A, C, G, T, an you: how to read a genetic score. Genes, freaks, DNA: how do living things pass down traits to their children? ; The near death of Darwin: why did geneticists try to kill natural selection? ; Them's the DNA breaks: how does nature read--and misread--DNA? ; The musical scores of DNA: what kinds of information does DNA store? --
Our animal past: making things that crawl and frolic and kill. DNA vindication: why did life evolve so slowly--then explode in complexity? ; The survivors, the livers: what's our most ancient and important DNA? ; The Machiavelli microbe: how much human DNA is actually human? ; Love and atavisms: what genes make mammals mammals? ; Humanzees and other near misses: when did humans break away from monkeys, and why? --
Genes and geniuses: how humans became all too human. Scarlet A's, C's, G's, and T's: why did humans almost go extinct? ; Size matters: how did humans get such grotesquely large brains? ; The art of the gene: how deep in our DNA is artistic genius? --
Oracle of DNA: genetics in the past, present, and future. The past is prologue--sometimes: what can (and can't) genes teach us about historical heroes? ; Three billion little pieces: why don't humans have more genes than other species? ; Easy come, easy go?: how come identical twins aren't identical? ; Life as we do (and don't) know it: what the heck will happen now? ; Epilogue: genomics gets personal --