“And if that’s not enough of a good thing, consider this: Descartes liked to stay in bed till 11 A.M. – good ammunition the next time anyone gives me flak about sleeping late.”

in The Know-It-All – One Man’s Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World by A. J. Jacobs

• Grab the nearest book.
• Open it to page 56.
• Find the fifth sentence.
• Post the text of the sentence in your journal along with these instructions.
• Don’t dig for your favorite book, the cool book, or the intellectual one: pick the CLOSEST.

Quick book meme

Fellow DNA Blogger, Blaine Bettinger, has taken the time (and plenty of it, so it seems!) to write a FREE downloadable eBook titled “I Have The Results of My Genetic Genealogy Test, Now What?” that focuses on genetic genealogy. It’s a 28 page booklet that is easy to read and goes over some important topics throughout 4 chapters.

Chapter 1: What Is (And Isn’t) Genetic Genealogy?
Chapter 2: How Do I Interpret My Y-DNA Results?
Chapter 3: How Do I Interpret My mtDNA Results?
Chapter 4: Monitoring the Field of Genetic Genealogy

If you’re interested in knowing more about genetic genealogy, take these two simple steps. First, download the FREE eBook (PDF) and read it carefully and if that’s not enough to quench your thirst, visit Blaine’s blog, The Genetic Genealogist.

I Have The Results of My Genetic Genealogy Test, Now What?

It focuses on a number of subjects ranging from genetic testing, biotechnology, gene patenting and gene ownership.

Although it was an interesting read, I found it to be sort of a rush job. About 80% of the book is composed of small stories based on different areas of the biotech industry and the remaining 20% is a quick story to make it look like you were actually reading a novel of some sort.

I was expecting the stories to crossover and intertwine but no such luck. It was sort of like a textbook of biotech facts and oddities.

I did enjoy the fact that the stories are based on true facts or almost, like Crichton claims in the following way:

“This novel is fiction, except for the parts that aren’t”

Overall, it’s a quick read that keeps the reader interested and goes into some subjects that have a controversial component, be it ethical, legal, financial or all of the above.

I’m not sure if it is just my (hardcover) copy of the book but I noticed the pages seemed to be roughly cut and sort of unaligned. Is your copy like that?

If you want to watch an hour long interview of Michael Crichton on Charlie Rose’s show, you can watch it here. (via Genetics & Health)

Is it just me, or is Crichton’s voice rather irritating? And while I’m at it, is it just me or is Charlie Rose a not-so-good interviewer?

Michael Crichton’s NEXT

The editing could have been a big more precise as there were various similar ideas expressed by different scientists and psychologists that didn’t really need to be repeated.

Even though they are all great minds and some would probably not like to be left out.

In lack of a group of thinkers to chat with, I found this book to be a good companion to an afternoon of mental idea exchanging and some mind openning concepts.

So, as to end this small and rough review, I believe that this could be an even better book of non-provable ideas, but I cannot prove it!

You can find a copy of the book at any major book seller.

A little belief can go a long way…