Rating: 
Summary: Don't believe everything they taught you
Review: ... This is a great book by the Pulitzer Prize winning author of Beak of the Finch. It moves right along and was a cliff hanger, it kept me on the edge of my seat waiting to see which next of my cherised beliefs was going to dashed in the name of science. ... If you think that human nature is largely a result of nurture and you wish to hang on to this belief for dear life, be very afraid, this is not your book. The book is well written with lots of interviews and original research by the author who already has proven his chops as a science writer. If biology, evolution or genetics is an interest, this is your book.
Rating:
Summary: Timeless
Review: An evocative and wholely compelling portrait of one man that illiminates some of the most significant insights in 20th century biology. Marvelously done. An excellent introduction to molecular genetics. Literary, insightful, witty and precise.
Rating:
Summary: Timeless
Review: An evocative and wholely compelling portrait of one man that illiminates some of the most significant insights in 20th century biology. Marvelously done. An excellent introduction to molecular genetics. Literary, insightful, witty and precise.
Rating:
Summary: Looking at little people with wings
Review: Far, far back in time, a group of molecules, tangled in crystals of clay, learned the trick of replication. Over time, joined by other molecules of similar talent, they grew complex, finally forming organisms. Seeking food, needing rest, hiding from hungry fellows, developing sex as an offshoot of replication skills, patterns of activity emerged - behaviour. The molecules altered form as external environment changed. Successful changes were kept, while others were left inert in storage. None were discarded, and those controlling basic body structure and fundamental behaviour patterns remained intact across the wide span of living things. After over 3 billion years of life traversing this path, one of the organisms set out to determine how it all worked. Jonathan Weiner's relation of a century of research teasing into view DNA's mechanisms for guiding behaviour is a brilliant piece of science writing. His focus is Seymour Benzer and his research team studied flies, recording how changing conditions modified conduct. It became clear that 'dumb' animals could adapt through learning. Not only adapt, but retain memories to repeat the new behaviour when needed. By the end of the 20th Century, the research began to identify where along the structure of DNA the operational level of these behaviour codes resided. As often as not a single 'letter' change in the gene was found to trigger the change. More immediately, the information revealed in fruit flies was repeated in other animals. Duplicating the finds in mammals has overwhelming implications for humans. Weiner's account is forcefully presented in a clear, direct style. This book is a supreme example science writing at its very summit. He offer no judgements of his own. It isn't necessary for him to flaunt the victory Benzer's research grants E. O. Wilson's sociobiology. In fact, Weiner's account of Richard Lewontin's objections to relating genetic bases of behaviour to humans simply lets Lewontin hang himself out to dry. Weiner clearly values the effort invested in the research by Benzer, Tim Tully, Chip Quinn, and, of course, the paramount figure of all, Thomas Hunt Morgan who, with Alfred Sturtevant, initiated the work so long ago. If you wish to gain insight into your place in the natural universe, this book is a must read. If you adhere to the idea that evolution is a progressive path to humans as the ultimate goal, this book is a must read. If you feel that some divinity has plunked you on this planet with a special role, read this book. Whoever you are, read this book.
Rating:
Summary: Looking at little people with wings
Review: Far, far back in time, a group of molecules, tangled in crystals of clay, learned the trick of replication. Over time, joined by other molecules of similar talent, they grew complex, finally forming organisms. Seeking food, needing rest, hiding from hungry fellows, developing sex as an offshoot of replication skills, patterns of activity emerged - behaviour. The molecules altered form as external environment changed. Successful changes were kept, while others were left inert in storage. None were discarded, and those controlling basic body structure and fundamental behaviour patterns remained intact across the wide span of living things. After over 3 billion years of life traversing this path, one of the organisms set out to determine how it all worked. Jonathan Weiner's relation of a century of research teasing into view DNA's mechanisms for guiding behaviour is a brilliant piece of science writing. His focus is Seymour Benzer and his research team studied flies, recording how changing conditions modified conduct. It became clear that 'dumb' animals could adapt through learning. Not only adapt, but retain memories to repeat the new behaviour when needed. By the end of the 20th Century, the research began to identify where along the structure of DNA the operational level of these behaviour codes resided. As often as not a single 'letter' change in the gene was found to trigger the change. More immediately, the information revealed in fruit flies was repeated in other animals. Duplicating the finds in mammals has overwhelming implications for humans. Weiner's account is forcefully presented in a clear, direct style. This book is a supreme example science writing at its very summit. He offer no judgements of his own. It isn't necessary for him to flaunt the victory Benzer's research grants E. O. Wilson's sociobiology. In fact, Weiner's account of Richard Lewontin's objections to relating genetic bases of behaviour to humans simply lets Lewontin hang himself out to dry. Weiner clearly values the effort invested in the research by Benzer, Tim Tully, Chip Quinn, and, of course, the paramount figure of all, Thomas Hunt Morgan who, with Alfred Sturtevant, initiated the work so long ago. If you wish to gain insight into your place in the natural universe, this book is a must read. If you adhere to the idea that evolution is a progressive path to humans as the ultimate goal, this book is a must read. If you feel that some divinity has plunked you on this planet with a special role, read this book. Whoever you are, read this book.
