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The Art of Genes: How Organisms Make Themselves

by Enrico Coen (Author)
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 18 ratings
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Over the past twenty years there has been a revolution in biology--for the first time scientists have been able to unravel the details of how organisms make themselves. The mechanisms by which a fertilized egg develops into an adult can now be grasped in a way that was unimaginable a few decades ago. The Art of Genes is the first account of these exciting new findings, and of their broader significance in how we view ourselves.
Through a highly original synthesis of sciece and art, Enrico Coen vividly describes this revolution in our understanding of how plants and animals develop. Drawing on a wide range of material--from flowers growing petals instead of sex organs, and flies that develop an extra pair of wings, to works of art by Leonardo and Magritte--he explains in lively accessible prose the meaning of genes. Coen draws parallels between the way genes respond to the developing pattern of an organism and the way an artist responds to a painting being created on canvas, a memorable analogy that shows how the organism develops through an interactive dialogue in which there is no separation between plan and execution.
There have been many attempts to resolve the paradox of how organisms make themselves. Lucid, authoritative, and entertaining, The Art of Genes offers fresh and exciting insights into the nature of evolution, development, and human creativity.
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  1. ISBN-10
    0192862081
  2. ISBN-13
    978-0192862082
  3. Publisher
    Oxford University Press
  4. Publication date
    August 17, 2000
  5. Language
    English
  6. Dimensions
    7.8 x 5.08 x 0.82 inches
  7. Print length
    396 pages
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"It is arguable that the most important advance in biology in the past twenty years has been the revolution in our understanding of the mechanisms of development.... Developmental biology has been transformed from a field in which ingenious manipulative experiments generated speculations about unobservable underlying causes, such as gradients and prepatterns, to one in which we have a very detailed knowledge of what is actually going on at the molecular and cellular level. Enrico Coen has written a book that attempts, with considerable success, to convey the essence of this revolution to the lay reader. It will also be of great interest to those biologists...who have only a superficial knowledge of the subject."TREE

Book Description

A groundbreaking new way of looking at one of the last great mysteries of biology

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Oxford University Press (August 17, 2000)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 396 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0192862081
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0192862082
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 14.1 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.8 x 5.08 x 0.82 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 18 ratings

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Enrico Coen

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Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
18 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

