A Short History of Medical Genetics - Hardcover

Harper, Peter S.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0195187504 ISBN 13: 9780195187502

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2008

Synopsis

An eminent geneticist, veteran author, OMMG Series Editor, and noted archivist, Peter Harper presents a lively account of how our ideas and knowledge about human genetics have developed over the past century from the perspective of someone inside the field with a deep interest in its historical aspects. Dr. Harper has researched the history of genetics and has had personal contact with a host of key figures whose memories and experiences extend back 50 years, and he has interviewed and recorded conversations with many of these important geneticists. Thus, rather than being a conventional history, this book transmits the essence of the ideas and the people involved and how they interacted in advancing- and sometimes retarding- the field. From the origins of human genetics; through the contributions of Darwin, Mendel, and other giants; the identification of the first human chromosome abnormalities; and up through the completion of the Human Genome project, this Short History is written in the author's characteristic clear and personal style, which appeals to geneticists and to all those interested in the story of human genetics.

About this title

About the Author:

Peter Harper is a Professor at the Institute of Medical Genetics at the University of Wales College of Medicine in Cardiff.

Review:

"This 'short' history has been compiled with great clarity and style. It constitutes a major work of great scholarship and provides the reader and the greater genetics community with a unique insight into the history of their subject. The author is to be congratulated for collating and documenting so much crucial information...before it becomes lost int he mists of time. If future generations can learn from the mistakes of the past, most notably those relating to eugenics and mischievous political interference, then this tour de force will have done us all a great service."--Human Genetics

"This is a fascinating book....The combination of the author's personal experience, intimate knowledge and understanding of the science, his interest in recording and preserving the history, and his engaging writing style, make this book a must read for those interested in any aspect of medical genetics or history of science."--Doody's

"We are fortunate that the first full-length treatment of the history of this field has appeared...Reading this book is both a visual treat and a stimulating mental excursion across the world of academic medicine....The author includes photographs of virtually all the major contributors to human and medical genetics. He provides a global outlook so we are not limited to just American and United Kingdom contributions. We learn why some programs flourished in some countries and not others. We find pleasure in his footnotes, which are less a reference to cited works than anecdotal asides on the players in this unfolding story. Harper includes dozens of tables that give chronologies of each new topic or field that develops. He poses challenges in every chapter for future historians to pick up threads he has not explored, so vast is the amount of material that he has tried to cover."--Elof Axel Carlson as reviewed in The Quarterly Review of Biology

"Harper, a practicing medical geneticist for over forty years, offers a broad--yet exceedingly rich--historical overview of medical genetics. Motivated primarily by a desire to provide medical geneticists with insight into their own community's under-appreciated past, this well-researched foundational history openly encourages more detailed analysis from professional historians as well. For any researchers deterred from this field because of a lack of familiarity with the principles of genetics, Harper's work is also useful for obtaining an understanding of the basic science which has undergirded medical genetics throughout its history. Additionally, he offers ambitious historians an extensive list of neglected topics which merit further analysis, including the role of lay societies in promoting research/policy initiatives, and portrayals of genetic disease in the media."--Cultures of Health

"I very much enjoyed this book. It provides a thoughtful overview of the development of medical genetics, tracing the evolution of ideas from over 300 years ago to the present day. The different aspects of the discipline are discussed in separate sections, with helpful notes and recommended sources provided at the end of each chapter. It describes how certain key geneticists contributed to the development of these ideas, and provides tantalising, but brief, insights into their personalities and relationships."--As reviewed by Shirley Hodgson, Clinical Medicine, October 2009

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0195187504
• ISBN 13: 9780195187502
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 576