
The Secrets of our DNA
How Genetics has Changed the World
$33.99
- Paperback
480 pages
- Release Date
22 September 2026
Summary
From the UK’s pre-eminent authority on DNA and genetic research, a myth-busting book that provides a window into the world of modern genetics and shows how it informs so many areas of 21st-century life.
Go back even a quarter of a century, and few people would have heard of DNA, except perhaps in a forensic case. Now, genetics plays a part in our everyday culture, and our interest in genetics is booming, particularly in the form of direct-to-consumer genetic testing for health, family…
Book Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781529980752 |
|---|---|
| ISBN-10: | 1529980755 |
| Author: | Professor Turi King, Turi King |
| Publisher: | Transworld Publishers Ltd |
| Imprint: | Doubleday |
| Format: | Paperback |
| Number of Pages: | 480 |
| Release Date: | 22 September 2026 |
| Weight: | 574g |
| Dimensions: | 37mm x 152mm x 233mm |

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Critics Review
King comes across on paper much as she does on screen: loquacious, likeable and unequivocally expert. – James McConnachie * Sunday Times *
A glimpse into the fascinating world of DNA under the guidance of a true expert.
Always accessible, enjoyable and thought provoking. Who could ask for more?
Turi King combines fascinating history and science with brilliant storytelling, taking us from homicides to wildlife crime, DNA tests to eugenics. – Professor Alice Roberts
Turi King is a brilliant scientist and an enticing storyteller which makes this book both thrilling and highly informative. I think Columbo would have loved it. – Robin Ince, comedian and author of The Importance of Being Interested
The forensic use of DNA is as close to magic as anything in science today: that a tiny fragment of material can identify a dead king, convict a killer or exonerate the innocent. Turi King’s eye-witness account of how this magic was invented is a fascinating read. – Matt Ridley, author of Genome.
Learn about genetics and why it is so useful. – Sir Paul Nurse OM CH FRS,Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine 2001
This enthralling book explains how modern genetics, underpinned by fast-moving DNA technology, has come to inform myriad areas of 21st-century life. – Caroline Sanderson * The Bookseller *
From the scientist who identified the remains of Richard III, this lively, myth-busting tour of moderngenetics unpacks how DNA solves crimes, rewrites history and shapes our lives. It brims with timely questions about what our genes can (and can’t) reveal. * i-paper *
You may not know the name Turi King, but you will almost certainly have heard of her work: identifying the bones of Richard III in a car park in the UK city of Leicester and leading the project to sequence Adolf Hitler’s genome. So, we can definitely expect amazing stories in her new book, The Secrets of Our DNA: How genetics has changed the world. But underpinning those stories (think everything from O.J. Simpson to mistaken dinosaur DNA to Angelina Jolie’s BRCA1 gene) will be a deep account of how genetics has ended up entangled in the lives of us all. King “shows how we are all interconnected and why we must all benefit from this exciting and rapidly evolving science” and reminds us that DNA need not be destiny – nor is it the silver bullet some imagine. * New Scientist *
King comes across on paper much as she does on screen: loquacious, likeable and unequivocally expert. * Sunday Times *
Professor Turi King
Professor Turi King is the pre-eminent authority on DNA and genetic research, and is renowned for presenting complex findings on DNA and genetic science in an accessible and compelling way. She is Director of the Milner Centre for Evolution at the University of Bath and was previously Professor of Public Engagement and Genetics at the University of Leicester. She is an Honorary Fellow of the British Science Association, a Fellow of the Society of Biology, a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London, a Member of the Chartered Society of Forensic Sciences and a Member of the International Society of Forensic Geneticists. She is well-known for her work on identifying Richard III, Mary Jane Kelly (the last victim of Jack the Ripper), and the descendants of Sir George Yeardley, colonial Governor of Virginia, of Jamestown.
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