Blackwell Science (2001) 284 pages. ISBN 0-865-42743-7 £27.50
Bryan Turner engaged himself in a very challenging task with the writing of a book on a topic that is evolving at a considerable rate and has seen an incredible amount of information accumulate in recent years. The most important aspect of this book is that it is aimed at a student and nonspecialist readership, and thus a real effort has been made in the writing style to present chromatin and gene expression as a story. To this end, Bryan introduces his book by setting the stage and the key players: the helpless gene, which in different cell types is the same but differently expressed, and its packaging into chromatin, a very influencial partner. The story of the relationship can then begin.
As a specialist, I do not fall into the target audience; yet I enjoyed reading the book, mostly for the...
