Junk DNA

From the author of The Epigenetics Revolution ("A book that would have had Darwin swooning."--Guardian) comes a lucid and engaging report from the cutting edge of genomic biology.

Nessa Carey is a visiting professor at Imperial College, London. She earned her Ph.D. in virology from the University of Edinburgh. Having worked in the biotech and pharmaceutical industries for more than a decade, she maintains strong relationships with leading researchers in Europe and across the United States, at such institutions as the Harvard Medical School, the University of Pennsylvania, the Wistar Institute, the MD Anderson Cancer Center, and the University of Southern California. Carey is also the author of The Epigenetics Revolution: How Modern Biology Is Rewriting Our Understanding of Genetics, Disease, and Inheritance.

Elof Axel Carlson:
The first popular overview of this field.... [Carey] has an excellent grasp of the history of junk DNA and its implications for both basic and applied science. She has a gift for analogies and converts complex biochemistry into imagery that brings it to a level nonspecialists can grasp.

Junk DNA serves as a nice primer.

Mark Diston:
Carey's enthusiasm for her subject is infectious.... An excellent introduction to a subject that we are certain to be hearing a lot more about in the near future.

[Junk DNA], which is frequently humorous and well documented, does a fine job of explaining a complex subject for lay readers who are willing to put in some effort.

Linda Geddes:
Junk DNA provides a cutting-edge, exhaustive guide to the rapidly changing, ever-more mysterious genome.

Carey makes two points very clearly: that our understanding is tentative and evolving, and that chromosomal functioning is far more intricate than anyone ever hypothesized.

Sharon Y. R. Dent, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center:
Engaging, informative, and humorous, Nessa Carey's Junk DNA will be of interest to many readers.