Cicadas

Medical Genetics has long been a part of the undergraduate curriculum and is a rapidly increasing component of postgraduate training at all levels, in all specialities. Ian Young has provided a textbook which will delight both undergraduate and postgraduate readers. There are many textbooks which claim to cover essential medical genetic teaching, but many of these are too big, too detailed and too expensive. This text is presented in a clear, logical manner with well illustrated chapters and excellent use of colour for key points and boxes. The text is interspersed with case histories, landmark publications and the novel use of a " case célèbre " to illustrate many chapters – and what an excellent memory tool that is. Do you know why Dolly the sheep was called Dolly? Or that Frédéric Chopin may have had cystic fibrosis? There are fourteen chapters from the first " Gene structure and function " travelling through the realm of clinical genetics to end with chapters on " Clinical skills " (so you think you know how to interpret a laboratory report?) and " Applied clinical genetics ". The useful appendices cover medical school core curriculum and teaching medical genetics to undergraduate medical students. Each chapter ends with a few MCQs, the answers having succinct explanations. Ian Young is respected worldwide as a clinician, author and teacher of medical genetics. From Northern Ireland originally, he has not lost the art of communication. This is a text clinicians at any level will enjoy either for serious study or occasional casual reading (it is just about the right size and has enough flexibility for reading in bed). My one criticism is that it was not available when I needed it as a student (far too many years ago). An Irish-American medic called Gus McWilliams returns home to Northern Ireland, his urgent mission to find a donor kidney for his ill son – whose renal function is deteriorating – at all costs. His own kidney problems suggest hereditary renal disease and other modern (and old) ethical and genetic dilemmas feature in this novel where in the quiet village of Rostrevor, his genealogy research uncovers a mysterious crime committed in the last century against his ancestors. He uncovers evidence of a 19th century rogue scientist called Diogenes who has discovered the secrets of human cloning. Sinister elements from both sides of the local terrorist divide mix with some …