![The Making of You](/assets/artwork/1x1-42817eea7ade52607a760cbee00d1495.gif)
![The Making of You](/assets/artwork/1x1-42817eea7ade52607a760cbee00d1495.gif)
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The Making of You
A Journey from Cell to Human
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- USD 7.99
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- USD 7.99
Descripción editorial
Join Katharina Vestre on an adventure to relive your very first moments. From your first cell to your first breath, this is your story as you have never heard it before.
Did you know it took three attempts to make your kidneys? Or that tiny twirling hairs on your back showed your other organs where to go? Or that hiccups are probably a legacy from our ancient, underwater ancestors?
With cutting-edge science and a wry sense of humour, Vestre reveals all this and more. Like: how sperm know which way to swim. Why sex and gender are more complicated than one might think. What you have in common with every living being, and why you are unique.
Set off on a true voyage of discovery through an inner universe whose secrets we are still unravelling. A miniature drama of cosmic significance, this is the story of how you became you.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Debut author Vestre, a University of Oslo doctoral fellow, takes a playful approach to the serious subject of embryology in this charming yet somewhat strained treatise. In whimsical prose, Vestre relates the biological basics of conception and fetal development: "When your parents' sperm and egg cells were formed, the chromosomes from your grandparents sat right next to each other." This you is the fetus itself, an inventive narrative ploy, but one that makes the book sound more like a bedtime story than reading for adults. Describing the fetus at week three, Vestre writes: "All that's happened is that a round plate has become a triple-decker cell sandwich. But you're already infinitely more interesting than the raspberry you were a short while ago." In sprightly chapters illustrated with b&w line drawings, Vestre explains a little genetics, shares the history of the microscope, and traces the development of the fetus, by week and month, to full term. Most intriguingly, she emphasizes the ways in which human development resembles that of very different animals, such as through the vital set of Hox genes which humans share with the humble fruit fly. Some readers should find Vestre's lighthearted, somewhat informative book amusing, while others will find it cloying.