Get Your Free Audiobook
-
The Gene
- An Intimate History
- Narrated by: Dennis Boutsikaris
- Length: 19 hrs and 21 mins
Add to cart failed.
Add to wishlist failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy Now for ₹683.00
No valid payment method on file.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
People who bought this also bought...
-
Books Do Furnish a Life
- An Electrifying Celebration of Science Writing
- Written by: Richard Dawkins
- Narrated by: Richard Dawkins, Lalla Ward, Neil deGrasse Tyson,
- Length: 15 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Books Do Furnish a Life is divided by theme, including celebrating nature, exploring humanity, and interrogating faith. For the first time, it brings together Richard Dawkins's forewords, afterwords and introductions to the work of some of the leading thinkers of our age - Carl Sagan, Lawrence Krauss, Jacob Bronowski, Lewis Wolpert - with a selection of his reviews to provide an electrifying celebration of science writing, both fiction and non-fiction. It is also a sparkling addition to Dawkins's own remarkable canon of work.
-
-
Exhilarating experience !!
- By Deepz on 12-06-21
-
How We Learn
- The New Science of Education and the Brain
- Written by: Stanislas Dehaene
- Narrated by: Kaleo Griffith
- Length: 10 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In today's technological society, with an unprecedented amount of information at our fingertips, learning plays a more central role than ever. In How We Learn, Stanislas Dehaene decodes its biological mechanisms, delving into the neuronal, synaptic and molecular processes taking place in the brain. He explains why youth is such a sensitive period, during which brain plasticity is maximal, but also assures us that our abilities continue into adulthood, and that we can enhance our learning and memory at any age.
-
-
An Eye Opener
- By Kamal Kishoore on 31-05-21
-
The Big Picture
- On the Origins of Life, Meaning, and the Universe Itself
- Written by: Sean Carroll
- Narrated by: Sean Carroll
- Length: 17 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Already internationally acclaimed for his elegant, lucid writing on the most challenging notions in modern physics, Sean Carroll is emerging as one of the greatest humanist thinkers of his generation as he brings his extraordinary intellect to bear not only on the Higgs boson and extra dimensions but now also on our deepest personal questions. Where are we? Who are we? Are our emotions, our beliefs, and our hopes and dreams ultimately meaningless out there in the void?
-
-
Boring... too much of quantum physics
- By VB on 08-04-22
-
A Thousand Brains
- A New Theory of Intelligence
- Written by: Jeff Hawkins, Richard Dawkins - foreword
- Narrated by: Jamie Renell, Richard Dawkins
- Length: 8 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For all of neuroscience's advances, we've made little progress on its biggest question: How do simple cells in the brain create intelligence? Jeff Hawkins and his team discovered that the brain uses map-like structures to build a model of the world - not just one model, but hundreds of thousands of models of everything we know. This discovery allows Hawkins to answer important questions about how we perceive the world, why we have a sense of self, and the origin of high-level thought.
-
-
A new idea
- By manju haridas on 18-03-22
-
Guns, Germs and Steel
- The Fate of Human Societies
- Written by: Jared Diamond
- Narrated by: Doug Ordunio
- Length: 16 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Having done field work in New Guinea for more than 30 years, Jared Diamond presents the geographical and ecological factors that have shaped the modern world. From the viewpoint of an evolutionary biologist, he highlights the broadest movements both literal and conceptual on every continent since the Ice Age, and examines societal advances such as writing, religion, government, and technology.
-
-
should be read rather than heard
- By Anonymous User on 24-11-21
-
The Body
- A Guide for Occupants
- Written by: Bill Bryson
- Narrated by: Bill Bryson
- Length: 14 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the best-selling, prize-winning A Short History of Nearly Everything Bill Bryson achieved the seemingly impossible by making the science of our world both understandable and entertaining to millions of people around the globe. Now he turns his attention inwards to explore the human body, how it functions and its remarkable ability to heal itself. Full of extraordinary facts and astonishing stories, The Body: A Guide for Occupants is a brilliant, often very funny attempt to understand the miracle of our physical and neurological makeup.
-
-
First foray into Audible. And a good one.
