues and rivals, launched a revolution that will allow us to cure diseases, fend off viruses, and enhance our children"--

"From celebrated genetic anthropologist Jennifer Raff comes the untold story-and fascinating mystery-of how humans migrated to the Americas"--

Provides an introduction to the field of genetics, including how DNA is structured, how genetic inheritance works, and how new discoveries in genetics have helped to cure or prevent diseases.

"Rosalind Franklin knows if she just takes one more X-ray picture-one more after thousands-she can unlock the building blocks of life. Never again will she have to listen to her colleagues complain about her, especially Maurice Wilkins who'd rather conspire about genetics with James Watson and Francis Crick than work alongside her. Then it finally happens-the double helix structure of DNA reveals itself to her with perfect clarity. But what happens next, Rosalind could have never predicted. Marie Benedict's next powerful novel shines a light on a woman who died to discover our very DNA, a woman whose contributions were suppressed by the men around her but whose relentless drive advanced our understanding of humankind"--

"Something sits in a bunker lab buried fifty feet below the grounds of Lakehurst Naval Air Station. The product of technology confiscated from the Germans after WWII occupies a chamber of steel-reinforced ballistic glass. Despite experimentation for nearly three-quarters of a century, no one knows what it is, but illegal human research reveals what it can do. Humans with special abilities--abilities that can only have come from whatever occupies the underground bunker in Lakehurst--have been secretly collected. And so it sits, sequestered on the edge of the New Jersey Pine Barrens, slowly changing the world" --