How to give birth to a healthy child? Why does my child have heart problems? Will I have Huntington's chorea, like my father and grandfather? The topic of genetic diseases is becoming commonplace these days, but many people have a vague idea of ​​what medical genetics is. Unlike a therapist who accompanies a patient from cradle to grave, a geneticist follows his life before it is born and years after it ends. During his professional career, Dr. Kirk had to participate in the fate of thousands of people, and this period coincided with an era of unprecedented breakthroughs in genetics.

The experience of a practicing physician and scientist, combined with the gift of a storyteller, allowed the author to write an excellent overview of the history of medical genetics and assess its prospects, clarifying the most difficult questions with real examples for all those wishing to comprehend the intricacies of this new science.

However, the history of human genetics is, first of all, human history. It consists of the stories of people whose lives are affected by genetics - in fact, of course, it affects everyone, but some are affected more noticeably and more cruelly than others. This is the story of that little one, doomed from the moment of conception. This is the story of a researcher who, in her laboratory, looked into a microscope and read the girl's fate, written in the language of cells. This is Anna's story - and my own. This is the story of people who first learned what a chromosome is and what its relationship to disease may be.

For whom
The book will be interesting to biologists, geneticists, doctors, including pediatricians, as well as everyone who is interested in human sciences in general and human genetics in particular. As well as those who are interested in family planning, genetic testing and all young modern people who think about the health of their future children.