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Genetics Demystified
There's no easier, faster, or more practical way to learn the really tough subjects
"Genetics Demystified" offers an up-to-date, highly readable explanation of the basic principles of genetics, covering key topics such as human genetics, DNA, heredity, mutations, traits, chromosomes, and much more. This self-teaching guide comes complete with key points, background information, quizzes at the end of each chapter, and even a final exam. Simple enough for beginners but challenging enough for advanced students, this is a lively and entertaining brush-up, introductory text, or classroom supplement.
"Genetics Demystified" offers an up-to-date, highly readable explanation of the basic principles of genetics, covering key topics such as human genetics, DNA, heredity, mutations, traits, chromosomes, and much more. This self-teaching guide comes complete with key points, background information, quizzes at the end of each chapter, and even a final exam. Simple enough for beginners but challenging enough for advanced students, this is a lively and entertaining brush-up, introductory text, or classroom supplement.
210 pages, Paperback
First published July 31, 2005
7 people are currently reading
41 people want to read
About the author
Edward Willett
165 books117 followersEdward Willett is an award-winning author of science fiction, fantasy and non-fiction for both children and adults.
Born in Silver City, New Mexico, Willett lived in Bayard, New Mexico and Lubbock and Tulia, Texas, before moving to Weyburn, Saskatchewan with his family when he was eight years old.
He studied journalism at Harding University in Searcy, Arkansas, then returned to Weyburn as a reporter/photographer for the weekly Weyburn Review, eventually becoming news editor. In 1988 he moved to Regina, Saskatchewan, as communications officer for the Saskatchewan Science Centre, and in 1993 he became a fulltime freelance writer. He still resides in Regina.
Willett is now the author or co-author of more than 60 books, ranging from computer books and other nonfiction titles for both children and adults, to science fiction and fantasy for all ages.
His science fiction novel Marseguro (DAW Books) won the 2009 Aurora Award for best English-language science fiction or fantasy book by a Canadian author. He has also won a Saskatchewan Book Award for his YA fantasy Spirit Singer. He has been shortlisted for the Aurora Award and Saskatchewan Book Awards multiple times.
His most recent novels include Worldshaper and Master of the World, the first two books in his new series Worldshapers, and The Cityborn, a stand-alone science fiction novel from DAW Books; the Masks of Aygrima trilogy, YA/adult crossover novels published by DAW and written as E.C. Blake; the five-book YA fantasy series The Shards of Excalibur, published by Coteau Books; and the stand-alone YA fantasy Flames of Nevyana (Rebelight Publishing). He's also the author of the Peregrine Rising duology for Bundoran Press (Right to Know and Falcon's Egg).
Other novels include SF novel Lost in Translation (DAW Books), Terra Insegura (sequel to Marseguro, DAW Books), Magebane (DAW Books, written as Lee Arthur Chane), YA SF novels Andy Nebula: Interstellar Rock Star, Andy Nebula: Double Trouble, and The Chosen; and YA ghost story The Haunted Horn.
Shadowpaw Press recently released his short story collection Paths to the Stars and re-released Spirit Singer, a YA fantasy that won a Saskatchewan Book Award and other awards.
His non-fiction titles run the gamut from science books for children on topics as diverse as Ebola Virus and the Milky Way to local history books like Historic Walks of Regina and Moose Jaw for Red Deer Press, awarded a Municipal Heritage Award by the City of Regina in the education category and A Safe and Prosperous Future: 100 years of engineering and geoscience achievements in Saskatchewan, published by the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Saskatchewan (APEGS). He's also written biographies for children of Janis Joplin, Jimmy Hendrix, Johnny Cash, Andy Warhol, Orson Scott Card, J.R.R. Tolkien and the Ayatollah Khomeini.
You can find Ed online at www.edwardwillett.com, on Facebook, and on Twitter @ewillett.
His is represented by literary agent Ethan Ellenberg (www.ethanellenberg.com).
Besides being a writer, Willett is a professional actor and singer who has performed in dozens of plays, musicals and operas in and around Saskatchewan, hosted local television programs, and emceed numerous public events.
He's married to a telecommunications engineer and has one daughter.
Born in Silver City, New Mexico, Willett lived in Bayard, New Mexico and Lubbock and Tulia, Texas, before moving to Weyburn, Saskatchewan with his family when he was eight years old.
