This interesting and curious book explores the concept of heredity, and how this idea affected the formation of many aspects of human experience. It highlights the role of heredity in understanding the differences between individuals in areas such as personality, intelligence levels, ethnic origin, social sequence, crop improvement strategies and animal quality. The book follows the history of hereditary ideas from ancient civilizations to the Middle Ages to the modern era. It also shows the effect of the concept of genetics on human interaction with different groups of them, such as women and ethnic minorities. The book also provides a simple explanation of the basic concepts of genetic mechanisms, such as DNA structure, genes, and enzymes. In conclusion, modern development in genetic manipulation techniques deals with and how children are determined by genetic diseases and the identification of genes responsible for certain genetic disorders.

راسل ستانارد: أستاذ فيزياء متقاعد بالجامعة المفتوحة، ترأس قسم الفيزياء بها لمدة ٢١ عامًا. أجرى عددًا من الأبحاث في مختبر «سيرن» بجنيف، إضافة إلى عدد من المختبرات الأخرى في الولايات المتحدة وأوروبا. تُرجمت كتبه إلى ٢٠ لغة ووصلت إلى قائمة أفضل الأعمال المرشحة للعديد من الجوائز في مجال الكتب العلمية.