The Gene: An Intimate History

by Siddhartha Mukherjee

Two men—both renamed Jim after adoption—had been separated from each other thirty-seven days after birth and had grown up eighty miles apart in an industrial belt in northern Ohio. Both had struggled through school. “Both drove Chevrolets, both chain-smoked Salems, and both loved sports, especially stock-car racing, but both disliked baseball. . . . Both Jims had married women named Linda. Both had owned dogs that they had named Toy. . . . One had a son named James Allan; the other’s son was named James Alan. Both Jims had undergone vasectomies, and both had slightly high blood pressure. Each had become over-weight at roughly the same time and had leveled off at about the same age. Both suffered migraine headaches that lasted approximately half a day and that did not respond to any medication.”