Genome Tea Leaves

GENETICS IS INCREASINGLY ENTANGLED with popular culture. Individuals are charting their genetic horoscopes and have been captivated by their genetic roots. Along with our DNA, our genes have become the ultimate “preexisting condition” — which can now allegedly be “read” via ancestry testing, prenatal screening, and medical genome scans. Even forensics has been transformed. In purporting to read what preexists — what is indelible — these gene-reading technologies have also at times been billed as the ultimate prognosticators of everything from health to wealth to likely time of death. The depth of our belief in genes has reached the ears of policy makers, exemplified by the adoption of a recent law forbidding genetic discrimination in health care and the work place. Significantly, this law drew support from across the political spectrum and passed in 2008 by a resounding vote of 414-1 in the House and 95-0 in the Senate.

Two recent books — Siddhartha Mukherjee’s The Gene: An Intimate History and Steven Monroe Lipkin’s The Age of Genomes: Tales from the Front Lines of Genetic Medicine — distill genetic knowledge...