Today, She Has Her Mother’s Laugh officially goes on sale. If you pre-ordered it (thanks!) it should be thumping on your welcome mat very soon. If you like it, please consider reviewing and rating it on Amazon, Goodreads, or your favorite book site.
I’ve been very busy the past few days spreading the word about the book. Here’s a quick run-down of things that may be of interest to you. (Forgive the abundance of exclamation marks. It’s an exciting day!)
1. Reviews!
Nature calls the book “a beguiling narrative…In She Has Her Mother’s Laugh, Zimmer has built a subtle, multifaceted and deep understanding of heredity, grounded in revelatory insights from genome sequencing. And he shows that we will need it to face our uncertain future.”
2. Wired Q/A!
I talked with Megan Molteni about why heredity ≠ genetics.
3. Podcast!
Wendy Zukerman of the wonderful “Science Vs” podcast interviewed me about one chapter of the book, about how the science of heredity went off the rails in the early 1900s, becoming a justification for institutionalization, sterilization, and much, much worse. I tell the story through the life of one long-forgotten New Jersey woman, Emma Wolverton, who became the face of eugenics. You can listen to their podcast here. I’ll be doing more podcasts and radio shows in the next few weeks and will post links in future issues of Friday’s Elk.
4. Ask Me Anything, Reddit!
I’ll be coming back to Reddit for another AMA (ask me anything) on Thursday, May 31, at 4 pm. Join me then. Proof.
5. A new excerpt!
Dutton, my publisher, has posted the prologue of She Has Her Mother’s Laugh on the book’s web page.
6. Hitting the road!
This week I’m giving three talks in three days. If you’re in Boston, Connecticut, or New York, please join me.
May 30, 2018 Harvard Book Store
May 31, 2018 RJ Julia Bookstore, Madison CT
June 1, 2018 World Science Festival, New York (In conversation with Maria Konnikova)
7. My Mother Is Outraged!
Not about the book, but about the results I got when I looked at my own genes linked to intelligence. Over at the Atlantic, I write about how we shouldn’t take these tests personally, because they’re based on populations, not persons.
Future Talks
June 19, 2018 Commonwealth Club Silicon Valley, Palo Alto CA
June 20, 2018 Denver Museum of Nature and Science (details to come)
June 21-24, 2018 Aspen Ideas Festival (details to come)
September 20, 2018 University of Bath (UK), Evolution in the 21st Century
October 17, 2018 Colorado State University: Murray Honors Visiting Scholar Lecture (details to come)
October 19, 2018 CSICon, Las Vegas
October 25, 2018 Mount Holyoke College (details to come)
November 7, 2018 University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia (details to come)
November 14, 2018 Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, NJ (details to come)
You can find information and ordering links for my other books here. You can also follow me on Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, and LinkedIn. If someone forwarded this email to you, you can subscribe to it here.
Best wishes, Carl
Originally published May 29, 2018. Copyright 2018 Carl Zimmer.