Mendel's Dwarf

Told in the cynical but utterly compelling voice of a man who is waging a private war against genetic chance—obsessed with identifying the mutant gene responsible for his own disability—Mendel's Dwarf is a gripping story of scientific discovery and of the messy blend of empathy, sympathy, respect, and physiology that comprise love. The stories of a late 20th century molecular biologist riding the crest of a mature science and of the mid-nineteenth century father of that science are cleverly interwoven to examine the limits of human choice, the nature of nature—of normalcy and aberrance—and the social and political uses and abuses of scientific knowledge. Along the way, we get a refresher course in classical genetics and historical glimpses of Gregor Mendel's life and the early twentieth century eugenics movement.