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savaging's review
4.0
McClintock lived through the scientific debate between the primacy of the genetic code vs. the primacy of the actual chromosomes -- and by extension, the entire organism in its environment. While she was aligned with the latter, it's the former that won out. The savvy young physicists that mapped the DNA molecule can now write books like The Selfish Gene and roll their eyes at stuffy old-lady corn-counters like McClintock.
Evelyn Fox Keller, writing in the early 80s, shows how the wunderkinder of molecular biology eventually had to come around to admitting McClintock was ahead of her time and had some important insights for them. But this is an even more interesting book to read today, when advancements in epigenetics have shown that cellular-level and organism-level events deeply affect gene regulation. McClintock's careful intuition that the world doesn't work in a clear hierarchy (genes give 'orders' for the rest of the cell to obey), but is rather a careful dance between parts regulating each other, is not only a more beautiful view of biology -- it's also more accurate.
This book can be dull and dry, but also deepens my love for McClintock and her cornfields.
Evelyn Fox Keller, writing in the early 80s, shows how the wunderkinder of molecular biology eventually had to come around to admitting McClintock was ahead of her time and had some important insights for them. But this is an even more interesting book to read today, when advancements in epigenetics have shown that cellular-level and organism-level events deeply affect gene regulation. McClintock's careful intuition that the world doesn't work in a clear hierarchy (genes give 'orders' for the rest of the cell to obey), but is rather a careful dance between parts regulating each other, is not only a more beautiful view of biology -- it's also more accurate.
This book can be dull and dry, but also deepens my love for McClintock and her cornfields.
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