Submitted by Gerti
Like Sam Kean's earlier work, "The Disappearing Spoon," "The Violinist's Thumb" was brilliant and exhausting all at once! Much harder to read than his earlier work on the stories behind all the elements, this book deals with DNA and its history, touching on various scientist and their struggles to define what makes us human, and what makes us able to produce other humans with similar traits! If that sounds sexy, it's not, although Kean uses as much humor as he can muster to turn this muddy sledding through hard science into a joy ride. I had heard about Gregor Mendel like every American high school graduate, but the truth being figuring out what turned my brown eyes blue is a lot more complicated than that fairy tale!
As in his previous work, Kean's strength lies in his ability to humanize scientists like Mendel, Watson and Crick, and to make them not only geniuses of the first order, but also incredibly fragile and fallible human beings, who have to deal with office politics, economics and jealous co-workers the same as the res of us. Personally, I was thrilled to know that women scientists played a large role in the discovery and understanding of genetics, and have subsequently taken out other books (which I haven't read yet!) to get to know those people better.
This is a book that will give you a thrill a chapter, but you as the reader will have to work hard for it. There were many times when I finished a chapter, and wanted to rush out and research the topic Kean had discussed. I even ended up telling some of the stories to my kids in the car on the way to school--which is pretty crazy, since it was stories about Neanderthal man! More than a book by Crichton or Cook, I felt this author really understood the science he was writing about, but since he didn't dummy things down, there were times when I struggled to keep up both with concepts and specific facts. I feel much richer for having read this book, which like his previous work is a fascinating but difficult journey through the history of scientific discoveries. But unlike the last book, with this account I'm willing to admit to Kean (or anyone else!) that he is smarter than am I, because there are still some concepts here that I do not grasp.
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