Este sitio utiliza cookies para ofrecer nuestros servicios, mejorar el rendimiento, análisis y (si no estás registrado) publicidad. Al usar LibraryThing reconoces que has leído y comprendido nuestros términos de servicio y política de privacidad. El uso del sitio y de los servicios está sujeto a estas políticas y términos.
Dr Ben Lambert, an acclaimed British geneticist, is a dwarf. Ben's aim is to decode our genetic make-up, in particular the gene that causes dwarfism. When he meets Jean he hopes for normal love but as rejection looms, Ben is tempted to use science to seek revenge.
Wonderful. Learn about genetics while getting to know a cranky, intelligent, funny little man - Dr. Benedict Lambert. Lambert is a dwarf. He is also a geneticist, and much of his drive in this field is to find out just what makes a dwarf.
About 90% of "little people" are accidents. They come from normal parents with no history of dwarfism. It's a genetic goof, a mutation. The question is: where does this mutation occur on the incredibly long DNA chain? When offered a seat at a prestigious institution, Lambert says this will be his area of study.
There is hardly an hour that goes by when Lambert is not reminded of the differences between him and "normal" humans. He is also sharply aware of the way many people overcompensate for their discomfort around him, clapping perhaps a little too loudly, smiling a little too broadly, only emphasizing more that they feel he is different from them.
Lambert yearns to know what he might have looked like, if the traits of achondroplasty had not separated him from his mother and father and joined him with others around the world instead. He wonders what a child of his, a normal child, would look like.
As he explains to us various wonders of genetics, complete with footnotes, always at the back of his mind is how it all ended up - in him. Curiously, he is related, by an odd great-uncle, to Gregor Mendel, the little priest who labored over his pea plants for years and years and wrote the definitive explanation of genetics, of dominance and recession and more. We are treated to many imaginary conversations in Mendel's life, filling out the bare bones of what is known of his existence.
This is no dry science book, however. The personality of Ben is far larger than his overlooked body, and it is this character that makes the book so alive. Ben is no long-suffering saint. When told how brave he is, he counters that bravery only counts when you have a choice. His appetites are certainly up to par, and his thoughts might even be considered ...at times...perverted.
And thus we come to his affair. He meets up with a woman who was a young librarian when he was but a callow youth seeking wisdom from the library shelves. He had always felt a little bit of lust about this quiet, retiring librarian with the quirky trait of having one blue eye and one green (a mutation as well!). The two become adult friends, and Ben can hardly keep from thinking about becoming more than friends. I will leave it to you to discover if this happens and what is the result.
While this is a funny, witty, intelligent book, don't be fooled into thinking there is anything particularly lightweight about it, Easy to read, sure, but weighty in implications, and finally, not made for television.
I should mention - the library from which I bought this book classified it as a "romance". tsk tsk. Somebody there should have read it or at least read the inside covers. ( )
Simon Mawer did a magnificent job of balancing the true story of Mendel against the fictional genetics expert Dr Benedict Lambert who is the dwarf in the novel. Mawer coveres genetics, eugenics and lots on DNA in a novel and with quite a basic grasp one was able to find meaningful discussion of this area of science. I found that his depiction of Mendel very moving and he balanced this very well by depicting Lambert as not a very nice character although brilliant and highly thought of by colleagues. So at no point did you feel sorry for him as a dwarf and nor, in the novel, did he ever seek sympathy - in fact he was drawn as a quite unlikable character which gave him quite a lot of strength in my view. I think the book ended extremely well and I learned lots of genetics. I have tried to persuade all my friends to read it. This is one of my top books, I loved it, sadly it isn't everyone's cup of tea. ( )
What a compelling story! Two parallel tales, one of of Gregor Mendel, friar and scientist, and the second of Doctor Benedict Lambert, genetics specialist, achondroplastic dwarf, and great great great nephew of Gregor Mendel, take place. This is a particularly painful read as the reader experiences over and over again the emotional toll of dwarfism in a world of "normal" people by the way the author forms his narrative. The world of Gregor Mendel becomes painful as well as the reader soon realizes that the full worth of this friar's work goes totally unrecognized during his lifetime.
One wonders about the life of a dwarf while trying to be politically correct, but how does a dwarf navigate a "normal" world? How does one have relationships, both friendships and sexual ones? How does a dwarf "succeed" in such a disadvantaged position? In lieu of giving answers, this novel only asks more questions. This is the beauty and genius of this story.
