Dawn Field

A remarkable book, adequately accessible for a non scientist, describing the history and boundless future arising from the sequencing of the human genome. The potential is hard to exaggerate and another author, Matt Ridley, has posited that it will "set in motion a scientific revolution as profound as the discovery that the earth revolves round the sun" The benefits are already being felt in the medical field and will surely accelerate, For me, one of the most important things I learnt was about the human microbiome; the importance of all the microbial cells that live on an in the human body. From reading this book, I am confident that, within the lifetime of my grandchildren, future doctor visits will involve reference to a patient's personal genome, in diagnosis and deciding treatment.… (mais)

As someone who has a very strong interest in genetic genealogy, I wanted to find a readable book that gave me a larger overview of the genomics field. This work by Field and Davies was an excellent, highly accessible book. It offered insights into how the field of genomics is being used in humans, animals, and even the environment. Those of us familiar with genetic genealogy will recognize mentions of the work of 23andMe, National Geographic's Genographic Project, and Family Tree DNA. The book also reports on a few other projects which primarily serve non-English speaking population groups. The authors also ventured into speculation of what may result in the future as a result of genomics research, even venturing to guess that there might be an online dating service based on matching compatible genomes. While the book may use a little more jargon than a person with absolutely no background in genetics might have, it was highly readable for those of us with a "hobbyist knowledge." It is well-researched, citing a number of genetics studies. This review is based on an advance readers copy provided by the publisher through NetGalley for review purposes.… (mais)