- By Mukesh Kumar on 22-11-20
-
Books Do Furnish a Life
- An Electrifying Celebration of Science Writing
- Written by: Richard Dawkins
- Narrated by: Richard Dawkins, Lalla Ward, Neil deGrasse Tyson,
- Length: 15 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Books Do Furnish a Life is divided by theme, including celebrating nature, exploring humanity, and interrogating faith. For the first time, it brings together Richard Dawkins's forewords, afterwords and introductions to the work of some of the leading thinkers of our age - Carl Sagan, Lawrence Krauss, Jacob Bronowski, Lewis Wolpert - with a selection of his reviews to provide an electrifying celebration of science writing, both fiction and non-fiction. It is also a sparkling addition to Dawkins's own remarkable canon of work.
-
-
Exhilarating experience !!
- By Deepz on 12-06-21
-
How We Learn
- The New Science of Education and the Brain
- Written by: Stanislas Dehaene
- Narrated by: Kaleo Griffith
- Length: 10 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In today's technological society, with an unprecedented amount of information at our fingertips, learning plays a more central role than ever. In How We Learn, Stanislas Dehaene decodes its biological mechanisms, delving into the neuronal, synaptic and molecular processes taking place in the brain. He explains why youth is such a sensitive period, during which brain plasticity is maximal, but also assures us that our abilities continue into adulthood, and that we can enhance our learning and memory at any age.
-
-
An Eye Opener
- By Kamal Kishoore on 31-05-21
-
The Big Picture
- On the Origins of Life, Meaning, and the Universe Itself
- Written by: Sean Carroll
- Narrated by: Sean Carroll
- Length: 17 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Already internationally acclaimed for his elegant, lucid writing on the most challenging notions in modern physics, Sean Carroll is emerging as one of the greatest humanist thinkers of his generation as he brings his extraordinary intellect to bear not only on the Higgs boson and extra dimensions but now also on our deepest personal questions. Where are we? Who are we? Are our emotions, our beliefs, and our hopes and dreams ultimately meaningless out there in the void?
-
-
Boring... too much of quantum physics
- By VB on 08-04-22
-
A Thousand Brains
- A New Theory of Intelligence
- Written by: Jeff Hawkins, Richard Dawkins - foreword
- Narrated by: Jamie Renell, Richard Dawkins
- Length: 8 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For all of neuroscience's advances, we've made little progress on its biggest question: How do simple cells in the brain create intelligence? Jeff Hawkins and his team discovered that the brain uses map-like structures to build a model of the world - not just one model, but hundreds of thousands of models of everything we know. This discovery allows Hawkins to answer important questions about how we perceive the world, why we have a sense of self, and the origin of high-level thought.
-
-
A new idea
- By manju haridas on 18-03-22
-
Guns, Germs and Steel
- The Fate of Human Societies
- Written by: Jared Diamond
- Narrated by: Doug Ordunio
- Length: 16 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Having done field work in New Guinea for more than 30 years, Jared Diamond presents the geographical and ecological factors that have shaped the modern world. From the viewpoint of an evolutionary biologist, he highlights the broadest movements both literal and conceptual on every continent since the Ice Age, and examines societal advances such as writing, religion, government, and technology.
-
-
should be read rather than heard
- By Anonymous User on 24-11-21
-
The Body
- A Guide for Occupants
- Written by: Bill Bryson
- Narrated by: Bill Bryson
- Length: 14 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the best-selling, prize-winning A Short History of Nearly Everything Bill Bryson achieved the seemingly impossible by making the science of our world both understandable and entertaining to millions of people around the globe. Now he turns his attention inwards to explore the human body, how it functions and its remarkable ability to heal itself. Full of extraordinary facts and astonishing stories, The Body: A Guide for Occupants is a brilliant, often very funny attempt to understand the miracle of our physical and neurological makeup.
-
-
First foray into Audible. And a good one.
- By Mukesh Kumar on 22-11-20
Publisher's Summary
The Gene is the story of one of the most powerful and dangerous ideas in our history, from best-selling, prize-winning author Siddhartha Mukherjee.
Spanning the globe and several centuries, The Gene is the story of the quest to decipher the master code that makes and defines humans, that governs our form and function.
