The Basics of Genetics

The Basics of Genetics by Betsey Dexter Dyer

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was an absolutely fascinating book on genetics. The author used color of dogs as her example and I learned just how complex some colors of dogs are, especially white dogs. The most interesting part was how the genes have switches which activate them only under certain conditions...if the color is brown and if the hair length is ? then...

Ms. Dyer also has a way of explaining even the most complex concepts in ways that layman can understand. Not only will this book explain basic genetics to you, but you will never look at dogs the same way again.


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The Dante Club

The Dante Club by Matthew Pearl

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This novel was an interesting twist on a mystery novel. Holmes, Longfellow and other noted giants are trying to solve some gruesome murders that are based on Dante' Inferno. I didn't find that the focus of the story. I was most intriuged by the brilliant, but poor student who was forced to rob recent graves to provide cadavers for the students to autopsy. To me he was the main character and certainly learned a lot about the state of medicine during that time. I found the mystery surrounding this young man's mother to be most interesting.



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Seizure

Seizure by Robin Cook


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
For a book that has no good guys, this was surprisingly good. Dr. Daniel Lowell has developed a procedure for using stem cells in curing Parkinson's disease which shows great promise in lab animals. The powerful Senator Ashley Butler is one of the foremost opponents of stem cell research, but has been diagnosed with Parkinson's. In a secret meeting, he has promised that the bill to ban stem cell research will not proceed out of his committee if Dr. Lowell will use him as his test subject. Both men are thoroughly self serving and amoral. They decide to do the procedure in an unlicensed infertility clinic in the Bahamas which is run by two doctors who are even more despicable than Lowell and Butler. Add in a couple of mobsters who have invested in Daniel's company and want their money to provide dividends and you have a thoroughly disgusting cast of characters. There are two women involved and they seem to have the only modicum of conscience in the book.

Cook has again written a book that is timely and complex. You are kept guessing up to the end of the book and at times, it seems impossible for the book to come to a satisfying conclusion. As with most of his books, the book is fast paced and believable.

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The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History by John M. Barry


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This was a great book. It answered so many questions I had about this extremely virulent flu and what were the circumstances that allowed it to reach epic proportions. I especially wondered why people in the prime of life were the most susceptible. Basically, they were the ones who had the most active defense mechanisms. Often times, it is not the disease or bacteria which kills an individual, but the methods a body uses to fight the disease. For example, if I am allergic to pollen, my body produces a large quantity of mucus. It is this dripping faucet that makes me so miserable, but it is actually my body's defense which is causing the symptoms. This is the same thing that happens in a bacterial infections. The patient usually runs a high fever which is a sign that the body is fighting the disease; however, it is the fever which sometimes causes brain damage. The young people in the prime of life had systems which aggressively fought the disease and often this is what killed them. I have simplified this a great deal, but this was part of the explanation.

I also was fascinated by the work done by scientists to quarantine and study the disease. Many gave their lives to try to understand how this virus and bacteria worked. The subject is treated thoroughly, but in a way that the layman can understand.

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