Rapid progress in the field of genetics is changing our lives in more ways than one. In order to understand these changes, Stuart Edelstein has approached each facet of the subject from three points of view: contemporary society and politics; technical developments; and basic research. He describes each one of the following current topics: genetic diseases, genetic forms of treatment, autografts and heterografts, genetically modified organisms, the cloning of mammals, personal genetic identification, and genes linked to behaviour and to longevity. He goes on to explain the methods used to produce these results: cloning, sequencing, gene transfer, and the creation of a human chromosome table. Finally, he reviews some basic notions of biology, including chromosomes and DNA, which show why the above methods work. By keeping to some fundamental points, this book will enable the lay reader to understand before judging the social implications of recent discoveries in biology. This is science with a civic sense.

Stuart Edelstein teaches biochemistry at the University of Geneva.