Genetics for Beginners

Genetics for Beginners
First edition cover
Author Steve Jones
Illustrator Borin Van Loon
Country United Kingdom
Language English
Series Introducing...
Subject Genetics
Publisher Icon Books
Publication date
1993
Media type Print
ISBN 1874166129

Genetics for Beginners, republished as Introducing Genetics, is a 1993 graphic study guide to Genetics written by Steve Jones and illustrated by Borin Van Loon. The volume, according to the publisher's website, "takes readers on a journey through this new science to the discovery of DNA and the heart of the human gene map," and, "gives us the information," to, "make moral decisions where genetics plays a part."

Publication history

This volume was originally published in the UK by Icon Books in 1993 as Genetics for Beginners, and subsequently republished with different covers as Introducing Genetics and Introducing Genetics: A Graphic Guide.

The book was described, by illustrator Borin Van Loon, as a companion to Darwin for Beginners (1982), a previous volume in the series, and as a stand in for the long out-of-print DNA for Beginners (1983), both of which he illustrated.

Editions:

  • Genetics for Beginners. Icon Books. 1993. ISBN 1874166129.
  • Introducing Genetics. Icon Books. 2000. ISBN 1840461209.
  • Introducing Genetics: A Graphic Guide. Icon Books. 2011. ISBN 978-1848312951.

Related volumes in the series:

  • Miller, Jonathan; Van Loon, Borin (1992). Darwin for Beginners. Icon Books. ISBN 1874166013.
  • Evans, Dylan; Zárate, Oscar (1999). Introducing Evolutionary Psychology. Icon Books.
  • Evans, Dylan; Selina, Howard (2001). Introducing Evolution. Icon Books. ISBN 1840462655.
  • Ennis, Cath; Pugh, Oliver (2017). Introducing Epigenetics. Icon Books.

Reception

Legacy

Van Loon's illustrations from this book provided the inspiration for his Health Matters Gallery mural at the Science Museum, London, which was opened on 9 June 1994 by Professor James Watson, and were featured in the special exhibition, Representations of DNA, at the Whipple Museum of the History of Science in Cambridge in 2003.