Award-winning, celebrated New York Times columnist and science writer Carl Zimmer presents a profoundly original perspective on what we pass along from generation to generation. Charles Darwin played a crucial part in turning heredity into a scientific question, and yet he failed spectacularly to answer it. The birth of genetics in the early 1900s seemed to do precisely that. Gradually, people translated their old notions about heredity into a language...

Authoritative texts that include interviews with experts, useful time lines, diagrams, glossaries, and more bring readers up to date on the latest findings of specific scientific issues and discoveries in the field of genetics, from the Human Genome Project to stem cell research to the National Geographic's own Genographic Project.

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY: GENERAL INTEREST (CHILDREN'S / TEENAGE). This fascinating introduction to a complex subject explains the science of genetics and DNA in an approachable and understandable way, from basic biological structure and function to ethical debates such as genetic engineering and cloning. Internet links allow readers to discover the most up-to-date developments online. Ages 9+

"Veteran reporter Jack McEvoy has taken down killers before, but when a woman he had a one-night stand with is murdered in a particularly brutal way, McEvoy realizes he might be facing a criminal mind unlike any he's ever encountered. McEvoy investigates - against the warnings of the police and his own editor - and makes a shocking discovery that connects the crime to other mysterious deaths across the country. But his inquiry hits a snag when he...

When seventeen-year-old Davy Hamilton tests positive for Homicidal Tendency Syndrome, everyone believes it is only a matter of time before she murders someone.