The Gene

Siddhartha Mukherjee

From the author of The Emperor of All Maladies, this book provides a detailed history of the scientific discovery and development of the gene—the fundamental unit of heredity. Woven through it is also the intimate story of Siddhartha Mukherjee’s own family and its history of mental illness, reminding us that genetics is vitally relevant to our everyday lives. These concerns reverberate even more urgently today, as humans are learning to “read” and “write” the human genome, unleashing the potential to change the fates and identities of our children.

Allen Lane, 608 pages, Rs 699