false 6346773 4 <B>FROM THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD–WINNING AUTHOR OF <I>THE ECHO MAKER</I>, A PLAYFUL AND PROVOCATIVE NOVEL ABOUT THE DISCOVERY OF THE HAPPINESS GENE<BR></B> When Chicagoan Russell Stone finds himself teaching a Creative Nonfiction class, he encounters a young Algerian woman with a disturbingly luminous presence. Thassadit Amzwar’s blissful exuberance both entrances and puzzles the melancholic Russell. How can this refugee from perpetual terror be so happy? Won’t someone so open and alive come to serious harm? Wondering how to protect her, Russell researches her war-torn country and skims through popular happiness manuals. Might her condition be hyperthymia? Hypomania? Russell’s amateur inquiries lead him to college counselor Candace Weld, who also falls under Thassa’s spell. Dubbed Miss Generosity by her classmates, Thassa’s joyful personality comes to the attention of the notorious geneticist and advocate for genomic enhancement, Thomas Kurton, whose research leads him to announce the genotype for happiness. <BR>Russell and Candace, now lovers, fail to protect Thassa from the growing media circus. Thassa’s congenital optimism is soon severely tested. Devoured by the public as a living prophecy, her genetic secret will transform both Russell and Kurton, as well as the country at large. <BR><BR>What will happen to life when science identifies the genetic basis of happiness? Who will own the patent? Do we dare revise our own temperaments? Funny, fast, and finally magical, <I>Generosity </I>celebrates both science and the freed imagination. In his most exuberant book yet, Richard Powers asks us to consider the big questions facing humankind as we begin to rewrite our own existence. 6533178 29 10 2009 Generosity: An Enhancement total:63|5:16|4:28|3:18|2:0|1:1| 63 247 318 29 6346773 0374161143 9780374161149 63 29 3.92 http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6346773-generosity 5 2 false Sat Aug 15 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Jun 14 11:17:09 -0700 2009 Sat Aug 15 13:52:07 -0700 2009 more...]]> 6346773 0374161143 9780374161149 63 29 3.92 http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6346773-generosity 0 1 false Wed Sep 30 06:42:31 -0700 2009 Wed Sep 30 06:44:08 -0700 2009 Powells.com book review: The story postulates the existence of a "happiness gene" that would enhance the whole species. Thassa Amzwar, improbably happy despite her suffering, might be the donor who will usher in the "age of molecular control." Yet the novel's affect, fir...more...]]> 6346773 0374161143 9780374161149 63 29 3.92 http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6346773-generosity 4 0 false Sun Nov 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Nov 29 15:39:27 -0800 2009 Sun Nov 29 15:39:55 -0800 2009 more...]]> 6346773 0374161143 9780374161149 63 29 3.92 http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6346773-generosity 4 0 false Sun Sep 27 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Nov 15 09:11:07 -0800 2009 Sun Nov 15 09:11:07 -0800 2009 more...]]> 6346773 0374161143 9780374161149 63 29 3.92 http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6346773-generosity 4 0 false Thu Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Oct 31 12:28:45 -0700 2009 Sat Oct 31 12:46:00 -0700 2009 more...]]> 6346773 0374161143 9780374161149 63 29 3.92 http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6346773-generosity 5 7 false Mon Nov 16 18:17:31 -0800 2009 Mon Nov 16 18:25:19 -0800 2009
1. I'm hard pressed to think of anyone who is using language more playfully and imaginatively than Richard Powers.

2. Powers continues to amaze me with his ability to use contemporary science, which is so arcane, as a vehicle to probe the oddities of our modern so...more...]]> 6346773 0374161143 9780374161149 63 29 3.92 http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6346773-generosity 4 0 false Wed Dec 02 16:56:47 -0800 2009 Wed Dec 02 17:06:56 -0800 2009 Denver Post and, conversely, as his most demanding novel thus far by the Washington Post, Generosity created a stir among critics. While Newsday protested the throng of subjects vying for readers' attention, others praised the complexity of Powe...more...]]> 6346773 0374161143 9780374161149 63 29 3.92 http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6346773-generosity 0 0 false Fri Nov 20 04:47:55 -0800 2009 Thu Dec 03 10:21:28 -0800 2009 Great Books Guide: Powers latest novel Generosity deals with one of his favorite issues, genetic determinism. ... our novelist
presents the story of a woman whose genes predispose her to a happy, cheerful disposition. ... The question of genetic determinism is not without its implications for ...more...]]> 6346773 0374161143 9780374161149 63 29 3.92 http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6346773-generosity 4 0 false Sun Nov 29 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Fri Dec 04 19:32:36 -0800 2009 Fri Dec 04 19:45:41 -0800 2009 more...]]> 6346773 0374161143 9780374161149 63 29 3.92 http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6346773-generosity 4 0 false Tue Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Sep 20 08:39:28 -0700 2009 Sun Sep 20 08:50:00 -0700 2009 more...]]> 6346773 0374161143 9780374161149 63 29 3.92 http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6346773-generosity 3 0 false Wed Nov 18 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Wed Nov 04 07:07:06 -0800 2009 Wed Nov 18 13:28:47 -0800 2009 more...]]> 6346773 0374161143 9780374161149 63 29 3.92 http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6346773-generosity 0 0 false Mon Oct 05 12:50:43 -0700 2009 Mon Oct 05 12:51:37 -0700 2009
Sounds like my kind of book!]]> 6346773 0374161143 9780374161149 63 29 3.92 http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6346773-generosity 3 0 false Mon Nov 16 08:57:01 -0800 2009 Mon Nov 16 09:00:23 -0800 2009 6346773 0374161143 9780374161149 63 29 3.92 http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6346773-generosity 3 0 false Tue Oct 13 02:29:01 -0700 2009 Fri Oct 23 19:25:33 -0700 2009 6346773 0374161143 9780374161149 63 29 3.92 http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6346773-generosity 4 0 false Sun Dec 06 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Mon Dec 07 12:25:50 -0800 2009 Mon Dec 07 12:30:21 -0800 2009 6346773 0374161143 9780374161149 63 29 3.92 http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6346773-generosity 3 0 false Sun Nov 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Nov 23 19:05:39 -0800 2009 Mon Nov 23 19:07:51 -0800 2009 6346773 0374161143 9780374161149 63 29 3.92 http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6346773-generosity 5 0 false Wed Nov 04 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Mon Oct 26 04:35:51 -0700 2009 Wed Nov 04 04:04:42 -0800 2009 6346773 0374161143 9780374161149 63 29 3.92 http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6346773-generosity 0 0 false Sat Nov 07 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Wed Nov 04 08:51:37 -0800 2009 Sat Nov 07 19:48:59 -0800 2009 6346773 0374161143 9780374161149 63 29 3.92 http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6346773-generosity 0 0 false Fri Oct 09 10:36:38 -0700 2009 Fri Oct 09 10:37:18 -0700 2009 6346773 0374161143 9780374161149 63 29 3.92 http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6346773-generosity 0 0 false Sun Oct 04 10:24:00 -0700 2009 Sun Oct 04 10:24:39 -0700 2009 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=6346773