Medical Genetics

In the early 1800s, a century before there was any concept of the gene, physicians in insane asylums began to record causes of madness in their admission books. Almost from the beginning, they pointed to heredity as the most important of these causes. As doctors and state officials steadily lost faith in the capacity of asylum care to stem the terrible increase of insanity, they began emphasizing the need to curb the reproduction of the insane. They became obsessed with identifying weak or tainted families and anticipating the outcomes of their marriages.

Breakthroughs in genetics present us with a promise and a predicament. The promise is that we will soon be able to treat and prevent a host of debilitating diseases. The predicament is that our newfound genetic knowledge may enable us to manipulate our nature - to enhance our genetic traits and those of our children. Although most people find at least some forms of genetic engineering disquieting, it is not easy to articulate why.

A Father, His Son, and an Unrelenting Quest for a Cure At the age of twenty-seven, Whitney Dafoe was forced to give up his life as a photographer who traveled the world. Bit by bit a mysterious illness stole away the pieces of his life: First, it took the strength of his legs, then his voice...

Perfect People is a compelling and thought-provoking thriller from bestselling Peter James. John and Naomi are grieving the death of their four-year-old son from a rare genetic disorder. They desperately want another child, but they realize the odds of their next child contracting the same...

Navigate a post-apocalyptic world and experience a thrilling finale with the ultimate Maximum Ride novel. Discover the ninth and ultimate Maximum Ride story! Legions of Max fans won't be disappointed by this encore episode in the beloved series about the incredible adventures of a teenage girl...

How did a deadly genetic disease help our ancestors survive the bubonic plagues of Europe? Was diabetes evolution's response to the last Ice Age? Will a visit to the tanning salon help bring down your cholesterol? Why do we age? Why are some people immune to HIV? Can your genes be turned on—or...

"Eyeopening... Fascinating... may presage a paradigm shift in medicine.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review) "Teeming with information and big ideas... Outstanding.” —Booklist (starred review) The origin of asthma, autism, Alzheimer's, allergies, cancer, heart disease, obesity, and...

From the former editor of Slate and CEO of Atlas Obscura comes the unbelievable story of “the Nobel Prize sperm bank” and the children it produced—“a superb book about the quest for genius and, ultimately, family” (Malcolm Gladwell, author of The Tipping Point and Talking to...

Max Ride and her best friends are up against a deadly force, but Fang is gone just when they need him most. Will they be ready for the ultimate showdown? Max Ride and her best friends have always had one another's backs-no matter what. Living on the edge as fugitives, they never had a choice...

Two graduate students decide to solve their financial problems by becoming egg donors at an exclusive, highly profitable fertility clinic on Boston’s North Shore. But second thoughts and curiosity prompt the two women to find out more about their donated eggs. Obtaining employment at the...

“A thorough, up-to-date, and upbeat introduction to current scientific thinking about mood disorders and their treatment. An important resource for patients and their families—and for anyone curious about progress in psychiatric research."―Peter D. Kramer, Listening to Prozac This...

Joe Rush takes on a new terror, spawned in the Amazon rain forest, that threatens to bring the world to its knees in James Abel's latest bio-thriller, now in paperback. While studying new forms of malaria at an Amazon gold rush, Joe Rush's best friend and partner, Eddie Nakamura, disappears...

How a mysterious, super-powerful—yet long-neglected—microbe rules our world and can rescue our health in the age of antibiotic resistance. At every moment, within our bodies and all around us, trillions of microscopic combatants are waging a war that shapes our health and life on Earth...

In Mercies in Disguise, acclaimed New York Times reporter and best-selling author Gina Kolata tells the story of the Baxleys, an upstanding family in small-town South Carolina. Many of them were doctors, but still, they are struck down by an inscrutable illness. Finally they discover the cause of the disease after a remarkable sequence of providential events. Meanwhile science, progressing for 50 years along a parallel track, handed the Baxleys a question - not a cure but a blood test that would reveal who had the gene for the disease.

Unleash the Power of the Human Genome: Uncover the secrets of genetics and its transformative potential in medicine, even if you’re new to the world of DNA. Are you intrigued by the concept of personalized healthcare and the role genetics play in shaping, not only our health, but our responses to different treatments? Do you ever question why treatments work effectively on some individuals and not on others, even when they have the same disease or ailment?

In near-future Baltimore, scientific breakthroughs in genetic engineering promise to cure the incurable. But these new technologies are not without a dark side. Powerful criminal organizations thrive on peddling illicit genetic wares, waging an underground war unlike any the city has ever seen.

While grieving her husband's murder, a young Colorado veterinarian meets a troubled FBI agent and begins to uncover the world's most sinister secrets in this thriller from James Patterson. Frannie O'Neill is a young and talented veterinarian living in Colorado. Plagued by the mysterious murder...

From the former editor of Slate and CEO of Atlas Obscura comes the unbelievable story of “the Nobel Prize sperm bank” and the children it produced—“a superb book about the quest for genius and, ultimately, family” (Malcolm Gladwell, author of The Tipping Point and Talking to...

A searing critique of medical racism and a powerful call for health-care professionals to make real change in their field, written by a leading activist and doctor Unequal access to care. Misdiagnosis. Mistreatment. Medical gaslighting. An increasing number of studies show the profound impacts...

Every 69 seconds, someone is diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. Of the top 10 killers, it is the only disease for which there is no cure or treatment. For most people, there is nothing that they can do to fight back. But one family is doing all they can. The DeMoe family has the most devastating form of the disease that there is: early onset Alzheimer's, an inherited genetic mutation that causes the disease in 100 percent of cases, and has a 50 percent chance of being passed onto the next generation.