DNA: The secret of life by James D. Watson with Adrian Berry, Knopf/Heinemann, $39.95/拢18.99, ISBN 0375415467 Reviewed by Michael Le Page
ON A visit to southern Africa in the 1850s, the young Francis Galton was struck by the 鈥渂ounteous鈥� buttocks of a Nama (Hottentot) woman, big bottoms then being all the rage in London. He was desperate to get her measurements, but felt unable to ask his missionary host to convey this request. Then the solution came to him 鈥� he seized his sextant and worked out her dimensions by triangulation.
Galton later applied his zest for measurement to heredity. The result was the eugenics movement, which by 1941 had led to the compulsory sterilisation of about 60,000 people in the US, and helped inspire the Nazis.
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James Watson believes eugenics has cast an unfortunate shadow over genetics. As our understanding advances in leaps and bounds, he says, we should take full advantage of the knowledge that we acquire. He finds it inexcusable that there is so little prenatal screening for many known genetic disorders. And not only should we be eliminating hereditary disorders through screening, he thinks we should genetically enhance ourselves as soon as it is safe to do so.
Whether or not you agree with Watson, if you want to know how we reached this point, it鈥檚 all in his latest book. DNA: the secret of life takes you from Watson and Francis Crick鈥檚 discovery of the structure of DNA in 1953 to the sequencing of the human genome, and theraces through the consequences of this work, from the birth of the biotech industry and genetically modified food to DNA fingerprinting and gene therapy.
This is well-trodden ground, of course, and those looking for startling new insights will be disappointed. But the book鈥檚 relentlessly plain prose is peppered with enough anecdotes to bring the story of DNA to life, and there are few better introductions than this.