The human animal
This Autobiography is written by a human about the human animal. This is a use of metanarrative and character, because the essayist is clearly attempting to reframe the reader's sense of what a person is. Instead of viewing a person for their social nature, their moral order, their language, and their technological progress, this book shows the human as an animal. The human animal evolved from other animals, and therefore, the DNA of humans can be seen for its Darwinian nature. This is the essayist's first step in understanding human biology—viewing the human as an animal.
Mendel and Crick
In Chapter 3, the writer introduces us to Crick and Mendel, along with other scientists, who through the scientific method were able to understand what DNA might be accomplishing in an animal. Their ability to reframe the conversation about genes and heredity is a turning point in the history of mankind. Now, the question becomes understanding genes mores specifically, and learning to understand the complex data of DNA.
The Human Genome Project
This brings Ridley to the community known as the Human Genome Project, whose goal is to categorize the human genome completely, so that the complex mysteries of DNA and our physical bodies might be gradually understood, leading to breakthroughs in medicine. The majority of the book is comprised of essays which explain certain medical/biological breakthroughs, where Ridley can now teach which genes are responsible for which health issues, like chronic illness and even asthma.
