The story of the gene begins in an obscure Augustinian added 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 post-war biology. It reorganises our understanding of sexuality, temperament, choice and free will. This is a story driven by human ingenuity and obsessive minds.

And woven through The Gene is also an intimate history- of Mukherjee's own family and its recurring pattern of mental illness, reminding us that genetics is vitally relevant to everyday lives. Majestic in its ambition, and unflinching in its honesty, this is the story of a scientific idea coming to life- and a vision of both humanity's past and its future.