William Leith26 April 2012
My Beautiful Genome
by Lone Frank
(Oneworld, £8.99)
Lone Frank is an engaging science writer — a bit like Mary Roach or Joshua Foer. Here, she investigates her own genetic make-up. Which diseases lurk in her genes? “There is no such thing as a flawless genome,” she tells us. “We are all mutants with ticking time bombs hidden inside.” She looks at her results, one disease at a time. She begins with a type of leukaemia. Her risk is small. What about macular degeneration, a major cause of later-life blindness? Phew! Again, the risk is small. She checks for Alzheimer’s, and then for cardiovascular disease. Still pretty good. Then she goes for the one she’s really scared of: breast cancer. She makes you worry, and she makes you think.
