Genetics
There is no consensus on the definition of a gene, yet gene is a term the authors use, appropriately and effectively, throughout their discourse in biology, and Hans-Jörg Rheinberger and Staffan Müller-Wille have published a book that succinctly and brilliantly addresses this current state of things.
Abstract
The Gene: From Genetics to Postgenomics. By Hans-Jörg Rheinberger and Staffan MüllerWille. 2018. University of Chicago Press. (ISBN 9780226510002). 176 pp. Paperback, $25.00. In my final decade of biology teaching, I began offering an annual end-of-year challenge to my 10th-graders. We finished up with a 12-week study of genetics, and my charge to the students was this: “If you work hard and devote yourself to the study of genetics throughout this unit, you will realize at the end that you have no idea what a gene is.” There is no consensus on the definition of a gene, yet gene is a term we use, appropriately and effectively, throughout our discourse in biology. What a paradox!? Hans-Jörg Rheinberger and Staffan Müller-Wille have published a book that succinctly and brilliantly addresses this current state of things. Rheinberger is emeritus director at the Max Planck Institute for the History of