A provocative work that challenges our common assumptions about nature and science, this book is for all who want to understand the biological revolution of the late 20th century. Clearly written, well-illustrated, and without unnecessary technical jargon, Holdrege describes through fascinating examples how living organisms develop and exist within the context of their environment, and asserts that genes alone cannot determine organisms because their effects are always qualified by the contexts within which the organisms live. With a unique and probing perspective on contemporary science, Holdrege shows how scientific theory and practice inevitably fuse to produce the systems that will ultimately create our future, and he questions our understanding of the organisms we manipulate through genetic engineering and the consequences of such manipulation. In an age when we are able to reshape life on earth, this book offers a deeper, more complex vision of nature, and gives us the means for establishing a more conscious and responsible connection to the world around us.

“Reading Craig Holdrege’s Genetics and the Manipulation of Life, I am tempted to shout that this may be the most essential new book of our time. “
—Wes Jackson, The Land Institute

“In our search for universal truths disconnected in time and space, we lose all sense of the context that made the problem interesting in the first place. All budding geneticists, indeed, all biologists, ought to read this important book.”
—David Suzuki, co-author of Genethics

“In this readable book, Holdrege provides a lovely exposition of living organisms, not as objects but as process, and of heredity as a blending of “potential and plasticity” with “limitation and specificity.” With a wealth of interesting examples, he shows how genes (DNA) alone cannot “determine” traits, much less organisms, because their effects are always qualified by the contexts within which the organisms live. He thus offers an antidote to the current mechanistic thinking about genes as causes of health, disease, and behaviors. But the special contribution of this book is that it details, simply, and with fascinating examples, how scientists’ ways of conceptualizing organisms and manipulating them and their parts are at the heart of the formulations they offer about how organisms and their molecules function. The reader can thus observe how scientific observations and their interpretations fuse in the creation of systems of scientific explanation.”
—Ruth Hubbard, Professor Emerita of Biology, Harvard University, author of Exploding the Gene Myth

Craig Holdrege is the founding director of the Nature Institute in Ghent, NY. His focus is on whole-organism biology and genetics.

Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction: A Tree without a Landscape

1. A Contextual Approach to Plant Heredity
The Plant and Its Environment
—The Rooted Plant
—Learning from the Plant
The Plant in Time
—Approaching the Plant with Fluid Thinking
Inheritance: Plasticity and Limitation
Organism-centered Concepts

2. The Path of Reduction: Mendel’s Initial Steps
Mendelian Traits
Mendel’s Experiments and the Original Concept
of the Gene
Hereditary Factors and Object-Thinking

3. Genes and Knowledge
Where Are the Genes?
—The Chromosome Theory of Heredity
Genes and DNA
—What Is the Substance of Genes?
—DNA and the Central Dogma
—Complications
DNA and Information
The Human Genome Project
The Phantom of Total Reduction

4. Thought and Deed in Experimentation
Involvement
Taking Organisms in Hand
—Bacteria
—Viruses
DNA: Substance As Process and Entity
Creating Conditions

5. Genetic Manipulation in the Context of Life
The Opaque Background of Manipulation
—The Organism in Its Environment
The Importance of Language
—Genes and Metaphors
DNA in the Life of the Organism
—Transgenic Organisms Reflect the Way We Think
The Cow As Organism and Bioreactor
Taking Responsibility for Our Point of View

6. Heredity and the Human Being
Development of the Lower Limbs
—The Environment of the Individual
Once Again, We and Our Genes
Gene Therapy
—Somatic Gene Therapy
— Germ-line
Genetic Diagnosis
—Preimplantation Diagnosis
The Human Being Asan Object of Biotechnology
—Cloning Human Embryos
— Outer Pressures and Inner Uprightness
— Taking Development Seriously

Conclusion

Glossary
References
Index
Also in this Series
About the Author