L. D. Rafey
5.0 out of 5 stars The New Genetics
Reviewed in the United States on June 21, 2006
Verified Purchase
As a High School student, I made many an inquiry into the very questions that this text (and other more recently published texts) seeks to answer or to explain. I was rebuffed by many a teacher then as well as in my later colligiate days as if I had asked something absurd like "what is God made of?" . Yet, just the street from my home as a youth, Kornberg was working on the elucidation of DNA Polymerase and across the pond, Watson and Crick were on the verge of deciphering the enigmatic DNA molecule. All this excitement and still, no real answers for nearly fifty years. This book by Coen is an absolutely wonderfully well composed and well written text that elucidates in great depth the real mystery that is the product of our genes. No longer concerned with the humdrum mechanics and mere architecture of DNA, it reveals the real magic and dynamics of the stuff that has for so long eluded such inquiring minds as my own. As a former research Microbiologist and avocational artist, I found E.Coen's analogy a genuinely perfect metaphor for representing the dynamics of the gene. I have reviewed many similar texts, each of which were excellent in their approach to this subject but I choose this text as a particularly marvelous text for both the professional and layperson alike to read for a comprehensive understanding of the true miracle of living matter.
4 people found this helpful
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Shuo Wang
5.0 out of 5 stars good
Reviewed in the United States on December 31, 2019
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good through I have not started to read
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S. B. Volchan
3.0 out of 5 stars Reasonable introduction to development.
Reviewed in the United States on November 11, 2008
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This is a nice non-technical introduction to developmental biology, with some interesting historical insights. I agree with a previous reviewer in that the "painting" analogy used by the author is a bit far-fetched and tends to confuse
rather than clarify the subject. In any case, after reading this book I feel better equiped to prepared to face a more technical book, like Sean Caroll's "DNA and diversity".
2 people found this helpful
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Michael L. Wyatt
4.0 out of 5 stars An amazing gem
Reviewed in the United States on April 3, 2000
This small book does nothing short of explaining the details of developmental biology in such an approachable synthesis that it should be required reading for all biology majors and their professors. Coen's understanding of his subject is obvious, but his ability to convey it is the amazing gem of this book. Success achieved!
8 people found this helpful
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John C. Landon
5.0 out of 5 stars Chickens, and eggs
Reviewed in the United States on March 9, 2002
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Charming and clear introduction to the basic 'how to' of development with a lot of information about hox genes in relation to form and function, with an engaging twist, the questions of art from symmetry to creativity. This is the best short introduction to very recent findings in a field transformed in the eighties and only now becoming public knowldege.
2 people found this helpful
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Luigi Fernandez
5.0 out of 5 stars Developmental biology in a new light.
Reviewed in the United States on August 12, 2002
Perhaps not the first time, but certainly one of the most eloquent and thought-provoking exposition of the wonderfully complex subject of biological development. The author first seems to invoke a parallel relationship of development and creativity as yin and yang, but finishes off the book with an intriguing explanation that human creativity is itself a byproduct, consequence, or continuum of development.
The Biology undergrad or grad student may have grasped the fundamentals of developmental biology from "Molecular Biology of the Cell" (Alberts, Watson, et al), "Developmental Biology" (Gilbert), or "Genes, Embryos, and Evolution" (Gerhart and Kirschner). Enrico Coen's book, however, certainly provides a fresh outlook of plant and animal development rich with comparisons to artistic creativity, hidden colors, scents and sensitivities, interpretations, elaborations, and refinements. This outlook also raises the question of whether genes that dictate development can be compared to instruction manuals or artists painting their canvas---in the case of development, the instruction and execution are inseparable, and the genes are affected by the organisms they produce in a similar way that the artist responds to his/her own creation.
Anyone with a molecular biology background can worry less about the details of gene regulation, differential gene expression, and protein-DNA and protein-protein interactions. By focusing instead on metaphors or analogies in art and creativity, delving in Dr. Coen's thoughts becomes an enjoyable exercise in imagination. On the other hand, readers who need more grounding in basic molecular biology may find the analogies daunting, but Dr. Coen explains the formidably complex and amazingly orchestrated system of the development of the multicellular organism very well. The reader acquires a new appreciation of development using the mind's color receptors and chemical senses.
I wonder, as a non-developmental biologist, if Dr. Coen has inadvertently left some gaping holes in trying to explain left-right asymmetry. Briefly he ascribes the establishment of this asymmetry to the intrinsic lefthandedness or righthandedness of the building blocks of life, e.g., D-amino acids and L-sugars/monosaccharides. This leaves me wondering whether so much more has been found or observed recently to provide a basis for this morphological asymmetry other than ascribing it to the intrinsic asymmetry of molecular building blocks.
This book will nonetheless stand out as a unique perspective and exposition of one of biology's most perplexing and still most interesting phenomena.
3 people found this helpful
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G. Korthof
5.0 out of 5 stars The Art of Explaining
Reviewed in the United States on July 16, 2000
I always had the feeling that evolution was the inventor of new things and development was a secondary problem of how to build an organism from information already present in the fertilised egg. Now I know what problems need to be solved in building a multicellular organism from a single cell in the first place. Enrico Coen magnificently explains how the head-tail, ventral-dorsal, left-right and inside-outside axis is build out of nearly nothing. The subtitle of the book is a perfect illustration of the task: How organisms make themselves (without help from outside). The problem looked only harder since the discovery of DNA : the information in DNA is one-dimensional, so how to build a 3-dimensional organism on the basis of that? No wonder that people in previous centuries saw miniature humans in egg or sperm. But since that 'solution' was refuted, the problem confronted us again: how do organisms make themselves? Enrico Coen gives deep insights with the help of metaphors derived from art and with the necessary scientific details and without confusing us with too many complexities. Coen explains the crucial role of genes without being a genetic reductionist. His examples are both from animals and plants, wich I find an advantage. This book is an achievement. The only criticism I have is that the main metaphor Coen uses is about colors and all the illustrations are in black-and-white! At least the hardback edition should have color illustrations!
18 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

A. Volk
5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic analogy
Reviewed in Canada on November 25, 2008
Verified Purchase
This book does an excellent job painting the picture of how genes develop (pun intended). He makes the analogy of painting a picture to creating an organism, and it really worked for me. It's not a beginner-level book, but for anyone with a reasonable understanding of science and biology, it's a fantastic read!
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djb
4.0 out of 5 stars scientific impressionism
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 30, 2008
Verified Purchase
A decent read for anyone interested in the science of how animals and plants unfold from a fertilised cell according to the choreographed activity of genes, and biochemical signals.
Unfortunately - for me - the artistic metaphor was forced too far, too often, to the exclusion of the science. The author refers to hidden colours, and scents. What is wrong with a more correct scientific terminology? The use of a single colour to represent a certain cellular territory within a developing embryo etc also seems to risk suggesting an over-simplification. Surely it isn't just one gene / master protein / colour that is active.Coen was at pains to flog the artistic analogy for all it was worth even when it was not really worth it. To be honest my heart sank when forced to encounter another lengthy tract about Velasquez or Picasso or Leonardo or the artists interaction with the canvas.The problem with the whole analogy is the presence of the artist i.e. there is a conscious intelligence guiding the creative process which does not occur with the development of an organism from a fertilised egg cell.
However this is a fascinating subject and - on balance - a useful contribution.
4 people found this helpful
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