Science · Similar reads
Books like The Gene: An Intimate History
The best books like The Gene: An Intimate History are The Selfish Gene, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, and Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst. The Gene: An Intimate History by Siddhartha Mukherjee is about genetics, heredity, medical ethics. If that's what drew you in, here are 12 books that share its DNA — each summarized on Superbook, and ready to chat with in the app.
- The Selfish Gene
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Richard Dawkins · Science
The Selfish Gene reframes evolution from the organism's point of view to the gene's.
Shares genetics and evolution with The Gene: An Intimate History.
Read the summary → - Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
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Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
Yuval Noah Harari · History
Sapiens traces the full arc of human history from the emergence of Homo sapiens in Africa roughly 70,000 years ago to the present.
Both dig into evolution.
Read the summary → - Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst
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Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst
Robert M. Sapolsky · Science
Behave is Robert Sapolsky's attempt to explain why humans do what they do — the violence, the altruism, the tribalism, the heroism — by working through every layer of biology that contributes to a single act.
Both dig into evolution.
Read the summary →
- Why We Sleep
04
Matthew Walker · Science
Why We Sleep is Matthew Walker's attempt to do for sleep what no amount of public health messaging has managed: make people genuinely afraid of what they're losing.
A kindred science read.
Read the summary → - Lifespan: Why We Age—and Why We Don't Have To
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Lifespan: Why We Age—and Why We Don't Have To
David A. Sinclair · Science
Lifespan opens with a bold claim: aging is not an inevitable feature of biology but a disease — one that can be treated, slowed, and possibly reversed.
A kindred science read.
Read the summary → - A Short History of Nearly Everything
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A Short History of Nearly Everything
Bill Bryson · Science
A Short History of Nearly Everything is Bill Bryson's attempt to understand the scientific story of everything — from the Big Bang to the emergence of modern humans — by spending three years talking to scientists and reading science history.
Shares evolution and scientific history with The Gene: An Intimate History.
Read the summary → - Nature via Nurture: Genes, Experience, and What Makes Us Human
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Nature via Nurture: Genes, Experience, and What Makes Us Human
Matt Ridley · Science
Matt Ridley's central argument is that the nature versus nurture debate has been framed wrong for over a century.
Shares genetics and evolution with The Gene: An Intimate History.
Read the summary → - The Extended Phenotype
08
Richard Dawkins · Science
The Extended Phenotype is Richard Dawkins's most technical and, by his own account, most important book.
Shares genetics and evolution with The Gene: An Intimate History.
Read the summary → - The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature
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The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature
Matt Ridley · Science
The Red Queen takes its title from Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass, where the Red Queen tells Alice she must keep running just to stay in the same place.
Shares genetics and evolution with The Gene: An Intimate History.
Read the summary → - Blood Music
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Greg Bear · Science fiction
Blood Music begins with Vergil Ulam, a maverick biologist who has been engineering intelligent lymphocytes — white blood cells he has modified to carry genetic information processors, effectively creating thinking microorganisms.
Shares evolution and identity with The Gene: An Intimate History.
Read the summary → - A Crack in Creation: Gene Editing and the Unthinkable Power to Control Evolution
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A Crack in Creation: Gene Editing and the Unthinkable Power to Control Evolution
Jennifer A. Doudna and Samuel H. Sternberg · Science
A Crack in Creation is Jennifer Doudna and Samuel Sternberg's account of how CRISPR-Cas9 works, what it can do, and why its possibilities should give everyone pause.
Both dig into evolution.
Read the summary → - Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are?
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Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are?
Frans de Waal · Science
Frans de Waal's central argument is that we've spent most of the last century asking the wrong questions about animal intelligence.
Both dig into evolution.
Read the summary →
Books like The Gene: An Intimate History: quick answers
What are the best books like The Gene: An Intimate History?
The best books like The Gene: An Intimate History by Siddhartha Mukherjee are The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari, Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst by Robert M. Sapolsky, Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker, Lifespan: Why We Age—and Why We Don't Have To by David A. Sinclair, plus 7 more below. Each was chosen for themes it shares with The Gene: An Intimate History, such as genetics, heredity, medical ethics.
What should I read after The Gene: An Intimate History?
A natural next read after The Gene: An Intimate History is The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins. Shares genetics and evolution with The Gene: An Intimate History. Other strong choices are Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari, Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst by Robert M. Sapolsky, Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker.
What books are similar to The Gene: An Intimate History by Siddhartha Mukherjee?
The Gene: An Intimate History centers on genetics, heredity, medical ethics. Books with a similar feel include The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari, Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst by Robert M. Sapolsky, Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker, Lifespan: Why We Age—and Why We Don't Have To by David A. Sinclair, A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson — all free to read and chat with on Superbook.
