The Epigenetics Revolution: How Modern Biology Is Rewriting Our Understanding Of Genetics, Disease, And Inheritance, by Nessa Carey

While in many ways this book was what I expected and hoped when looking at a book to help explain the latest studies in epigenetics, this book had some surprises, both good and bad, that I did not expect to see. One of the striking aspects of this book is the way that even though the author is at pains to describe how it is that properly understanding epigenetics helps to avoid the extremes of boosters for gene theory, the author still has a lot of positive things to say about Darwin and his (ultimately misguided) approach to biology. Although epigenetics points to a more Lamarkian understanding of evolution that demonstrates the way that people’s environment and circumstances causes changes in gene expression and the lives of people, the author’s desire to receive legitimacy within the scientific community prevents her from the sort of candor she would be more likely to have about the effect of the evolution mafia on the freedom of discussion in the scientific world, which can only be condemned indirectly. It is also of interest that the author views epigenetics as being sufficiently well established and groundbreaking within science that some of its figures can be expected to win Nobel Prizes soon. We shall see if and when that occurs.

This book is a bit more than 300 pages long and is divided into sixteen chapters. The book begins with acknowledgements and a short introduction. After that the author discusses the beginnings of epigenetics in an ugly toad and an elegant Englishman (1). This is followed by a discussion of how we learned about the ways that cells could be moved uphill to areas of greater potentiality (2). This is followed by chapters about life as we knew it in the past (3), and what we know about it now in light of epigenetics (4). This is followed by chapters that discuss various aspects of epigenetics that have received study, including why identical twins aren’t actually identical (5), the effect of the sins of fathers and mothers on the lives of their children (6), as well as the ways that sins against the parents are manifested in future generations (7), and some of the different ways that epigenetics affects men and women (8, 9). This is followed by a discussion of the issues of the message and medium in epigenetics (10), the struggles that people face against cancer and other chronic illnesses (11), the effect of epigenetics on thinking and memory (12), as well as the downward slope of potentiality (13). The book then ends with a discussion of epigenetics in social insects, namely bees (14), the green revolution (15), and the author’s thoughts about the future of the field (16). The book then ends with notes, a glossary, and an index.

Although the author’s argument in this book that epigenetics is an immense challenge to how we understand cells and their expression and is a great help in understanding the negative results of trauma and difficulty on the lives of people who have suffered from it (which accounts for my own interest in the subject as well, it must be noted), there are still some questions that a fair-minded reader can have about the epigenetics revolution that the author talks about. Moreover, there are essentially two large aspects of epigenetics that remain poorly understood and which are of the highest importance in determining how successful epigenetics will be as a scientific endeavor. How is it to pay off, as scientific understanding must ultimately benefit humanity in two aspects for it to be supported in the long-term. For one, epigenetics must pay off companies who provide some sort of product or service, to the point where it provides profits and a good living for scientists and professionals, along with salesmen and others. It is not yet clear how knowing the ways that the environment has an effect on gene expression can be leveraged into profitable goods and services. It is also not yet clear how the knowledge will pay off in terms of helping people who struggle with obesity and various chronic trauma-influenced and trauma-induced suffering. Knowing that one’s life experiences (or that of one’s ancestors) is not of much ultimate benefit unless there is some way of doing something about it that can reduce the suffering that epigenetics has tended to bring to people. How can epigenetic processes that cause harm and suffering be reversed? That remains to be seen, and will have to be seen if the epigenetics revolution is to make meaningful benefit to the lives of those affected by epigenetic problems.