Is Your Destiny Written in DNA? A Review of Siddhartha Mukherjee’s “The Gene”

Mukherjee resists the academic style of a textbook by introducing what he refers to as a “red line” that cuts across the scientific narrative with a personal account of his own family’s battle against mental illness. His two uncles, Rajesh and Jagu, and his cousin Moni are presented as characters with “splintered minds.” Mukherjee introduces this element as a means of setting stakes for the narrative and elevates the historical account of biology into an intriguing investigation into the definition of identity. Should there be a kernel of illness within the family line, how does one separate this from their own sense of self? His father calls the gene Abhed, which translates into “indivisible” or “identity.”

The value of infotainment of the historical segments lies in its magnitude. First and foremost, Mukherjee displays the qualities of a novelist by providing us with a picture of Gregor Mendel as an obsessive, dim-witted yet highly intelligent gardener who had the habit of counting several thousand peas to discover the “alphabet of the code.” Next comes the mention of James Watson and Francis Crick, who have been referred to as the “self-appointed jesters in a court of fools” who discovered the structure of DNA and established the “central dogma” of biology.

Nevertheless, as a critic of the concept of wellness, it is necessary to point out that the book is really provocative if it takes the discussion from laboratory practice to clinical practice. According to Mukherjee, modern medicine has for a long time functioned in the mode of “mirror writing,” when we understand wellness through the prism of its opposite – the lack of abnormality. As a result of the Human Genome Project, however, we now know how to address genetics in terms of “normalcy.” However, it is a double-edged sword because, according to the author, we are now approaching the era of “previvors.”

One of the major criticisms by the book about “nature vs. nurture” is especially apt for today’s health-conscious individuals. According to Mukherjee, genes do not represent “blueprints,” which mean one outcome, but “recipes.” Just like quadrupling the quantity of butter does not only make the cake tastier but may ruin its structural integrity altogether, genetics combined with environmental factors and sheer luck may yield unexpected results. The author describes it as the “last mile” issue, since genetics may show a possibility of having a particular nose or personality but fails to cover the last mile to define a person’s concrete individuality. This point is emphasized through the eerily similar twins who raised separately smoke the same cigarette brand and marry women with the same name due to their “idiosyncratic and serendipitous events.”

The criticism of “newgenics” in Mukherjee’s writing marks one of the strongest examples of his journalistic integrity. While the horrors of state-endorsed eugenics have been left behind by history, today we have entered into what Mukherjee calls a “regime of gene management,” motivated by individual autonomy. With the ability to “read” the fetal genome and “write” away any mutations thanks to techniques like CRISPR, the line between “extraordinary suffering” becomes ever-changing. The question becomes, will the eradication of the genes that cause schizophrenia end our suffering, or will it erase the creativity too?

The language used by the author can be considered heavy at times, although it is never so oppressive as to overwhelm the reader; however, the huge size of the human genome (consisting of 3 billion base pairs), mentioned by Mukherjee (which would occupy 1.5 million pages if put into print), poses a threat to become an obstacle on occasion. Nevertheless, the writer succeeds in driving the plot by going back to the “triangle of considerations.”

“Gene” is a work of scientific journalism that perfectly achieves the difficult task of being both a “terrifying wake-up call and a hopeful roadmap.” This book is one reminder that even as we have come from a certain script, we are not automatons created out of it. According to Mukherjee, the “imperfect” is our paradise, and the need to make humans homogeneous and “normalize” them must necessarily take into consideration the necessity of sustaining diversity. The book is essential reading for everyone who seeks a manual for their body, which is currently involved in the “intercontinental arms race” to rewrite it.

Book Title: The Gene: An Intimate History.
Author: Siddhartha Mukherjee
Year: 2016