Regular readers of this blog will be well aware that we are currently in the middle of a technology-driven revolution in genetics, which promises both advances in our understanding of human biology and profound social transformation. As we move into the genomic era, developing familiarity with the basic concepts of genetics - so-called genetic literacy - will be increasingly important.

The goal of Mark Henderson's 50 Genetics Ideas You Really Need to Know is thus ambitious but timely: to distill the complexity of genetics into a series of digestible bite-sized chunks suitable for public consumption. Each of the Ideas in the book - which range from selfish genes to genetic genealogy to designer babies - is condensed into just four pages, along with a single statement containing the basic message of the section (e.g. for the selfish genes section: "Genes look selfish, but people needn't be"), short vignettes highlighting particular sub-topics of interest, and relevant quotes drawn from a wide variety of sources.

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