Recommendations from Jane Gitschier's Bookshelf

Today PLOS Genetics launches a new frontmatter feature, the ‘‘Deep Reads’’ column, celebrating books in the realm of genetics and, in today’s instance, beyond (Image 1). Kudos to our editorial colleague Susan Rosenberg for proposing the column’s clever name. While I’m the kickoff contributor, various members of the PLOS Genetics community will pen subsequent columns, hopefully annually. Over the past decade I’ve had the pleasure of running a genetics book club, first as an occasional focus for my laboratory’s group meeting, and later for the Institute of Human Genetics at UCSF (University of California, San Francisco). Many books have been suggested, digested, and discussed by these two enthusiastic sets of readers. We have cast a wide net, from genetics, human-inherited disease, and evolution, to chemistry, physics, and invention; we have also ranged from scientific narrative and biography to fiction and science fiction. I would like to acknowledge my fellow book lovers, as they have opened up new worlds of reading for me and have endured some of my own passions. Here, follow some of my personal top picks in this spectrum of books; I have chosen not to restrict my recommendations to genetics, as I suspect you too may enjoy reading about many aspects of science. My offering is not comprised of ‘‘deep’’ reviews in that my comments are neither very detailed nor highly critical; rather, it is a summing up, with brief description, of the books I’ve most enjoyed and highly recommend to you or your family and friends.