![]() ![]() With The Gene: An Intimate History, Mukherjee is attempting to capture something far larger. It bridges the split narrative of genetics. Review: Siddhartha Mukherjee’s The Gene is a terrifically engaging book. This is a chronicle of dreamers and dreams, but it is told with remarkable clarity, even as it encompasses some of the most intricate and convoluted processes in chemistry. The history of human genetics has reminded us, again and again, that 'knowing apart' often begins with an emphasis on 'knowing' but often ends with an emphasis on 'parting.' " In other words, genetic medicine requires that we use our knowledge not for narrowing humanity but for expanding our collective imagination. ![]() Throughout our history, technologies of knowing apart have enabled us to identify, treat, and heal the sick. . . ![]() "The word diagnosis arises from the Greek 'to know apart,' but 'knowing apart' has moral and philosophical consequences that lie far beyond medicine and science. But he has a commensurate knack for the similes that make complex ideas accessible and even lively: "A viral gene drops into the genome like a candy wrapper thrown from an airplane into the Atlantic: there is no way to predict where it might land." He is also eloquent on the hermeneutics of scientific language, limning its oblique relationship to other modes of description. ![]()
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