Being born ‘normal’ – one nose, two legs, ten fingers and 24 ribs – is quite incredible, really. In Mutants (2003), Armand Marie Leroi recounts fascinating stories of the people whose extraordinary bodies have revealed our genetic grammar, from the Irish giant Charles Byrne to the hairy family who were kept at the Burmese royal court for four generations, and the white South African housewife whose skin inexplicably turned black. Brilliantly mixing historical anecdote and up-to-date science, this elegant, humane and illuminating book is about us all – for, as Leroi says, "We are all mutants". Armand Marie Leroi was born in Wellington and spent his youth in New Zealand, South Africa and Canada. He is a biologist at Imperial College, London, and has presented a Channel Four TV series based on Mutants, which won the Guardian Best First Book Prize in 2004 and was shortlisted for the Aventis Prize for science writing. "An exquisitely life-enhancing book… Read it and marvel." (Nature)

 

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Sat 18 Mar, 2.15pm

Embassy Theatre