{"product_id":"troublesome-science-the-misuse-of-genetics-and-genomics-in-understanding-race-9780231185721","title":"Troublesome Science: The Misuse of Genetics and Genomics in Understanding Race","description":"\u003cp\u003eIt is well established that all humans today, wherever they live, belong to one single species. Yet even many people who claim to abhor racism take for granted that human \"races\" have a biological reality. In \u003ci\u003eTroublesome Science\u003c\/i\u003e, Rob DeSalle and Ian Tattersall provide a lucid and forceful critique of how scientific tools have been misused to uphold misguided racial categorizations. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eDeSalle and Tattersall argue that taxonomy, the scientific classification of organisms, provides an antidote to the myth of race's biological basis. They explain how taxonomists do their science--how to identify a species and to understand the relationships among different species and the variants within them. DeSalle and Tattersall also detail the use of genetic data to trace human origins and look at how scientists have attempted to recognize discrete populations within \u003ci\u003eHomo sapiens\u003c\/i\u003e. \u003ci\u003eTroublesome Science\u003c\/i\u003e demonstrates conclusively that modern genetic tools, when applied correctly to the study of human variety, fail to find genuine differences. While the diversity that exists within our species is a real phenomenon, it nevertheless defeats any systematic attempt to recognize discrete units within it. The stark lines that humans insist on drawing between their own groups and others are nothing but a mixture of imagination and ideology. \u003ci\u003eTroublesome Science\u003c\/i\u003e is an important call for researchers, journalists, and citizens to cast aside the belief that race has a biological meaning, for the sake of social justice and sound science alike.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eRob DeSalle is a curator in the Sackler Institute for Comparative Genomics and professor at the Richard Gilder Graduate School at the American Museum of Natural History. He is the author of \u003ci\u003eThe Science of Jurassic Park and the Lost World: Or How to Build a Dinosaur\u003c\/i\u003e (with David Lindley, 1997) and the coauthor of \u003ci\u003eWelcome to the Microbiome: Getting to Know the Trillions of Bacteria and Other Microbes In, On, and Around You\u003c\/i\u003e (2015), among others. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIan Tattersall is curator emeritus in the Division of Anthropology at the American Museum of Natural History. His many books include \u003ci\u003eMasters of the Planet: The Search for Our Human Origins\u003c\/i\u003e (2012) and \u003ci\u003eThe Strange Case of the Rickety Cossack and Other Cautionary Tales from Human Evolution\u003c\/i\u003e (2015). \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eDeSalle and Tattersall's previous books together include \u003ci\u003eHuman Origins: What Bones and Genomes Tell Us About Ourselves\u003c\/i\u003e (2007); \u003ci\u003eRace? Debunking a Scientific Myth\u003c\/i\u003e (2011); and \u003ci\u003eA Natural History of Wine\u003c\/i\u003e (2015).\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Columbia University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50318591590674,"sku":"9780231185721","price":43.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_b6cd98e2-b652-451f-a926-dfb158b73c7e.jpg?v=1727558416","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/troublesome-science-the-misuse-of-genetics-and-genomics-in-understanding-race-9780231185721","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}