The Century of the Gene . Evelyn Fox Keller. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA. 2000. pp. 186. Price £15.95, hardback. ISBN 0 674 00372 1.

As a recent convenor for a genetics MSc. course, I was amazed how many students graduating with a degree in genetics lack practical laboratory experience and possess limited knowledge of classical genetics. A good foundation of laboratory investigations is important to complement the theoretical information given in lectures and tutorials, but has been adversely a€ected by the need to keep costs down in many academic institutions in recent years. Genetics Ð Laboratory Investigations, the twelfth edition of a book that has enjoyed success since its initial publication in 1952, addresses this problem. It is a compilation of practical exercises that form a strong foundation in both classical genetics and more recent molecular genetic techniques for students at degree level. Many of the investigations are fairly low budget, while for those that include more expensive elements, cheaper options or sample data sets are given as an alternative. For example, the exercise on PCR gives a manual procedure using dishes of heated oil as an alternative where no PCR machine is available. I was pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed reading this book! Although the investigations do form a logical progression through the book, it is clearly not designed to be read from cover to cover. However, for myself it was a short nostalgic trip through much of my own undergraduate degree in genetics, and I was left wondering whether earlier editions of this book had had any in ̄uence on the classical genetics practical classes I attended in the 1980s, such as using Drosophila stocks with curly wings and plum eye colour to locate an unknown mutant on a particular chromosome, or counting grey and black ascospores of Sordaria to investigate linkage and crossing-over during meiosis. This edition brings the content right up-to-date within a ®eld that is presently changing rapidly. The 26 exercises cover the range from classical Mendelian inheritance to molecular techniques such as PCR, RFLPs and DNA ®ngerprinting. Much of the human content is discussed in relation to the Human Genome Project where relevant, and also incorporated are new ideas, photographs, data sets and updated references and source material. All students' tastes are catered for with a wide variety of experimental organisms representing microbes, animals, plants and fungi. In particular the several humanbased investigations should appeal to most. The exercises on analysing ®ngerprint ridge numbers and patterns, and whether your urine smells foul after eating asparagus, are particularly intriguing. I was very impressed with the organisation and layout of this book. The text is written for degree-level students and is accompanied by an Instructors Manual that includes hints, sources of materials, and answers to the many questions posed. Each investigation is completely individual, independent and designed for use with no necessary modi®cations. All relevant references, notes and appendices are included in each exercise. Indeed the pages are perforated and hole-punched for easy removal and ®ling. Each exercise has a relevant introduction to the investigation, very clearly stated objectives, and all other information required for the exercise. Suitable data sheets for recording results, and relevant analyses are given, together with questions to test the understanding of the investigator. I was disappointed that the book makes so little use of online web resources. With so many students having both an interest in the Internet and also access to online computing facilities, I feel this is a weakness that should be addressed for the next edition. Another shortcoming is that the book is so clearly aimed at an American readership with all data sets provided based on American examples. Again, online resources could overcome this. I would certainly recommend the use of this book to anyone engaged in formulating or revising a degree-level genetics course.