Book cover of Disputed Inheritance: The Battle over Mendel and the Future of Biology

Book description

A root-and-branch rethinking of how history has shaped the science of genetics.

In 1900, almost no one had heard of Gregor Mendel. Ten years later, he was famous as the father of a new science of heredity-genetics. Even today, Mendelian ideas serve as a standard point of entry for learning…

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

Why read it?

1 author picked Disputed Inheritance as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

This is a fascinating story of the history of science that operates at two levels.

First, Radick tells the story of the history of genetics and how the work of the Austrian friar Gregor Mendel, unknown for forty years, in ten years, became the paradigm that still rules today.

Second, Radick gives us what we might call a meta-history, showing the success of Mendelism was less a function of its own virtues and owes much to the sudden death of its chief opponent.

Question: Is the history of science the story of the success of excellent reason and experimentation, or…

If you love Disputed Inheritance...

Book cover of These Blue Mountains

These Blue Mountains by Sarah Loudin Thomas,

A moving story of love, betrayal, and the enduring power of hope in the face of darkness.

German pianist Hedda Schlagel's world collapsed when her fiancé, Fritz, vanished after being sent to an enemy alien camp in the United States during the Great War. Fifteen years later, in 1932, Hedda…

Want books like Disputed Inheritance?

Our community of 13,000+ authors has personally recommended 45 books like Disputed Inheritance.

Browse books like Disputed Inheritance

Book cover of The Gene: An Intimate History
Book cover of Fatal Invention: How Science, Politics, and Big Business Re-create Race in the Twenty-first Century
Book cover of Code: Veronica

Share your top 3 reads of 2025!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

1,395

readers submitted
so far, will you?

📚 If you like Disputed Inheritance, you might also like...

Book cover of Need to Know: World War II and the Rise of American Intelligence

Need to Know by Nicholas Reynolds,

The authoritative but accessible history of the birth of modern American intelligence in World War II that treats not just one but all of the various disciplines: spies, codebreakers, saboteurs.

Told in a relatable style that focuses on actual people, it was a New Yorker "Best of 2022" selection and…

Book cover of Tsunami

Tsunami by LeeAnn Pickrell,

On the morning of December 26, 2004, an undersea earthquake struck off the coast of Sumatra in the Indian Ocean. The resulting tsunami killed an estimated 230,000 people across fourteen countries, from Indonesia to Sri Lanka to Thailand to the Maldives to India and all the way to East Africa.…

5 book lists we think you will like!