Identically Different: Why You Can Change Your Genes. by Tim Spector - Hardcover

Tim Spector

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0297866311 ISBN 13: 9780297866312

Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2012

Synopsis

This book is about how minor life events and the choices we make, as well as those made by our ancestors, fuse with our inherited genes to mould us into individuals. What makes you so different to your siblings? Why do you vote a certain way, remain faithful for twenty years, believe in God, love salads, be heterosexual, get cancer or depression, dislike sport or never put on weight? Using fascinating case studies of identical twins, Tim Spector draws gems from his exhaustive research project that has spanned twenty years to show how even real-life 'clones' with the same upbringing turn out in reality to be very different. Based on cutting-edge discoveries that are pushing the frontiers of our knowledge of genetics, he show us that - contrary to recent scientific teaching - nothing is completely hard-wired or pre-ordained. Challenging, enlightening and entertaining, Tim Spector explains theories such as why the Dutch have become the tallest nation in the world, why autism is more heritable than breast cancer and what could cause a fit and healthy man to have a heart attack within weeks of his overweight, heavy drinking, heavy smoking identical twin. Conceptually, he argues, we are not just skin and bones controlled by our genes but minds and bodies made of plastic. This plastic is dynamic - slowly changing shape and evolving, driven by many processes we still cannot comprehend. Many of the subtle differences between us appear now to be due to chance or fate, but as science rapidly evolves and explains current mysteries we will be able to become more active participants in this human moulding process. Then we can really begin to understand why we are who we are and what makes each of us so unique and quintessentially human.

About this title

About the Author

Tim Spector is Professor of Genetic Epidemiology at King's College London and Hon consultant Physician at Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital. He set up the Twins UK register in 1993, the largest of its kind in the world, which he continues to direct. He has won several academic awards and published over 500 academic papers. He has appeared in numerous TV documentaries and is often consulted in British and international media on his team's cutting-edge research.

Review

Spector will get you through many dinner parties. But, much more importantly, he will show how a certain kind of scientific fundamentalism collapsed under the burden of its inability to explain the world as it is - complex, flowing, changing - rather than as they would like it to be - simple and clear. Read him. -- Bryan Appleyard THE SUNDAY TIMES 20120617 A fascinating and provocative book...Spector is a talented story-teller, weaving real-life accounts of identical twins into each chapter...This is an informative and thought-provoking tour of some of the most exciting areas in biology right now. Spector concludes by inviting us to imagine a future in which we see our genes as malleable, rather than as masters of our biological destiny - just one part of the endlessly complex and fascinating story of what makes each of us unique. NEW SCIENTIST Identically Different is a fresh and though-provoking book on how the environment affects epigenetics. -- Dr Nessa Carey BBC FOCUS MAGAZINE Spector...pulls off the rare feat of being able to make genetic theory both intriguing and comprehensible to the ordinary reader. THE LADY In Identically Different, Tim Spector, a world-renowned authority on twins, introduces us in an entertaining, eloquent and expert way to the new (yet old) science of epigenetics: the study of how the environment can influence our genes and how those influences can be passed on to future generations. -- James Williams TIMES EDUCATIONAL SUPPLEMENT A fascinating attempt to see us for what we are and to investigate what life is, and to show why a heady combination of hormones, chemicals, genes and instinct can make us what we are, and what we might be. GOOD BOOK GUIDE This book is a fascinating exploration of our current understanding of what makes us what we are: health, behavior, and personality. JOURNAL OF TWIN RESEARCH AND HUMAN GENETICS Tim Spector's book turns genetics on its head. Lucid, surprising and with a very human face. It brings epigenetics alive. it is a great read! Michael Mosley

Edition details

• Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 0297866311
• ISBN 13: 9780297866312
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 280