A timely exploration of the mysteries of genetics examines the diverse ways in which human heredity is linked to the rest of the natural world and analyzes how the science of genetics touches our lives every day, discussing such topics as congenital birth defects and disabilities, illness and its links to heredity, and more. Recent discoveries in molecular biology have shown that genes governing life processes in widely different organisms from yeast to humans are essentially alike. That is the underlying theme of this book as it looks for meaning in the natural world while exploring complex questions in molecular genetics. Ackerman, a former staff writer for National Geographic and a nature author (Notes from the Shore), weaves her own personal experiences into this popular account of the natural history of heredity. (When she is pregnant with her first child, Ackerman worries that the baby will inherit the gene that caused the retardation of her younger sister.) Moving from topics such as development and sex determination to biological clocks and cell death, this is an engrossing book written in delightful prose that will please most readers. - Leila Fernandez, Steacie Science Lib., York Univ., Toronto, Ont. Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. Scientists have a penchant for straight lines, clearly defined categories, and orderly progressions, but the more that geneticists learn about the surprising number of genes shared by such disparate entities as a yeast and a person, the more barriers between species disintegrate, and the more convoluted the path of evolution is revealed to be. Ackerman proves to be an exciting and eloquent tour guide through the complex realm of heredity, writing about genes, chromosomes, protein molecules, antibodies, and pheromones--the "deep-down world"--with the same sense of adventure she brought to her book about the sea, Notes from the Shore (1995). Adept at selecting vivid analogies sure to please nonscientific readers, she marvels at the spectacular array of life-forms one set of genes can generate, nature's grand balancing act between stability and change, and the intrinsic connections between plants and animals. Using events in her life as catalysts for each phase of her discussion, Ackerman makes vital and relevant such tricky subjects as "junk" DNA, "timekeeping" genes, and the caprice of inheritance. Donna Seaman Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved "...a beautiful story of the natural world that will inspire and educate without dampening wonder." -- The San Francisco Chronicle "...graceful, nearly lyrical at times...The way in which she focuses on the beauty of scientific language enriches her expertise." -- Bookpage "...a beautiful story of the natural world that will inspire and educate without dampening wonder." -- Review " Chance in the House of Fate is about the biggest biology story of the last ten years: the discovery of remarkable family resemblances that unite every living thing in the tree of life, at the level of our genes. It's a beautiful discovery that has accumulated bit by bit in thousands of laboratories all over the world. Jennifer Ackerman has risen to the occasion with a beautiful meditation on our likenesses, like a poet musing in the small hours after a family reunion." Jonathan Weiner, author of The Beak of the Finch " Chance in the House of Fate is a poet's embrace of the biological world, written with grace and intelligence, warmed by a personal story. I am reminded of Lewis Thomas and Annie Dillard, but most of all of Walt Whitman, Jennifer Ackerman sings a song of self in the widest possible sense, the unity of all life on our planet." Alan Lightman, author of Einstein's Dreams and The Diagnosis Jennifer Ackerman is the author of Notes from the Shore and Chance in the House of Fate. The recipient of a grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and literature fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Bunting Institute of Radcliffe College, she writes for National Geographic, the New York Times, and other publications. There are mysteries in all families. Those that arrest me -- that set me back on my heels -- are the mysteries of heredity: the past whispered in bone and blood, the dozens of ancestors rolled up in one skin to be read in curve and eye and voice, the seeds of being that heed no call to die but turn up again and again on the doorstep, like a ne'er-do-well uncle . . . In the last decade or so a startling new message has come out about the long hold of heredity. Scientists probing the deep workings of organisms from yeast to humans have turned up news that despite our outward differences of life and limb, we're run by similar genes and proteins, similar cell parts and mechanisms, which have weathered evolution over ages, passing nearly intact through hundreds of millions of years of rising and falling forms. These shared molecules and routines affect nearly