Mortal and Immortal DNA: Science and the Lure of Myth

Once again, Gerald Weissmann, with a firm and easy knowledge of everyone who matters from Auden to Zola, bridges the space between science and the humanities, and particularly between medicine and the muses, with wit, erudition, and, most important, wisdom. -Adam Gopnik, author of Angels and Ages Admired by Nobel prize-winning scientists and literary tastemakers alike, Weissmann will continue to amaze and beguile new and faithful readers as both a masterful commentator on contemporary culture and a transcendent intellectual historian. By turns satirical and insightful, Mortal and Immortal DNA takes us on a nuanced exploration of the western canon, from Greek mythology through Dante to W.H. Auden and offers hilarious insights into popular culture along the way, from Paris Hilton to the true life story of Kathryn Lee Bates, the lesbian poet who penned America the Beautiful.
Gerald Weissmann is a physician, scientist, editor, and essayist whose collections include Epigenetics in the Age of Twitter: Pop Culture and Modern Science; Mortal and Immortal DNA: Science and the Lure of Myth; and Galileo’s Gout: Science in an Age of Endarkenment. He is professor emeritus and research professor of medicine at New York University School of Medicine. His essays and reviews have appeared in numerous publications worldwide, including the London Review of Books and New York Times Book Review. The former editor-in-chief of the FASEB Journal, he is now its book reviews editor. He lives in Manhattan and Woods Hole, Massachusetts.