The story of the gene begins in an obscure Augustinian abbey in Moravia in 1856, where a monk stumbles on the idea of a 'unit of heredity'. It intersects with Darwin's theory of evolution and collides with the horrors of Nazi eugenics in the 1940s. The gene transforms postwar biology. It reorganises our understanding of sexuality, temperament, choice and freewill. This is a story driven by human ingenuity and obsessive minds - from Charles Darwin and Gregor Mendel to Francis Crick, James Watson and Rosalind Franklin and the thousands of scientists still working to understand the code of codes.
This is an epic, moving history of a scientific idea coming to life by the author of The Emperor of All Maladies. But woven through The Gene like a red line is also an intimate history - the story of Mukherjee's own family and its recurring pattern of mental illness, reminding us that genetics is vitally relevant to everyday lives. These concerns reverberate even more urgently today as we learn to 'read' and 'write' the human genome - unleashing the potential to change the fates and identities of our children.
Majestic in its ambition and unflinching in its honesty, The Gene gives us a definitive account of the fundamental unit of heredity - and a vision of both humanity's past and its future.
More from the same
What listeners say about The Gene
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Kumari
- 30-09-22
A Gem!
An excellent book. A must read. Thanks to the author for providing this gem, a well researched book on genetics. The narration was fantastic. The most memorable chapter is the discovery of double helix structure of gene.
-
Overall
- themasterhimself
- 19-05-22
Great read!
Amazing book to understand the history of genes and genetic research. Loved it... absolutely recommend.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Santhosh kumar CT
- 17-04-22
Eye opener
This book has affected me immensely. The deep down feeling on how i look at human beings is shattered. I experienced a personal touch of the author and it's also helping me at a personal level of handling people with certain conditions both at home and at work.
A must read and an eye opener
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Kiran Babu
- 29-09-21
Great listen.
Loved the book and the excellent narration of audible version. Before this book all I had was bits and pieces of information about Genetics. Now the broad knowledge of genetics and its potential is clear to me.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Nitish
- 21-05-21
Collection of newspaper
I didn't learn anything I already knew.
Not a thing.
The Real content is mor like 2 min which was streched to make a book.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Shikha
- 31-01-21
Incredible. Want Part II
Beautiful naration. Science weaved into a story and an arcane concept seamlessly delivered. As gripping as the first book.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Sayantan Auddy
- 04-06-20
Absolutely captivating!
I never expected a book about genetics to be so wide ranging in its subject matter and so engrossing in its content. The history of genetics in itself is a thrilling saga, with endless exciting discoveries as well as unexpected failures. But perhaps what I loved most about this book is how so many different things, ranging from core scientific aspects to social, philosophical and ethical issues, have been woven together beautifully in a common thread and presented with lucidity. I learned a lot! I highly recommend this book.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Vachan Hukkeri
- 01-12-18
Very very good.
Book: The concept, the literature and the matter is just superb. just like his previous book, I thoroughly enjoyed this book as well.
Narration: very good.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Apie
- 20-09-20
Mind blowing... and thorough.
This book just gave me a thoroughly hot air balloon level overview of the entire history of heredity and genetics, criss-crossed with personal stories, the stories of patients, of the scientists and the moral implications. I meep thinking to myself: what just happened!?
