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Another very interesting book...
I recently finished an interesting book by Sue Hubbell, Shrinking the Cat: Genetic Engineering Before We Knew About Genes. Her premise is that we (as a species) have been tinkering with our environment and its denizens since our earliest beginnings. And in many ways, our current abilities to play with genes is simply an extension of our fascination with molding our environment to suit our fancies. And while the fact that we can now splice genes across species is scary to the lay person, to a scientist it's not a huge stretch.
She examines four species which we have selected and shaped to our purposes, and examines their histories, how we've fudamentally altered them (and in ways such that they would likely cease to exist if we vanished as a race) and how we've also furthered some *pests* in our quests to *improve* these engineered species. The species examined are: silkworms, corn, apples and domestic cats.
This book is fascinating reading. It's natural history, social history, personal memoir and an ode to science and scientists.
She examines four species which we have selected and shaped to our purposes, and examines their histories, how we've fudamentally altered them (and in ways such that they would likely cease to exist if we vanished as a race) and how we've also furthered some *pests* in our quests to *improve* these engineered species. The species examined are: silkworms, corn, apples and domestic cats.
This book is fascinating reading. It's natural history, social history, personal memoir and an ode to science and scientists.