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Description edit
The genome's been mapped. But what does it mean? Arguably the most significant scientific discovery of the new century, the mapping of the twenty-three pairs of chromosomes that make up the human genome raises almost as many questions as it answers. Questions that will profoundly impact the... read more
Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit
Quotes edit
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“We are apes, a group that almost went extinct fifteen million years ago in competition with the better-designed monkeys. We are primates, a group of mammals that almost went extinct forty-five million years ago with the better-designed rodents. We are synapsid tetrapods, a group of reptiles that almost went extinct 200 million years ago in competition with the better-designed dinosaurs. We are descended from limbed fishes, which almost went extinct 360 million years ago in competition with the better-designed ray-finned fishes. We are chordates, a phylum that survived the Cambrian era 500 million years ago by the skin of its teeth in competition with the brilliantly successful arthropods.”
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“The idea of genes for behaviour is no more strange than the idea of genes for development. Both are mind-boggling, but nature has never found human incomprehension a reason for changing her methods.”
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“The fuel on which science runs is ignorance. Science is like a hungry furnace that must be fed logs from the forests of ignorance that surrounds us. In the process, the clearing we call knowledge expands, but the more it expands, the longer its perimeter and the more ignorance comes into view. A true scientist is bored by knowledge - it is the assault on ignorance that motivates him.”
First Sentence edit
In the beginning was the word.
Table of Contents edit
Acknowledgements
Foreword
Introduction
1. Life
2. Species
3. History
4. Fate
5. Environment
6. Intelligence
7. Instinct
X and Y. Conflict
8. Self-Interest
9. Disease
10. Stress
11. Personality
12. Self-Assembly
13. Pre-History
14. Immortality
15. Sex
16. Memory
17. Death
18. Cures
19. Prevention
20. Politics
21. Eugenics
22. Free Will
Bibliography and Notes
Index
Series & Lists edit
Authors & Contributors edit
- Matt Ridley (Author)
First Edition edit
Original Language: English
Publisher: Add the publisher.
Country: Add the country of publication.
Publication Date: Add the publication date.
ISBN: Add the ISBN.
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Add the publisher.
Country: Add the country of publication.
Publication Date: Add the publication date.
ISBN: Add the ISBN.
Page Count: 352
Awards edit
- Samuel Johnson Prize (Finalist, 2000, Shortlist)
Classification edit
- Library of Congress: Add the Library of Congress Classification.
- Dewey: 599.935
Subjects edit
- Books › Science › Biological Sciences › Biotechnology
- Books › Science › Evolution › Genetics
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