One of the best experiences I have had. It is 18h long so there are definitely times when a certain phrase annoyed me, or the narrator annoyed me but I still loved it so much. I’ll have to buy the paper copy as well.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Kaarlis
- 19-11-18
Recommended for everyone
While at some points this book becomes very Technical and Scientific, it is a recommended listen to everyone.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Eduardo Smith
- 27-06-17
Interesting subject, hard on audiobook
The subject is very interesting and the author was very good in intersecting the cientific advances with the sociological impact and reactions. It is also interesting to understand the relationship among researchers and their motivations. But the book is a little bit too technical for a layman and 2/3 of the book are filled with technical details. But the worse is dealing with this in an audiobook, when it is hard to back to check on something, take a little longer to read and reread a paragraph. I recommend the book, but not on audio. I might get a print copy to go back to some points that I want to understand better.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Ron
- 29-06-16
GGeenneettiiccss. Unpacked
This is a truly remarkable volume where the author unpacks for the layperson the history of Genetics. Of equal importance, the current issues concerning genes and their manipulation, right up to the present day, are expounded and explained. I learned a great deal from this fine book.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Judy Corstjens
- 21-09-17
20 hours very well spent
I hesitated for almost a year before plunging into this book as it looked rather intimidating. Don't hesitate - this is really worth listening to NOW. Mukherjee uses 'Gene' as the title, because the Gene is the central idea, but he points out that the Gene is to biology what the Atom is to Physics and the Bit or Byte to computer science or IT. Meaning that the book is really the history of biology, or more importantly of how we have come to understand our own selves at a molecular level, and actually got to the point where we can tinker with our own blue-print. I have this crazy image in my head of a grinning tin robot holding a shiny new spanner, lifting up the lid of her metal cranium and poking inside, meanwhile saying 'I have this idea that I have a screw loose, and I think I can probably fix it with this new spanner.' That is about the position of the human race at this point in time. The spanner is gene editing technology. Mukherjee explains very clearly the opportunities and risks, it's both scary and exciting.
I'll mention one other thing. It is very hard to understand how difficult it is to discover things. For example, Darwin almost had a nervous breakdown trying to understand how characteristics could be both accurately passed down generations and yet also create variation. How hereditary particles could behave like paints (which blend) and yet preserve distinct variations. In terms of logic, Heredity seems to behave like 'X' and 'not X' at the same time. Similarly scientists were all circling around DNA for ages before they finally landed on the double helix. Mukherjee has a genius for making it clear how hard it is to work things out for the first time.
One last thing. The book is full of fairly advanced science, but Mukherjee also uses examples from his own family (who have a history of Schizophrenia) and other families to add a personal and more accessible slant to the book. Readers of his previous magnum opus on Cancer will recognise this approach. For me it works very well to relate the science to actual human lives that are affected, for better or worse, by the dry stuff that happens in laboratories.
Narration. American so not really a true reflection of the Indian-born author, but very professional, competent, measured (he does a slightly angry voice only when this is appropriate).
43 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Wras
- 11-09-16
Freaks become norms, and norms become extinct.
Monster by monster, evolution advanced”
― Siddhartha Mukherjee, The Gene: An Intimate History
We are a code a language, participants in the same rules of life that all forms life of this earth take part in and we as a species are beginning to to decode it and understand the power within that knowledge.
This book is a historical and personal description of what we have learned to this point, it is also a warning of how we have used this ideas to promote political agendas and prejudices that have developed into some of the most horrible events in human history, it also shows that we are at the very edge of discoveries that will liberate us from some of the worst illnesses that have ruled our lives and our death.
This book is very accessible and so, so interesting it is a shame many will not read it out of fear it would be too technical or too complicated, the truth is it will open a world of ideas and give you a perspective that will enrich your life and your understanding of what is being developed and a way of understanding some of the implications of this developments.
I enjoyed reading this book, and learning more about life itself and how truly amazing it is, this is about one of the most important technologies of our day and it how it influences and touches our most basic needs from gestation to death.
16 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Nitin Kashyap
- 26-09-16
Fascinating, exhilarating thought provoking all at the same time
Very well researched, written and read - at times like a thriller, at times like a mystery and at times like a credible science journal. 20 hours very well spent!!
11 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- David
- 20-05-18
In a word - Brilliant!
This is science and literature at its best. Beautifully written in a way that explains the development of the complex concept genetics and its development, that is both enthralling, and understandable, I think for all of us.
I've read the Kindle version, listened to the Audible version, and I'm now thinking of getting a 'hard copy' for. the bookshelf.
Go for it.
8 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- WILLIAM
- 15-05-17
May become compulsory
Would you consider the audio edition of The Gene to be better than the print version?
Cannot comment
What did you like best about this story?
The effort shown by the author to give as 'balanced' account as possible.
Have you listened to any of Dennis Boutsikaris’s other performances? How does this one compare?
I am not aware of listening to a performance by Dennis before - but this is truly outstanding.
Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
'Moved' is not the word I would use - did it make me think ?? - numerous times.
