cover image Mapping Our Genes: The Genome Project and the Future of Medicine

Mapping Our Genes: The Genome Project and the Future of Medicine

Lois Wingerson. Dutton Books, $19.95 (0pp) ISBN 978-0-525-24877-4

In a laudable, ambitious effort, science writer Wingerson explains in accessible terms the highly complex nature of the human genome, the total of human genetic histories contained among the 100,000 genes of each DNA molecule. In detective-story fashion, she tells of researchers tracing single genes harboring such hereditary diseases as Huntington's chorea, cystic fibrosis and certain mental disorders. Predicting that within a few decades scientists will identify most of the principle genes of the entire human genome and as yet unknown body chemicals, she also discusses the ethical and practical implications of gene mapping, and the relations between academic scientists and pharmaceutical industries. Illustrations not seen by PW. (July)