She Has Her Mother's Laugh: The Story of Heredity, Its Past, Present and Future

'An expansive, engrossing, enlightening jaunt through time and technology, exploring the concept of heredity in both personal and universal terms . . . [She Has Her Mother's Laugh] is about the question genetics was invented to address: how did the past become the present, and how will the present shape the future? . . . At a time when society is grappling with the world's first gene-edited humans, Zimmer's clear-eyed prose on the nature of and history of heredity couldn't be more necessary.' 'Science Books of the Year', Wired

Heredity isn't a simple matter of genes that pass from parent to child. It continues within our own bodies, as a single cell gives rise to the trillions that make up an adult. We say we inherit genes from our ancestors but we also inherit other things that matter as much or more to our lives, from microbes to the technologies we use to make life more comfortable. We need a new - broader-ranging - definition of what heredity is. In She Has Her Mother's Laugh, Carl Zimmer provides it.
'Elegantly written, wittily constructed . . . Science book of the year.' 'Best Books of 2018', Observer
'If you want to . . . know where the DNA revolution is headed, you can't do better than this book, which is a joy to read.' Evening Standard
'Fascinating . . . The book handles science and cultural history with equal verve and nuance; a rare combination.' 'Books of the Year', Sunday Times