"The Genetic Inferno: Inside The Seven Deadly Sins" is a new release from Medina for November, describing using the metaphors of Dante's books what is known about the molecular machinery underlying the human experience. While it becomes awkward in parts, it works magnificently through most of the book, transporting the reader back and forth between purgatory and the mundane vices and virtues of everyday life, all tied together by those tiny invisible molecular processes most of us never even think twice about.
The Genetic Inferno compares to Matt Ridley's "Genome" in that they are both about the genetics of human nature, but they approach it in very different ways. "Inferno" spends much more time elaborating clearly what is known about mechanisms lying between gene and behavior, while "Genome" samples particular genes and often speculates on their relevance to human life. Medina has a minimum of the kind of interesting digressions that make Genome so fascinating, but makes complex biochemistry and behavioral genetics highly accessible and puts them into good perspective.
One of the most interesting things about this book is that in spite of its heavy emphasis on the biological basis of human life, it mostly avoids reliance on evolutionary theory in order to emphasize the molecular mechanisms themselves and their relationship to behavior and experience. Yet it isn't an "anti-evolution" book, so much as it is one that explains human genes and behavior in a way that avoids evolution in favor of its strong metaphor and clear explanations for genes and behavior.
With great artistry, Medina accomplishes the difficult feat of at once making clear the gap between genes and behavior and making us aware that we are physical, chemical entities rather than puffs of spirit residing in a physical shell. At the same time, he makes the reader aware of the of how complex and wondrous the whole process is and how little we can claim to understand with certainty about its underlying higher order principles. He ends the book with:
"When one encounters a mysterious masterpiece filled with unknown but thrilling complexities, one is not left with the answer, one is simply left with a point of view."
