I had never heard of the science writer Steve Jones before, but it was a combination of the testimonials on the back covers of his two books (The Language of the Genes has won several prizes, including the Rhone-Poulenc Prize for the best science book of 1994; and its follow-up, In the Blood, has received glowing reviews from prestigious publications and was also shortlisted for the Rhone-Poulenc Prize, in 1997) and their ridiculously low prices, $3 and $5, at a used-book fair in Canberra that eventually led me to an unabashed appreciation for him as a superb storyteller and passionate scientist.
Steve Jones is a Professor of Genetics at University College, London. He writes, of course, on genetics. His latest book, Almost Like a Whale, is a modern introduction to Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species; it won the 1999 BP Natural World Book Prize.
The Language of the Genes is a wonderful history and overview of genetics, and includes a convincing account of evolution at the microscopic level. The book also deals briefly with questions such as the ethics of genetic engineering, still contemporary even in 2012. What I found most satisfying about the book, however, is Jones’ fascinating re-telling of human history – its social, cultural, demographic, and even linguistic aspects – through the eyes of a professional geneticist. It is, to me, an amazingly fresh and comprehensive perspective. The chapter headings provide some indication of their unusual contents: ‘The Economics of Eden’, ‘The Kingdoms of Cain’, ‘Fear of Frankenstein’, and ‘The Evolution of Utopia’, to name a few.
Incredibly, I found the second book, In the Blood, even more impressive than the first. The book completely succeeds as an entertaining romp through various historical and religious events; various facts and oddities are suddenly given a new light, and frequently made to look even stranger, by recent findings from modern genetic analysis.
While there are so many things to love in the second book, I will concentrate on one passage that surprised me emotionally, bringing me close to tears, perhaps unaccountably, given my longstanding interest in past and present scholarship about the historicity of Jesus:
“Armageddon is, given its reputation, a slightly disappointing place to visit. It is easy to find: on the plain of Jezreel, in Northern Israel, lie the vestiges of the city of Megiddo… The ruins are an apt icon of destruction. In its four-thousand-year history, Megiddo was devastated and rebuilt twenty times.” In 721 BC, the heir-apparent to the Assyrian throne, Sargon, destroyed many of the monuments of the Kingdom of Israel, Megiddo included. The Kingdom’s inhabitants were deported to Babylon. Naturally, their descendants longed to return. “That yearning became the dream of a gathering of the saved at Armageddon when the Messiah arrives.”
I certainly look forward to buying Almost Like a Whale, if these two books are any indication of the cornucopia of intellectual and emotional surprises that Steve Jones’ polymath mind can bring.