Lords of the Fly: Drosophila Genetics and the Experimental Life

This is an excellent history of the beginnings of fruit fly genetics and biology in the first half of the 20th century told from the point of view how science works in terms of everyday practices of lab behavior, note taking, conversations among practitioners, the nature of the subject matter and its relation to other knowledge areas. My only disappointment is that it did not extend the story to later developments that post-date the founding generation of practitioners.

Like it or not, the study of fruit flies has contributed greatly to the study of genetics. There is simply no way to understand the history of genetics without knowing something about little flies. The book would seem to be a dense scientific tome. It contains solid packed information, but it is so well written that even a non-specialist can find it a page turner. A great book!

good

When ordering the book from an online store or local library, it is crucial not to get tangled up between two similar sounding titles, "Lord of the Flies," and "Lords of the Fly." While "Lord of the Flies," is a novel you may vaguely remember reading in high school, "Lords of the Fly," is a natural history commentary by Robert E. Kohler. When you first flip through the pages, observing the diagrams and charts, you may mistakenly think this is a variation of a genetics textbook, but it is not. In this book, the author documents the discovery of one of the most famous model organisms in biology- Drosophila, and its application in the field of genetics.Overall, Robert E. Kohler maintains three main themes throughout the book: (1) biological description and experimental evolution of Drosophila, (2) professional and social life of drosophilists, and (3) coevolving relationship between the fly and fly experts. Drosophila is first presented to the reader as an organism that almost went unnoticed because it was easily available, cheap, and did not require high maintenance. Ironically, these are the same qualifications that make Drosophila a great "model organism". Nonetheless, even though not an organism of choice, Drosophila entered the world of genetics as a last resort but stayed and reshaped experimental world of science.Constructing Drosophila section may remind a biology student of genetics class lecture, at times too in detail. For example, Kohler takes the reader through the manual calculations of gene mapping. Although covered in great length, the information is refreshing, as it is not always taught in present day university classes. Somehow Kohler manages to combine dense scientific material with anecdotes, making this book an easy read. One cannot help but imagine drosophilists sitting in a laboratory, tediously inspecting flies, later to find out that some of which could simply be `extreme forms of natural variation of the wild types.'Speaking of extreme forms and variations. Besides the main players, one specific drosophilist comes to mind when thinking of the personal lives when it comes to the scientists involved in drosophila projects. This person is Calvin Bridges. According to Kohler, in personal life, Bridges was known for his `extraordinary beauty' and scandal with an Indian "princes". As a result of this scandal, Bridges was disqualified for an academic position. As it turns out, not all drosophists spend all hours in a lab looking for mutants. Interestingly enough, Bridges was the drosophilist who was able to find close to seventy five percent of all mutants documented.It is curious to read about the different personalities of the fly scientists. Unlike the team of scientists responsible for discovery of insulin, drosophilists are portrayed as easy-going, very logical, and fair to one another. In fact, fly scientists are portrayed so logical that they even implemented a system that helps one determine who should be given credit for work. Yet, at other times, when it comes to giving credit, Kohler describes what he calls `an internal boundary' of gender . According to documents found, besides the three female scientists, most of the women working in the laboratory were volunteers, or wives of the scientists. Yet, the women do not appear in laboratory photographs and are not acknowledged in published papers.Overall, this book is very engaging easy to follow. The fact that many of the discoveries take place in Woods Hole and other local areas make the book come alive and `close to home.' Lastly, Kohler's strengths are explanations of genetics before the days of computers and great story telling ability. While genetics aspect of the book appears to be most believable, the personal stories may vary with the sources. I would recommend this book to scientists who are interested in the history of discovery.

Very satisfied