Rating:
Summary: These types of researchers are as odd as Weiner says!
Review: I know a few of these types at the University of Pittsburgh. In fact, I even tried to get into a lab where they were working with Drosophila (flies) and eyesight. They live in their own world, but the work that they have done on genes will provide information on not only this one species, but on humans as well. Mr. Weiner does an excellent job of portraiture with words. The men who did all this work come out not just as scientists with quirks, of which there are many, but also as men with passions about what they are doing. Not all researchers have this passion, and that is why some work in medical science is stagnating while other is leaping forward in great bounds. I laughed when I recognized some of the stunts they pulled and the innovations they made using simple ideas. Some of science is serendipity, some is sheer perserverence, and some is creative thinking in the simplest terms. This is what Jonathan Weiner wrote so well about in this book. Karen Sadler, Science Education, University of Pittsburgh
Rating: 
Summary: Overwritten and worshipful
Review: I looked forward to reading this book, as I had tremendous admiration for the author and his efforts, particularly in his early environmental writing. However, I found Time, Love, Memory most disappointing--overwritten and under considered. Weiner stretches metaphores to the breaking point, waxes slickly poetic rather than writes in simple declarative sentences, and borrows heavily from the work of others (in particular, the marvelous Eighth Day of Creation). In his effort to glorify the work of his protagonist, he diminishes the work and beliefs of other great scientists and thinkers. Weiner is now employed at Rockefeller University as a "writer in residence" which makes sense--Rockefeller is highly invested in the business of genetic determinism, and Weiner has become an eager (if not terribly profound) publicist of this position. However, my objection to this book is not ideological but literary-- as an unbalanced and uncritical look at one scientists' life and work, this book lacks power. Hardly timeless, it quickly fades from memory and has very little if anything to do with love.
Rating:
Summary: A mind opening experience.
Review: If you want to understand the science of behavior genetics, this is the book for you. But it's more than that. It's a poetic meditation on life, a detective story, and a fascinating character study. It just won the National Book Critics Circle Award and does it deserve it!
Rating: 
Summary: Great intro to molecular and genetic neurobiology
Review: In May 2000 the keynote speaker of the plenary session for the annual American Academy of Neurology meeting was Seymour Benzer. Why should thousands of clinical neurologists be listening to this old guy talking about fruit fly brains? The reasons became clear as Benzer, a soft-spoken, self-effacing genius, gave his talk. His seminal research program has given profound insights into the nature of circadian rhythms, memory, and many other subjects. There are now fruit fly models of Huntington's and Parkinson's disease, providing insights at a subcellular and genetic level. That's why we were listening to him, and that's why subsequently I read this book. I think the book provides an ideal entry, in a creative and unusual fashion, into a history of some of the fundamental forces shaping biomedical research today. As a biography, we learn only a little about Benzer, but perhaps that is inevitable as so much of his life seems to be bound to his research. The literary allusions may be weak at times, but this is after all a book for a broad audience, and Weiner stimulates us to contemplate the wider implications of scientific progress. The book should be readily accessible to those without a science background, and will be highly enjoyable and informative even to those with an advanced understanding of the intricacies of biology.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely brilliant
Review: It is the best book I read sofar in 1999. It takes you on a journey together with the founders of genetics, their research, their discoveries, and it changes your thoughts on free will and nurture. This is a must read for anyone interested in biology, psychology, and of course the nature-nurture debate. After this book, nature is far ahead.
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