Blood Matters: From Inherited Illness To Designer Babies, How The World And I Found Ourselves In The Future Of The Gene

In 2004 genetic testing revealed that Masha Gessen had a mutation that predisposed her to ovarian and breast cancer. The discovery initiated Gessen into a small but exponentially expanding group of people in possession of a new way of knowing themselves through their DNA. Gessen explored this brave new world, speaking with others like her and with experts including medical researchers, historians, and religious thinkers. Blood Matters is a field guide to this territory, exploring how genetic information influences decisions about health, marriage, children, and personality traits, and the radical transformation it is bringing to our understanding of ourselves.