Shelby’s Reviews > The Gene: An Intimate History > Status Update

In 530 BC, Pythagoras theorized that all heredity comes from the father's sperm and the mother only provides nutrients; this was called "spermism." Natch. Then Aristotle argued that a fetus receives material from the father and messages from the mother. Then the theory of "preformation" became popular during the 1600s-- homunculuses everywhere! Mendel sucked at biology until he met Doppler at UofVienna.

The intro: most important ideas of the 20th century: the byte, the atom, the gene. Heredity and genetics loom large in Mukherjee's familial imagination.