Any additional comments?
That someone would even consider doing a 'work' relating to this subject is amazing - and we should all thank Siddhartha for doing so. But to dos so with such an evenhanded approach is a compliment to his intelligence. Could we, IN THE VERY NEAR FUTURE, see this become compulsory reading in our schools - I, for one, hope so.
8 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- The Casual Reader
- 21-11-17
Incredibly detailed, and yet easy to follow
This book is easily one of my favourites in the pop science genre. The author makes the complicated, painfully detailed subject matter of genetics sound easy and interesting. The personal anecdotes and case studies make this book much more than just an informative science piece- it’s moving, thought provoking, and highly enjoyable. I’m certain I will come back to it soon.
7 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Henry Carpenter-Clawson
- 25-01-17
Fascinating read/listen
This was my first audio book and as my headline states I found it to be fascinating. A really good mix of the science, the history and the ethics around genomics. I am definitely a layman.
My wife is doing a masters in Genomics and listened to a lot of this with me. She said the science was exactly what she had been studying in her first module and that she too found the history really interesting.
Genomics is a big thing in medicine right now and this book will help you understand why and what it might mean in the future.
Highly recommended.
7 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Tanveer Raja
- 14-07-17
Great listen
Gripping history of the science of genetics interwoven with a poignant personal history. Enjoyed it very much.
6 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Kindle Customer
- 08-10-19
Fantastic book.
Highly recommend this. Such a wonderful book, will read again. Kept me interested all the while, you don’t have to be a scientist to enjoy it.
5 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Reals over Feels
- 07-04-19
Good overall primer for the topic
I enjoyed the overall tone and found the book highly unformative. Perhaps it was a little tautalogical in prose though certainly not in context. I used the hardback edition too for the plates and the notes and found that this would be essential for the chapters where you learn all information to understanding DNA structure, cutting and PCR. Using both the audio and the book recommended for busy readers with many books. Sone of the family history is useful to understand the author so I find this book to be very complete.
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- xinji
- 09-12-22
Thought provoking
We’ll written book with holistic view of genomic science with its technological social and ethical evolvement
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Emily
- 21-06-22
Very interesting and relatively accessibly presented
I thoroughly enjoyed the first third of the book, which had a more varied storyline interwoven with the author’s personal story. I found the middle third in particular very dense and a difficult to follow but that said, the material the author was working with was very technical and I’m glad I persevered.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- mandy stuart
- 20-06-22
Extremely enjoyable
Extremely well written and read. Fascinating content.
Could not stop listening. Definitely worth listening or reading.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Anonymous User
- 20-09-21
Wow
Not only the author is an amazing story teller and a top scientist in the field but the narrator gives the perfect tone to a not too easy to grasp topic, which has become ever more relevant for anyone who wants to understand better our world and ourselves in the process.
Thanks heaps!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Anonymous User
- 19-03-20
Read it , you need to know what is gene
A very nice history of the gene and undesirable for people like me who did not have any background
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Amazon Customer
- 27-09-19
Excellent
I wasn’t sure about this book initially because even though I was interested in the gene topic, I’m not a medical doctor nor biologist , so I didn’t want to get bombarded with technicalities. I was pleasantly surprised from the beginning with the style of the author. Very easy to listen, well researched, and ultimately, very interesting and entertaining. This is really a history book starting with Darwin's theory of evolution, to present time. Highly recommended!
-
Overall

- Haris Mirza
- 12-02-19
Genetics and its implications
This book provides history and insights into the science of genetics, and its implications on our society.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Justin
- 19-11-18
Incredible. Informative, gripping, inspiring
For anyone with even a casual interest in biology, could not recommend more. Amazing work.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Amazon Customer
- 25-08-18
Ever been interested in genetics....
Loved it. the book left me wanting to learn more and to repeat the listen to recomprehend the content. would be keen to purchase the hard copy.
-
Overall

- Jo Maartens
- 21-04-18
Journey of discovery
Fascinating story of imagination, discovery, trial and error. The whole is so much more than sum- of-the-parts. Thought provoking weave of nature and nurture. Thoroughly enjoyable.