He studied journalism at Harding University in Searcy, Arkansas, then returned to Weyburn as a reporter/photographer for the weekly Weyburn Review, eventually becoming news editor. In 1988 he moved to Regina, Saskatchewan, as communications officer for the Saskatchewan Science Centre, and in 1993 he became a fulltime freelance writer. He still resides in Regina.
Willett is now the author or co-author of more than 60 books, ranging from computer books and other nonfiction titles for both children and adults, to science fiction and fantasy for all ages.
His science fiction novel Marseguro (DAW Books) won the 2009 Aurora Award for best English-language science fiction or fantasy book by a Canadian author. He has also won a Saskatchewan Book Award for his YA fantasy Spirit Singer. He has been shortlisted for the Aurora Award and Saskatchewan Book Awards multiple times.
His most recent novels include Worldshaper and Master of the World, the first two books in his new series Worldshapers, and The Cityborn, a stand-alone science fiction novel from DAW Books; the Masks of Aygrima trilogy, YA/adult crossover novels published by DAW and written as E.C. Blake; the five-book YA fantasy series The Shards of Excalibur, published by Coteau Books; and the stand-alone YA fantasy Flames of Nevyana (Rebelight Publishing). He's also the author of the Peregrine Rising duology for Bundoran Press (Right to Know and Falcon's Egg).
Other novels include SF novel Lost in Translation (DAW Books), Terra Insegura (sequel to Marseguro, DAW Books), Magebane (DAW Books, written as Lee Arthur Chane), YA SF novels Andy Nebula: Interstellar Rock Star, Andy Nebula: Double Trouble, and The Chosen; and YA ghost story The Haunted Horn.
Shadowpaw Press recently released his short story collection Paths to the Stars and re-released Spirit Singer, a YA fantasy that won a Saskatchewan Book Award and other awards.
His non-fiction titles run the gamut from science books for children on topics as diverse as Ebola Virus and the Milky Way to local history books like Historic Walks of Regina and Moose Jaw for Red Deer Press, awarded a Municipal Heritage Award by the City of Regina in the education category and A Safe and Prosperous Future: 100 years of engineering and geoscience achievements in Saskatchewan, published by the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Saskatchewan (APEGS). He's also written biographies for children of Janis Joplin, Jimmy Hendrix, Johnny Cash, Andy Warhol, Orson Scott Card, J.R.R. Tolkien and the Ayatollah Khomeini.
You can find Ed online at www.edwardwillett.com, on Facebook, and on Twitter @ewillett.
His is represented by literary agent Ethan Ellenberg (www.ethanellenberg.com).
Besides being a writer, Willett is a professional actor and singer who has performed in dozens of plays, musicals and operas in and around Saskatchewan, hosted local television programs, and emceed numerous public events.
He's married to a telecommunications engineer and has one daughter.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
October 27, 2023
I like this book and all, it gives a complete insight to the basics of genetics. I had some issues with comprehending the text, pretty sure it's my problem though. Good book for people looking into choosing a profession of biology.
Read
July 8, 2014This was a good introduction to the field of genetics. A lot of the material covered by this book should be familiar to anyone who has taken a biology class. I would suggest that anyone who uses this book keeps a computer handy, as sometimes the explanations in the book can be unclear. Also, some of the processes are far more easy to understand when viewing a computer simulation, of which there are many available online.
There were also a number of errors in the book which readers should know about. The errors which I found are listed below by chapter.
Chapter 1: The second Punnett Square is mislabeled (the bold T at the top should be an s) and the third Punnett square should have a Ts in the bottom right, not a TT.
Chapter 2: Question 8 has 2 answers labeled (b).
Chapter 3: Adenine and guanine are purines; cytosine and thymine are pyrimidines.
Chapter 4: If you don't understand why white eyes were linked to the X chromosome when white eyes were only found in males, don't worry. Morgan had to perform two additional breeding experiments to figure this out. When Morgan bred a female with one X chromosome that had the red-eye trait and a second X chromosome with the white-eye trait to a male with the white-eye trait, the offspring were 25% white-eyed males, 25% red-eyed males, 25% red-eyed females, and, most importantly, 25% white-eyed females. To confirm these results, Morgan conducted another test cross by breeding white-eyed females with red-eyed males and found that all of the male offspring were white-eyed and all of the
female offspring were red-eyed.
