This book in the Popular Science series of NBT, tells the story of fascinating revolutions in the study of genetics. This is a timely publication, as it lucidly provides the biological background for a lay reader to understand human immunity and the efforts involved in producing a vaccine against Covid-19.

   The author, one of our regular contributors, is an acclaimed national award-winning science writer with numerous popular science books to his credit. The manual deals with the chemical language of life and its functions, known as genetics. Genes, indicated by the code, control everything, be it our skin colour or blood sugar. They determine which proteins are made and when, which is the very basis of our life.

    The title traces the discoveries in genetics from the experiments on plants done by Gregor Mendel, an Austrian monk in the 17th century. Several remarkable insights into the human genes were revealed in the....