In this readable book, Holdrege provides a lovely exposition of living organisms not as objects, but as process and of heredity as a blending of `potential and plasticity' with `imitation and specificity'. With a wealth of interesting examples he shows how genes (DNA) alone cannot `determine' traits, much less organisms, because their effects are always qualified by the contexts within which the organisms live.
'...the single most accessible source of information on the implications for Homo sapiens of the new esoterica of the new genetics and cell biology...' Lynn Margulis