“The Gene” by Siddhartha Mukherjee  (The Emperor of All Maladies) offers a history and a commentary on the basic building block of life. His history takes us from Mendel’s pea patch to deciphering of the genetic code, with it, the emergence of complex ethical dilemmas.  His commentary probes the philosophical and moral quandaries that have swirled around genetics, from stem cell research to eugenics to GMOs.  Mukherjee draws an interesting analogy between the gene and the atom, another discovery which presented both promise (clean energy) and threat (the bomb) .  This book is “destined to set a new standard for lyrical science writing (NYT).”