Mapping Fate: A Memoir of Family, Risk, and Genetic Research

Rating:
Summary: History of the disease and the people who want to cure it.
Review: A must read for anyone interested in Huntington's disease. This book tells about how HD affects families and tells about how the gene was found after a ten year search. Courage and perserverance -that's the Wexler family-they give courage to so many others who are also on the same difficult journey with HD.

Rating:
Summary: Compelling, frank and courageous account of genetic illness
Review: Mapping Fate is a compelling memoir that successfully addresses the anguish, guilt, denial and mystery associated with terminal illness in a family, and the various ways that family members deal with it. Huntington's Disease is the subject of the book, but I think that people who have experienced devastating mental and physical illnesses in their own families will find many familiar and elegantly described emotions.

I found the personal reflections and the story about the effect of this illness on the family most gripping. The search for the gene and ultimately a treatment is covered as well, and is very interesting but a bit more detached.

Wexler has done an admirable job balancing introspective memoir writing with reporting on advances in scientific research.

Rating:
Summary: Accurate and humane
Review: This book provides an insider's account of the exciting scientific effort that resulted in isolation of the Huntington's Disease Gene. It is both exhilerating and sorrowful - encompassing the emotional experience of a family member watching the unfolding of a story with significant personal implications.