This book is currently out of print, but copies are available from online booksellers such as abebooks and alibris. You can also view and download the complete book online. 

This book offers a unique perspective on genetics and genetic engineering that cannot be found elsewhere. David Suzuki, co-author of Genethics, said that “all budding geneticists, indeed, all biologists, ought to read this important work.” Wes Jackson, President of the Land Institute, wrote, “I am tempted to shout that this may be the most essential new book of our time.” And Lynn Margulis, co-developer of the Gaia hypothesis, remarked that the author cuts “through hype and nonsense to the crux of the matter — that our fundamental humanity develops in context.” This book has been translated into German and French.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgments

Introduction: A Tree without a Landscape

1. A Contextual Approach to Plant Heredity

The Plant and Its Environment
The Plant in Time
Inheritance: Plasticity and Limitation
Organism-centered Concepts

2. The Path of Reduction: Mendel’s Initial Steps

Mendelian Traits
Mendel’s Experiments and the Original Concept of the Gene
Hereditary Factors and Object-Thinking

3. Genes and Knowledge

Where Are the Genes?
Genes and DNA
DNA and Information
The Human Genome Project
The Phantom of Total Reduction

4. Thought and Deed in Experimentation

Involvement
Taking Organisms in Hand
DNA: Substance As Process and Entity
Creating Conditions

5. Genetic Manipulation in the Context of Life

The Opaque Background of Manipulation
The Importance of Language
DNA in the Life of the Organism
The Cow As Organism and Bioreactor
Taking Responsibility for Our Point of View

6. Heredity and the Human Being

Development of the Lower Limbs
Once Again, We and Our Genes
Gene Therapy
Genetic Diagnosis
The Human Being as an Object of Biotechnology
Conclusion

Glossary
References
Index

 REVIEWS

“This essay by Craig Holdrege is for all of us who want to understand the biological revolution of the late 20th Century. Passionately interested in the intellectual sense and utterly disinterested financially, this knowledgeable explanation is the single most accessible source not only of information but of knowledge and wisdom. Cutting through hype and nonsense to the crux of the matter-that our fundamental humanity develops in context-Holdrege uses responsible and friendly language to expose the co-option of scientific curiosity, industrial greed, and objectification of flowers, embryos, affection.” 

— Lynn Margulis, Distinguished University Professor at University of Massachussetts, Amherst, and co-founder of the Gaia hypothesis

“Deny the importance of context ... and we pay. Is it ignorance or denial? Reading Craig Holdrege, I am tempted to shout that this may be the most essential new book of our time.” 

— Wes Jackson, The Land Institute, author of New Roots for Agriculture 

“In our search for universal truths disconnected in time and space, we lose all sense of the context that made the problem interesting in the first place. All budding geneticists, indeed, all biologists, ought to read this important book.” 

— David Suzuki, Broadcaster, environmentalist, and co-author of Genethics 

“In this readable book, Holdrege provides a lovely exposition of living organisms not as objects but as process and of heredity as a blending of ‘potential and plasticity’ with ‘limitation’ and ‘specificity.’ With a wealth of interesting examples he shows how genes (DNA) alone cannot ‘determine’ traits, much less organisms, because their effects are always qualified by the contexts within which the organisms live. He thus offers an antidote to the current mechanistic thinking about genes as causes of health, disease, and behaviors. But the special contribution of this book is that it details, simply, and with fascinating examples, how scientists' ways of conceptualizing organisms and manipulating them and their parts are at the heart of the formulations they offer about how organisms and their molecules function. The reader can thus observe how scientific observations and their interpretations fuse in the creation of systems of scientific explanation.” 

— Ruth Hubbard, Professor Emerita of Biology at Harvard University and author of Exploding the Gene Myth 

“Holdrege writes beautifully in a simple style avoiding technical terms as much as possible. Thus the book can be read and understood not only by university students but even by advanced college or high school students. Yet, in spite of this simplicity, the book offers profound insights for research scientists in biology, especially geneticists. I therefore strongly recommend this book to biologists and lay persons. Since the book addresses a profound lack in our present-day culture, namely the forgotten context and wholeness, it is a book written for our age. If taken to heart, it might be a cure from the ills and dangers of destructive manipulative genetics.” 

— Rolf Sattler, Department of Biology, McGill University, Montreal (Review in Canadian Botany Association Bulletin, October 1996)