Herding Hemingway’s Cats by Kat Arney

I have been talking about Herding Hemingway’s Cats by Kat Arney quite a bit lately.  In particular, I spoke with several students, especially girls, who want to pursue science careers or write about science subjects and a part of our talks has turned to how to share science knowledge more broadly.  Kat Arney does just that in Herding Hemingway’s Cats where she helps her readers, as the subtitle states, with “understanding how our genes work.”

Arney, a science journalist with a PhD from Cambridge University, is a potential role model as well as an engaging writer. She blithely describes our genome, junk DNA and “throwing the switch” (turning genes on/off at the right time), plus plenty of history and other topics associated with recent scientific research based on her interviews with scientists in the field. Arney often turns to metaphors in an attempt to explain a more complicated idea so of course, I especially enjoyed her use of a library of cookbooks, complete with instructions for components (e.g., how to make frosting) and the way that copying and using recipes in a messy kitchen often results in changes along the way.  Herding Hemingway’s Cats received a starred review from Kirkus and will have a well-deserved place on the shelf next to the forthcoming (May 2016) The Gene: An Intimate History by Siddhartha Mukherjee, author of The Emperor of All Maladies.