The most recommended books on DNA

Although I'm a huge reader (and writer!) of magic-realism romances - time slip/travel/loop, alternate realities, etc - I've never been a paranormal romance reader and have tended to stay away from vampire/werewolf/ghost/witch romances. But I was convinced to read The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches, and I'm so glad I did! It was truly the most heartwarming book I've read this year. It's less about the witch being a witch and more like found family in a quirky household, plus there's a handsome, grumpy Irish librarian as a love interest to make it really interesting! Utterly charming, funny, and sweet - and with a couple of sexy moments for good measure. I will be more openminded about witchy stories from now on! Read on audiobook, and the narrator was totally fabulous, too.

This book about a tiny creature different from the rest touched my heart in a big way.

Like the scientist whose discovery inspired this book, I pay attention to small things. What small thing did the scientist notice? A snail shell that spiraled the opposite way of most snails–left instead of right. This one-in-a-million snail had inverted organs–his heart and other organs were on the right side, and he couldn’t reproduce without a mate who also had inverted organs.

Through crowdsourcing, two snails with right hearts were found–and eventually, baby snails were born!

Genetics, diversity, evolution, and love all fit into this book, tenderly and beautifully told in sparse language that somehow helped me understand these big concepts–and encouraged me to look for and appreciate the diversity in our world.

Gregg Braden is an example of one who has discovered how to live the spirituality within science. In this brilliant and insightful work, he links our genetic code to biblical alphabets to prove the unity of the human race and the idea that we are all greater than our beliefs. Braden shows that deep within our genetic code, held in the sanctuary of the DNA, is the universal message that traverses humanity—all cultures, all races, all genders: the name of God. Applying this message to our lives, we can transcend our beliefs, our biases, our conditioning to create a more harmonious condition of living for all of humanity.

Edge of the Known World took me to so many places geographically, culturally and scientifically. It is a stunningly plausible science fiction that is beautifully and evocatively written. Sheri T Joseph describes the characters, situations, emotions in a way that keeps the reader immersed and turning the pages. There were unexpected twists and turns everywhere and it was a satisfying read and I can't wait for Joseph's next book.

Imagine this. You were adopted as a child. You’re now an adult with a medical condition. So, you take a DNA test to find blood relatives who could shed some light and family history on your disease. But you get the shock of your life when an FBI agent shows up and tells you they received your test results too and you are related to a serial killer! Ivy’s life spins out of control as she travels to meet her relatives and find a killer. Ivy is told that her mother was murdered by The Full Moon Killer and now she is getting too close…could she be the next victim? A chilling novel with lots of twists that left me thinking if I were in Ivy’s shoes, just this once, I’d rather DNA kept secrets.

I really enjoyed this book and have found it a wonderful reference, mapping the history of the quest for trying to figure out how biological information is stored (in the form of DNA in chromosomes), and how biological information flows from DNA to RNA to proteins.

The book is long and exhaustive, but it’s one of my favorites!

Kathryn is the best sci-fi author you haven’t read. How do I know? I was her critique buddy. We traded chapters as we wrote, each acting as advisor to the other.

I really liked Monkey Girl, a great choice for teen girls. But Project Hannibal is my favorite. Kathryn works at a zoo, so she knows a lot about animals. In Hannibal, she asks, could DNA from extinct woolly mammoths be used to impregnate a modern elephant? And if you could produce mammoth offspring, why do it?

As it turns out, mammoths might be exactly the wildlife our neglected planet needs. Join a flying doctor and her teenage assistant in a grand adventure across the wilderness of Alaska.

This is a book I read quite recently that reminded me of why I love gardens: because they teach us about ourselves and offer an opportunity to connect to those around us.

In Unearthing, Maclear unpacks a family secret and reconnects with her mother, but she tells the story through plants and gardens. It’s a book that demonstrates how entwined our human lives are with the natural world.

How did my ancestry help define me? My great-grandfather created a dairy farm outside of Tacoma, and my mother grew up impoverished in Indiana during the Great Depression. These experiences shaped my family, but how far into the past do such influences arise?

I have been fascinated by history and genealogy since childhood, and even my professional role as a paleoanthropologist is an extension of that interest in prehistory. Christine Kenneally addresses in direct language the implicit questions I was seeking–what roles did genes, ancestry, and history play in shaping me and the populations around me? It is not hard for me to identify with the values of the Puritan farmers from whom I descended, but before I read this book, I didn’t appreciate the persistence of historical experiences in shaping a community. For example, the slave trade instilled a modern community's suspicion of strangers in the worst affected areas… show more.

Domestic suspense doesn’t usually pull at my heartstrings, but this one did.

Infertility and the desperation that comes with that is at the center of this story, alternately told by The Wife, The Husband, The Daughter, The Mother, and The Detectives. Seeing it from all sides gave me a fuller sense of character—yet did not take away from the twisty, delicious plot.