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Marks uses the human-versus-ape controversy as a jumping-off point for a radical reassessment of a range of provocative issues - from the role of science in society to racism, animal rights, and cloning.
Jonathan Marks teaches at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He is the author of Human Biodiversity: Genes, Race, and History (1995) and coauthor, with Edward Staski, of Evolutionary Anthropology (1992).
In this clever, entertaining, and thoughtful book, Marks lays out some important limitations of science in general and genetics in particular. Using terms that everybody can understand, he demolishes the pretensions of scientists who try to use genetics to answer questions about the kinship of nations, the rights of animals, the racial identity of Kennewick Man, the hereditary Jewish priesthood, and the existence of God. Marks has a lot of fun with all this-and so will his readers.-Matt Cartmill, author of A View to Death in the Morning: Hunting and Nature through History; "What it Means to Be 98 percent Chimpanzee covers a range of contemporary issues that are likely to be with us for a long time to come. No book written by a geneticist comes anywhere close."-Jon Beckwith, Research Professor, American Cancer Society, Harvard Medical School, Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics; "Marks provides an informed and powerful critique of reductionist claims about genetics as an explanation of human behavior, cognitive abilities, and racial differences. His colorful examples range from the common ancestry of humans with daffodils and our similarities with fruit flies. A great book!"-Dorothy Netkin, coauthor of The DNA Mystique
