After one year of borrowing this book from the library, I finally began to read it. Although it was unintentional, I am glad to have started reading it. So, I finally picked this baby up and immersed myself in the world of genes.

I thought this would be full of jargon and esoteric references, which only a biology student would understand.

But I was wrong, and thankfully so.

The book is divided into 23 chapters, one for each chromosome, and the author has associated each chromosome with some characteristics that makes it fascinating.

He has euphemized actual biological terms (viz introns, exons, etc.) with texts like words, sentences, and paragraphs, explaining it in the preface, which makes it easy for an amateur to comprehend the technicality described in the book.

He has cracked open the entire human genome in 23 simplified chapters while associating each chromosome with some innate characteristics.

The book is dotted with many references; the author often quotes the geneticists to amplify and lay credence to his points. Although a lot has been discovered about genes, there is scope for a lot more.

The author emphasizes throughout the book that genes do not cause diseases. In short, he has tried to burst the myth that “genes cause diseases” by explaining various facets and functions of a gene.

Dividing the book into various chapters and explaining one chromosome at a time with the help of everyday references is what made this book an endearing read.

It is an immensely detailed book but also very simplistically explained. That was a tightrope that the author has beautifully walked upon. I loved the daily life references given to each chromosome in the book, which aided my comprehension.

This book truly is an autobiography of a species.