Genomes and What to Make of Them

An engaging, dense and informative account of the many conceptual, theoretical and ethical issues surrounding the powerful science of genomics. . . . Philosophers and historians of science, sociologists of knowledge and bioethicists will all benefit from reading it. I will add to the list biologists too. . . . This is an impressive book. The writing style is engaging, while the approach is quite refreshing, as the authors are not afraid to take many biological, political and ethical stands.--Davide Vecchi "Metapsychology" Barnes and Dupre, drawing on both science and the philosophy of biology, push beyond the hype that accompanied the dawn of genomics. There has been too much attention devoted to what genomics will and will not do, and soon. But beneath the surface and beyond the hype, our concepts of how biological things work really have changed fundamentally, and it matters. This book helps explain how and why it matters. What do insights about genomics tell us about human variations that map to ancestry, and how those, in turn, map to social constructions of 'race' and ethnicity? Is there anything more threatening to human social coherence than human variations, or anything more important to understand? And what will genomic technologies tell us about behavior? The answer is clearly more than nothing and less than we tend to think. The idea of simple genes encoding proteins that do biological work is being replaced by more complex systems theories of interaction and cybernetics. Welcome to the future of genomics. It will be a long and glorious ride. This book is a good place to start that exploration.--Robert Cook-Deegan, Duke University "What is novel about Genomes and What to Make of Them is the impressive scope of the project, which covers key issues around the politics of genomics in an accessible way, taking care to outline in clear language some very complex scientific arguments in a way that allows the authors to deconstruct various arguments about the risks and opportunities of genomics. I know of no other book that captures the social implications of genomics in quite such a comprehensive and accessible yet insightful manner.--Peter Robbins, Open University

Barry Barnes is former codirector of the ESRC Centre for Genomics in Society at the University of Exeter, at which he was formerly professor of sociology. He is the author of several books on the sociology of the sciences and was awarded the J. D. Bernal Prize for his career contribution to the field. John Dupre is director of the ESRC Centre for Genomics in Society, professor of philosophy of science at the University of Exeter, and the author of several books, including Darwin's Legacy: What Evolution Means Today.