Color Atlas of Genetics.

Abstract

Passarge, E. Color Atlas of Genetics. With 194 color plates by Jürgen Wirth . Second edition , enlarged and revised. 457 pages. Stuttgart, New York : Georg Thieme Verlag , 2001 . Price DEM 56.00, ATS 409.00, CHF 49.80, EUR 28.63. Soft cover. ISBN 3-13-00362-6, ISBN 0-86577-958-9 . This beautifully illustrated, single-author, pocket-size book contains a wealth of information on fundamentals of genetics, the genomes and medical aspects of genetics. Eberhard Passarge is a teacher and researcher of medical genetics at the University of Essen in Germany with several distinctions to his credit. The first German Edition of the book appeared in 1994, with English, French, Japanese, Chinese, Italian and Turkish editions in rapid succession. It is a didactic atlas, with text on the left and illustrations on the facing pages. The introduction ends with a brief account of the history of genetics, followed by a chronology of milestones in genetic research and development. The three-quarter page Nobel prize-awarded article by Watson and Crick in Nature 1953 is duly noted. I am not a geneticist and can only convey my impression that the sections on fundamentals and genomics contain every aspect of basic genetics, spanning from the biochemical composition of cells to the geographical distribution of certain genetic diseases in Finland and the world-wide distribution of sickle-cell anemia, glucose-6-dehydrogenase deficiency and thalassemia, which carry selective protection against malaria. The human genome project is described, with references up to the year 2000 and on where to find online information on the internet. There are also two pages on the human evolution as presently understood. The section on genetics and medicine should be of practical interest to every physician who counsels patients and their relatives about genetic aberrations and traits. The subchapters on breast cancer susceptibility genes, mammalian sex determination and differentiation and karyotype/phenotype correlation are of special interest to gynecologists and obstetricians. It ends with an illustrated description of chromosomal location of monogenic diseases, a glossary and an index. I recommend Color Atlas of Genetics as an excellent reference book for physicians, not least for obstetricians and gynecologists. It is aimed towards students, but with the rapid strides in modern genetics every physician past his or her prime (most of us are) will benefit from this update. The price is reasonable.