The Violinist's Thumb: And Other Lost Tales of Love, War, and Genius, as Written by Our Genetic Code by Sam KeanMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
The Violinist’s Thumb is a captivating whirligig cruise through the jungle of genetic curiosities.
It had just enough heft for the non-scientist (like me) to feel good about learning heaps, and it had enough campy tangents to balance the instructional with the chimerical.
I am amazed at this author’s ability to perfectly balance (scientific) breadth with depth, while cleverly turning phrase after phrase. If there exists a non-fiction book-writing golden ratio, Kean achieves it here as he did in The Disappearing Spoon.
Favorite new idea I got from this book: Musicology recapitulates ontology.
Second favorite new idea I got from this book: The first beings probably were multicellular by mistake, sticky cells that couldn’t free themselves.
Caesar's Last Breath is on my February reading list!
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