When a Gene Makes You Smell Like a Fish



When a Gene Makes You Smell Like a Fish: And Other Amazing Tales about the Genes in Your Body (2006)

by Lisa Seachrist Chiu

The book starts off promising enough with the case of Sandy who smelled, as the title of the book proclaims, like a fish. The author takes the reader through the biology behind trimethylaminuria (TMAU) also known as the fish-odor syndrome.

I had hoped that the rest of the book would be case studies of unusual genetic diseases; instead, the author takes a highly technical approach of biological genetics.

As most of you know, I’m majorily fond of medical history especially genetic disease and while I enjoyed the book on the first read, I didn’t quite enjoy it as much on the second read, hence my downgrading the rating from 5 to 4 stars.

This isn’t a book for the casual reader as it is much too technical.

But for those who are seriously into genetics and gene consequences, this is definitely the book for you!

Rating: 4/5 (originally 5/5 but downgraded after the second read)

(Originally published on Live Journal: Serenade in Blue blog on 16 January 2011)

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