The Bookshelf: April 26, 2016

Trib+Health is joining with respected books authority Kirkus Reviews to bring you select reviews of books of note in the field of health care. For more book reviews and recommendations, visit Kirkus.com.

THE AGE OF GENOMES: Tales from the Front Lines of Genetic Medicine

by Steven Monroe Lipkin, Jon Luoma

Lipkin is a clinical geneticist, the go-to specialist for those worried sick about family medical history but also, the worried well who want to live better/longer and, consequently, get their genomes sequenced. ... Readers may not remember which gene causes which malady, but they will empathize with Lipkin’s patients, most of whom are motivated to do whatever they can to mitigate their disease risk. Along the way, the author discusses advanced reproductive technologies and pre-implantation genetic diagnosis to weed out embryos with mutated genes—which may not be necessary since not all mutated genes are 100 percent penetrant. ... The author’s caveats about present and future uses of gene sequencing reflect a physician keenly aware of the ethical and moral issues.

For the full review, visit kirkus.com.