Book review of 'The Gene' by Tejas Murthy

If it is your profession to put together literature searches for proposals, papers and thesis, one cannot help but concede that Professor Mukherjee is a writer par excellence. As was true with his biography of cancer wherein he talks about his patients, Mukherjee weaves into this book his family's history, particularly grappling with schizophrenia, with ideas of evolution, genetics, molecular biology and of humanity. From the grand theories of Aristotle, to an Augustine monk's obsession with pea plants, to Watson, Crick and Franklin, to Doudna and Charpentier forging a milestone through the CRISPR technique, Mukherjee intimately describes scientists of various types. He chronicles the story of the gene mostly chronologically, but also intersperses broad ideas through the themes he explores. Describing with panache and purpose advances in the theories of evolution, and details with great sensitivity the macabre cleansing of an entire group of people in the name of eugenics, following which he describes the gripping story of the double helix, Mukherjee humanizes science in ways very few people can. He uses his words carefully, summarizes ideas, provides copious footnotes, and fills his book with stunning similies as " A viral gene drops into the genome like a candy wrapper thrown from an airplane into the Atlantic: there is no way to predict where it might land". He explains conceptually complex ideas in comfortable language, carefully trudging the line between "making things simple, but not simpler...". The book is replete with charming descriptions such as of X-ray diffraction as "an absurdly laborious process, like sculpting a face out of a million silhouettes". In this very nuanced piece of writing, he describes the tumultuous history of the gene as the determiner of human identity. For instance, he talks of the ideas of inheritance that have time and again shaped social policies, such as Nazi ideals of Aryan superiority, and the equally absurd cleansing of another kind in Russia. He finely summarizes like a true professor, a last attempt at mirroring to the reader the future possibilities, pitfalls and delights of what keeps science and scientists alive. Mukherjee innocently thanks a friend for reading 68 drafts of his book. It is rightfully a labour of love. To call this popular science would be injustice, it is a book that as he proclaims is an intimate history of ourselves.