By picking one newly discovered gene from each of the 23 pairs of human chromosomes, and telling its story, Matt Ridley recounts the history of our species and its ancestors from the dawn of life to the brink of future medicine.

Scientists are working at unravelling the human genome at such speed that in the early years of this century the entire DNA of a human being will be available on CD Rom. This will set in motion a scientific revolution as profound as the discovery that the Earth goes round the Sun.