The gene an intimate history is a most readable story about what it means to be human it is a book that attempts to shine a light on the complex and often fraught history of understanding heredity. Overall i found the gene an intimate history to be beautifully written with a literary flair and in spite of the omissions the parts of genetic history and medicine which it does discuss are important and instructive its human stories are poignant its lessons for the future pregnant with pitfalls and possibilities. The gene an intimate history is a book written by siddhartha mukherjee an indian born american physician and oncologist it was published on 17 may 2016 by scribner the book chronicles the history of the gene and genetic research . The gene an intimate history siddhartha mukherjees follow up to the bestselling pulitzer winning the emperor of all maladies is the story of the quest to decipher the master code of instructions that makes and defines humans that governs our form function and fate and determines the future of our children. The gene an intimate history by siddhartha mukherjee 592 pp scribner 32 even before the beginning of human history people recognized that parents transmit something call it likeness