Dr. Benedict Lambert falls in love with a librarian, Jean Muller. He wants to "save" her from an abusive husband, but what happens in this situation is beyond my ability to tell you. You must read this book for yourself to find out,
Genetics, heavy doses of genetics, are included in the text of this novel along with references. Don't get bogged down by this. Read and understand what you can and press onward. You will find a deeply moving and unforgettable story in the pages of this book. ( )
Información procedente del conocimiento común inglés.Edita para encontrar en tu idioma.
To the memory of my father who gave me half my genes and much else beside.
Primeras palabras
Información procedente del conocimiento común inglés.Edita para encontrar en tu idioma.
Doctor Benedict Lambert, the celebrated Benedict Lambert, the diminutive Benedict Lambert, the courageous Benedict Lambert (adjectives skating carefully around the essence of it all) stands to address the members of the Mendel Symposium.
Citas
Información procedente del conocimiento común inglés.Edita para encontrar en tu idioma.
I am exactly what I seem—an aberration, a mutant, the product of pure, malign chance.
It’s like checking over the results of some lottery, the numbers drawn every day, every minute of of every day; and every time someone a winner and someone a loser. No need to say which I was.
Should people like you be allowed to breed?
It was just...It wasn’t easy...It’d be difficult...if I saw what she meant...”There, I’ve said it,” she ended up, having said nothing.
And then the small thing within her, a thing mere millimeters long but already quite a good likeness of a human being, a thing of dubious genetic makeup that would have had problems making its way in the world whichever way the coin came down, was sucked into the void.
In 1924 the U.S. Congress passed the Immigration Act, designed to limit immigration from Eastern and Southern Europe on eugenic grounds.
There are 3.3 x 10 (to the power of nine) base pairs in the human genome. So, one mistake in thirty-three billion letters and we...have focused in on that single letter error...this footling mistake means that during the synthesis of a particular protein an amino acid called arginine is slipped into one position that ought to be occupied by a different amino acid called glycine...The result is me.
Nothing much had changed except that an unknown friar, shortly to be elected abbot, had discovered the mechanics of inheritance and had, all unbeknownst to himself, created a new science that was to be taken up by the Gesellschaft für Rassenhygiene (the Society for Racial Hygiene) in 1905 and the Nazi Party two decades later. It was a science that would ultimately lead to the ovens of Auschwitz.
From Mendel to the future: the tenuous chain of descent, the passage of DNA down the generations, was soon broken.
Últimas palabras
Información procedente del conocimiento común inglés.Edita para encontrar en tu idioma.
Dr Ben Lambert, an acclaimed British geneticist, is a dwarf. Ben's aim is to decode our genetic make-up, in particular the gene that causes dwarfism. When he meets Jean he hopes for normal love but as rejection looms, Ben is tempted to use science to seek revenge.
)
)
Google Books — Cargando...
(3.71)
1
About 90% of "little people" are accidents. They come from normal parents with no history of dwarfism. It's a genetic goof, a mutation. The question is: where does this mutation occur on the incredibly long DNA chain? When offered a seat at a prestigious institution, Lambert says this will be his area of study.
There is hardly an hour that goes by when Lambert is not reminded of the differences between him and "normal" humans. He is also sharply aware of the way many people overcompensate for their discomfort around him, clapping perhaps a little too loudly, smiling a little too broadly, only emphasizing more that they feel he is different from them.
Lambert yearns to know what he might have looked like, if the traits of achondroplasty had not separated him from his mother and father and joined him with others around the world instead. He wonders what a child of his, a normal child, would look like.
As he explains to us various wonders of genetics, complete with footnotes, always at the back of his mind is how it all ended up - in him. Curiously, he is related, by an odd great-uncle, to Gregor Mendel, the little priest who labored over his pea plants for years and years and wrote the definitive explanation of genetics, of dominance and recession and more. We are treated to many imaginary conversations in Mendel's life, filling out the bare bones of what is known of his existence.
This is no dry science book, however. The personality of Ben is far larger than his overlooked body, and it is this character that makes the book so alive. Ben is no long-suffering saint. When told how brave he is, he counters that bravery only counts when you have a choice. His appetites are certainly up to par, and his thoughts might even be considered ...at times...perverted.
And thus we come to his affair. He meets up with a woman who was a young librarian when he was but a callow youth seeking wisdom from the library shelves. He had always felt a little bit of lust about this quiet, retiring librarian with the quirky trait of having one blue eye and one green (a mutation as well!). The two become adult friends, and Ben can hardly keep from thinking about becoming more than friends. I will leave it to you to discover if this happens and what is the result.
While this is a funny, witty, intelligent book, don't be fooled into thinking there is anything particularly lightweight about it, Easy to read, sure, but weighty in implications, and finally, not made for television.
I should mention - the library from which I bought this book classified it as a "romance". tsk tsk. Somebody there should have read it or at least read the inside covers. (