Mark S. Blumberg

One of the problems I always had with biology was the way people described genes - a gene for this, a gene for that, these genes code for these results - and I could never figure out how that worked. I mean, yes, genes carry a lot of information, but living animals are incredibly complex, do they really carry that much information? Reading this book was the first time I think I really got that no, they don't; the system is much more complicated than that. Blumberg uses "freaks," developmental anomalies, to explain the evo-devo principles of feedback in complex systems, and does it pretty successfully. Unfortunately he's decided to package it all under a salacious title that doesn't prepare you for the fairly heavy science in the text and which leads to some...really unfortunate ways of talking about nontypical humans. Content warning for transphobic language and body-diversity-positive ideas couched in some really ableist language.… (mehr)

I found this book to be a bit frustrating. The author alternates between discussing some really interesting instances of ways that small changes in the environment during an animal's development can create interesting variants in form and ranting against 'genetic determinism'.

The parts about developmental complexities are fascinating. Some of these variants are the sort of things that jump to mind when we hear the word 'freak' such as two-headed grass snakes and animals with missing limbs. Others are less startling, such as fish that develop into males or females depending on the temperature of the water. Those parts are great and in some cases I would have really liked to hear more detail about the people who discovered these things and the experiments that provided the evidence.

Unfortunately, the author spends an inordinate amount of time hammering away at the idea that genes are destiny and that we are machines programmed by our DNA. I suppose there might be a few people who still hold that view, but honestly, the very first time I heard the phrase "nature vs. nurture" I thought it was a joke, because obviously it's both. The author really could have saved the arguments for the last chapter and just let the examples speak for themselves.

If you're very interested in this subject the book is definitely worth reading, though I would recommend skipping over the diatribes and just enjoying the fascinating descriptions of variety of outcomes that the developmental process can produce.… (mehr)

The author uses those individuals who were born with some anomaly to explore the significance of non-genetic evolution. He seeks to dispel the notion that evolution occurs only through mutations, or even that freaks are solely mutants, by examining the many environmental triggers that cause some of the strange phenomena that has fascinated human minds since long before P.T. Barnum began looking for suckers. Some of the pictures are a bit hard to take, and this book is not for the weak of heart, but if you can deal with the myriad descriptions of unusual malformations, there is a lot of information packed into a compact volume. The author's prose is highly readable, and he presents his case convincingly. Even if you follow this sort of science diligently, there will probably be something in here that you haven't heard before - such as an alternative explanation for the story of Eve being created from Adam's "rib".… (mehr)