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  • She Has Her Mother's Laugh

  • The Powers, Perversions, and Potential of Heredity
  • By: Carl Zimmer
  • Narrated by: Joe Ochman
  • Length: 20 hrs and 32 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (22 ratings)

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She Has Her Mother's Laugh

By: Carl Zimmer
Narrated by: Joe Ochman
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Publisher's Summary

SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2018 BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION

'Elegantly written, wittily constructed . . . My science book of the year.' Robin McKie, Observer, 'Best Books of 2018'

She Has Her Mother’s Laugh presents a profoundly original perspective on what we pass along from generation to generation. Charles Darwin played a crucial part in turning heredity into a scientific question, and yet he failed spectacularly to answer it. The birth of genetics in the early 1900s seemed to do precisely that. Gradually, people translated their old notions about heredity into a language of genes. As the technology for studying genes became cheaper, millions of people ordered genetic tests to link themselves to missing parents, to distant ancestors, to ethnic identities . . .

But, Zimmer argues, heredity isn’t just about genes that pass from parent to child. Heredity continues within our own bodies, as a single cell gives rise to trillions of cells that make up our bodies. We say we inherit genes from our ancestors – using a word that once referred to kingdoms and estates – but we inherit other things that matter as much or more to our lives, from microbes to technologies we use to make life more comfortable. We need a new definition of what heredity is and, through Carl Zimmer’s lucid exposition and storytelling, this resounding tour de force delivers it.

Weaving together historical and current scientific research, his own experience with his two daughters, and the kind of original reporting expected of one of the world’s best science journalists, Zimmer ultimately unpacks urgent bioethical quandaries arising from new biomedical technologies, but also long-standing presumptions about who we really are and what we can pass on to future generations.

©2018 Carl Zimmer (P)2018 Macmillan Digital Audio

What listeners say about She Has Her Mother's Laugh

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

One of the most comprehensive books on genetics

I really enjoyed this book very much. Would recommend it to any of my friends as one of the best books on the various ways of inheriting traits in nature

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Very long read

I learnt a lot of interesting facts listening to this book but it was so long and so much detail at times I thought I was reading a text book.
The science and history of heredity would have to be of great interest to hold your attention for its 20 long chapters

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

interesting and accessible

really interesting topic and a good balance between detail and general overview. I thoroughly enjoyed the path Zimmer took from initial work on selective breeding, the travesties performed in the name of science, and then the promise and risks of the future.

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

A bit on the dense side, but very interesting!

It got a bit much for me towards the end, but still managed to get a few interesting picks from it.

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