It Ain't Necessarily So: The Dream of the Human Genome and Other Illusions

Now that we have deciphered our genome, can we use that knowledge to cure diseases, solve social problems, or understand what makes us human? Biologists' work is often based on ''the pervasive error that confuses the genetic state of an organism with its total physical and psychic nature as a human being.'' These ten essays combine criticisms of overreaching scientific claims with lucid expositions of the exact state of current scientific knowledge. Discusses heredity, natural selection, and gender, evolutionary psychology and altruism, sex surveys, cloning, mapping the human genome, and genetic engineering in agriculture. This second ed. includes new essays on genetically modified food and the completion of the Human Genome Project.