Subtitled “The dream of the human genome and other illusions” this is a series of book reviews, sometimes updated with an epilogue, which were first published in the New York Review of Books between 1981 and 1998. They are, however, not simply reviews but rather essays giving not only Lewontin’s views about the book or books but also on other, more or less related, subjects.

The author is, of course, a fully paid-up member of the politically correct tendency and has quite clear left-wing opinions. As a Harvard professor he is naturally entitled to hold such views and is allowed to express them freely. One could wish that the same tolerance was extended to other American academics of equal stature who hold opposing views but whose freedom to express them is all too often curtailed.

Lewontin is opposed to ‘biological determinism’. Its evils, it seems, include hereditarian twin studies, the Bell Curve, The Human Genome Project, selfish genes, and DNA forensics, to name just a few. So, is the book worth reading? Yes; pity about the silly title. As the impact of genetics on our lives increases it is important to have critics like the author as well as advocates of hereditarian views. This is quite a scholarly contribution to this debate, not a rent-a-crowd manifesto - although, unfortunately, it may encourage the latter. For those who consider that our genes have a real influence on intelligence and behaviour as well as eye colour this is a useful get-to-know-your-opponents book, a look at life through red-tinted spectacles.

John Timson