Chapter 12: Fig. 12-2 is mislabeled. At the bottom of the diagram, "Cells are sensitive to both antibiotics" and "Cells are resistant to both antibiotics" should be switched. The quiz at the end mislabeled the questions from question 4 onward. Instead of questions 4-10, there are two questions labeled 3 and the total only goes to 9.
Chapter 13: The answer to question 1 is (d) natural selection, not (c) natural election as indicated in the answer key (see page 148).
Final Exam: The answer key is wrong for questions 60 and 77. The correct answer for 60 is (b) a virus, not (a) a bacteria (see pages 113-114). The correct answer for 77 is (c) autosomes, not (d) phenosomes (see pages 36, 164, 195). The answer key also labels question 65 as 56.
Overall, this was a pretty good guide to the basics of genetics.
There were also a number of errors in the book which readers should know about. The errors which I found are listed below by chapter.
Chapter 1: The second Punnett Square is mislabeled (the bold T at the top should be an s) and the third Punnett square should have a Ts in the bottom right, not a TT.
Chapter 2: Question 8 has 2 answers labeled (b).
Chapter 3: Adenine and guanine are purines; cytosine and thymine are pyrimidines.
Chapter 4: If you don't understand why white eyes were linked to the X chromosome when white eyes were only found in males, don't worry. Morgan had to perform two additional breeding experiments to figure this out. When Morgan bred a female with one X chromosome that had the red-eye trait and a second X chromosome with the white-eye trait to a male with the white-eye trait, the offspring were 25% white-eyed males, 25% red-eyed males, 25% red-eyed females, and, most importantly, 25% white-eyed females. To confirm these results, Morgan conducted another test cross by breeding white-eyed females with red-eyed males and found that all of the male offspring were white-eyed and all of the
female offspring were red-eyed.
Chapter 12: Fig. 12-2 is mislabeled. At the bottom of the diagram, "Cells are sensitive to both antibiotics" and "Cells are resistant to both antibiotics" should be switched. The quiz at the end mislabeled the questions from question 4 onward. Instead of questions 4-10, there are two questions labeled 3 and the total only goes to 9.
Chapter 13: The answer to question 1 is (d) natural selection, not (c) natural election as indicated in the answer key (see page 148).
Final Exam: The answer key is wrong for questions 60 and 77. The correct answer for 60 is (b) a virus, not (a) a bacteria (see pages 113-114). The correct answer for 77 is (c) autosomes, not (d) phenosomes (see pages 36, 164, 195). The answer key also labels question 65 as 56.
Overall, this was a pretty good guide to the basics of genetics.
October 18, 2011
Be careful! The errors aren't just simple typos- for example, turn to page 7 and you'll see obvious errors with Punett Squares. (T+s=TT? You've got to be joking!) The quizzes are helpful trivia, but it doesn't test you on the real meat that was covered in the chapter.
However, this book is worth some praise for its easy-to-read format and visual aids.
The errors are frustrating, but otherwise I'm enjoying the book. It provides a broad foundation that can be helpful for those entering a high school or college level bio course. If you've already taken some courses though, skip this book.
However, this book is worth some praise for its easy-to-read format and visual aids.
The errors are frustrating, but otherwise I'm enjoying the book. It provides a broad foundation that can be helpful for those entering a high school or college level bio course. If you've already taken some courses though, skip this book.
April 25, 2014
Very informative and good work of literature, and helpful if you want to teach yourself more about genetics. The basics are pretty well covered in the volume, and most of it is easy enough to understand. Unfortunately, it suffers from most mainstream science books' follies--it automatically assumes that Darwinian evolution is a fact, and then contradicts itself by asserting Louis Pasteur's findings that spontaneous generation does not occur. You can't have it both ways, Mr. Willett--either life can come from non-life, or it cannot.
November 6, 2012
Pretty decent college-level primer to the field of genetics. Through no fault of its own, it lost a point for being out of date. Six years is a long time in this field. I got the book to better understand DNA tests done for genealogy and health. It covers that some but not to the extent I wanted. It also talks about genetic engineering, giving how-to details, as well as bacterial and viral reproduction.
July 14, 2013
Now... How do you rate a nonfiction book? Well, it was an interesting read for someone who isn't a profound geneticist. Did it demystify genetics for me? Well, the cancer part. I am certainly intrigued.
May 31, 2012
Densely packed with information and not an easy read.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews