Overview

This is the story of a few human genes and how we discovered what these genes do. We each have around 25,000 genes, but the genes in this story are those that vary the most from person to person. These genes--called compatibility genes--are, in effect, a molecular signature that distinguishes each of us as individuals. Davis tells the remarkable story of the discovery of compatibility genes, and how decades of patient scientific inquiry, punctuated with individual strokes of genius, have unraveled their workings. Davis reveals how our compatibility genes fight disease, and how this fight varies in all of us and is unique. The version of these genes that we have inherited determines the extent to which we are susceptible or resistant to a vast range of different illnesses. What is particularly fascinating is that these same genes influence the wiring of our brains, the lovers we choose, and successful pregnancies. Why this would be so is explored by Davis with provocative new research that uncovers the connections between fighting disease, choosing mates, and having healthy babies. By bringing together evidence from diverse fields of biology, this book argues that our compatibility genes are central to how we live and when we die, and that a shocking amount of what we do and who we are is determined by how we have evolved to survive disease. Science has never been more elusive or tantalizing than in revealing the nature of ourselves--and unlocking the secrets of our compatibility genes will be central to 21st-century medicine.

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9780199316410

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Reviews

An elegantly written, unexpectedly gripping account of how scientists painstakingly unraveled the way in which a small group of genes ... crucially influence, and unexpectedly interconnect, various aspects of our lives ... Lab work has rarely been made to seem more heroic. -Bill Bryson, Guardian Books of the Year 2013 Dr Davis's readable and informative book takes the reader into unexpectedly interesting corners of both the immune system and the lives of immunologists. It is packed with an insider's knowledge -- not just of the field, but of where its bodies are buried. -New York Times ... a fascinating, expertly told story -New Statesman Davis provides a well-written and easy-to-read account of the sometimes complicated biology behind the crucial genes that affect our lives so profoundly. -New Scientist Davis weaves a warm biographical thread through his tale of scientific discovery, revealing the drive and passion of those in the vanguard of research ... unusual results, astonishing implications and ethical dilemmas. -Times of London Davis makes the twists and turns all count. -Guardian Wonderful pen-portraits of the many scientists involved in this fast-moving field ... 5 out of 5 stars. -BBC Science Magazine FOCUS Davis gets a gold star ... for putting over an arcase subject with such infectious enthusiasm. --Nature ...this nonfiction work is a book of the methods, practice, and serendipity of science in which the reader is given a comprehensive yet entertaining glimpse into the lives of scientists whose research still affects us today. ... The stories and insights recounted in the book are an enlightening account of the rewards received as well as the sacrifices needed to be a successful researcher in the sciences... --PsychCritiques An elegantly written, unexpectedly gripping account of how scientists painstakingly unraveled the way in which a small group of genes ... crucially influence, and unexpectedly interconnect, various aspects of our lives ... Lab work has rarely been made to seem more heroic. -Bill Bryson, Guardian Books of the Year 2013 Dr Davis's readable and informative book takes the reader into unexpectedly interesting corners of both the immune system and the lives of immunologists. It is packed with an insider's knowledge -- not just of the field, but of where its bodies are buried. -New York Times ... a fascinating, expertly told story -New Statesman Davis provides a well-written and easy-to-read account of the sometimes complicated biology behind the crucial genes that affect our lives so profoundly. -New Scientist Davis weaves a warm biographical thread through his tale of scientific discovery, revealing the drive and passion of those in the vanguard of research ... unusual results, astonishing implications and ethical dilemmas. -Times of London Davis makes the twists and turns all count. -Guardian Wonderful pen-portraits of the many scientists involved in this fast-moving field ... 5 out of 5 stars. -BBC Science Magazine FOCUS Davis gets a gold star ... for putting over an arcase subject with such infectious enthusiasm. --Nature ...this nonfiction work is a book of the methods, practice, and serendipity of science in which the reader is given a comprehensive yet entertaining glimpse into the lives of scientists whose research still affects us today. ... The stories and insights recounted in the book are an enlightening account of the rewards received as well as the sacrifices needed to be a successful researcher in the sciences... --PsychCritiques The book is written in a chatty informal style that is easier to follow than many others. --The Quarterly Review of Biology The book is skillfully written and easy to read. Dr. Davis has used his immunology expertise to produce a fine informative book that does not shortchange the elegant and complicated science, but illustrates it with clarity and insight. --Oncology Times Mentioned in Bill Bryson's The Road to Little Dribbling: More Notes from a Small Island

<br> Who am I? What makes me different from everyone else? Daniel Davis recounts the remarkable science that has answered one version of these questions. He makes immunology as fascinating to popular science readers as cosmology, consciousness, and evolution. <br> -- Steven Pinker, Johnstone Professor of Psychology, Harvard University, author of How the Mind Works and The Better Angels of Our Nature<br><p><br> In a rollicking romp through immunology's first century, Dan Davis expounds on the extraordinary genes that determine compatibility of donor organs with recipient patients in clinical transplantation. By personalizing human immune systems, the compatibility genes have enabled individuals and populations to resist extinction by epidemic infections. If that were not enough, they also influence our brains, mate selection, and reproductive success. Boasting a particularly rare set of compatibility genes, Davis has a raw talent for evoking the thrill and thrall of scientific research. <br>-- Peter Parham, Professor of Structural Biology & Microbiology and Immunology, Stanford University, author of The Immune System<br><p><br> What make us truly unique? Our personalities? Maybe, but more fundamental to the identity of each and every one of us is our spectrum of histocompatibility genes. Writing in a way that everyone can follow, Dan Davis tells this intriguing story. '' <br>-- Peter C. Doherty, Professor of Biomedical Research at St Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, USA, and at the University Of Melbourne Medical School, Australia, Winner of the Nobel Prize in Medicine for work on the immune system <br><p><br>

An elegantly written, unexpectedly gripping account of how scientists painstakingly unraveled the way in which a small group of genes ... crucially influence, and unexpectedly interconnect, various aspects of our lives ... Lab work has rarely been made to seem more heroic. -Bill Bryson, Guardian Books of the Year 2013 Dr Davis's readable and informative book takes the reader into unexpectedly interesting corners of both the immune system and the lives of immunologists. It is packed with an insider's knowledge -- not just of the field, but of where its bodies are buried. -New York Times Davis ranges energetically through the research. Cultural references and anecdotes abound. -Nature . .. a fascinating, expertly told story -New Statesman Davis provides a well-written and easy-to-read account of the sometimes complicated biology behind the crucial genes that affect our lives so profoundly. -New Scientist Davis weaves a warm biographical thread through his tale of scientific discovery, revealing the drive and passion of those in the vanguard of research ... unusual results, astonishing implications and ethical dilemmas. -Times of London Davis makes the twists and turns all count. -Guardian Wonderful pen-portraits of the many scientists involved in this fast-moving field ... 5 out of 5 stars. -BBC Science Magazine FOCUS Davis gets a gold star ... for putting over an arcase subject with such infectious enthusiasm. --Nature

Author Information

Daniel M. Davis, PhD, is a distinguished immunologist whose work has established new concepts on how immune cells communicate with each other, how immune cells recognize disease, and how viruses spread between cells. He is currently Professor of Immunology at the University of Manchester, UK, where he is the Director of Research at the Manchester Collaborative Center for Inflammation Research. Davis pioneered the use of microscopy to help visualize key molecular components of immune responses. His work helped establish a new concept of how immune cells communicate with each other and how they recognize disease. He has published over 100 academic papers, including papers in Nature and Science, collectively cited over 6,000 times. He was the recipient of a Lister Prize in 2005, a Wolfson Royal Society Merit Award in 2008, and became a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences in 2011.

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