A Brief History of Everyone who Ever Lived

Since scientists first read the human genome more than a decade ago it has been subject to all sorts of claims and counterclaims. We've been told that we inherit genes for sexuality, infidelity or criminality. But genetics just doesn't work like that. Drawing on the very latest research, Adam Rutherford reveals a picture of this rapidly changing area of science that is more complex and more fascinating than scientists had dared to imagine. There are important, urgent questions that the genome can illuminate. Where and how did humans begin? Do we inherit our intelligence? Can we change our genes? How do traits circulate within families? What is the relationship between our genomes and the people we ultimately become? The answers, which are becoming clear for the first time only now, are revelatory. Our genomes are not like instruction manuals, Adam Rutherford explains, but more like poems. Genes tell us less than we think about an individual person, but vastly more about people. Adam Rutherford's book will explore in depth this relationship between our genes and our history.