The Monk in the Garden: The Lost and Found Genius of Gregor Mendel, the Father of Genetics

Henig provides a gripping account of the life and work of Gregor Mendel with just enough speculation to make this scientific biography read like a novel. After describing Mendel's work and his dissapointment in the lack of impact his results had during his own lifetime, she gives an account of the battles around Mendel's "rediscovery" that ranks among the best tales of cut-throat scientific intrigue. The author's appreciation for science and admiration for single-minded scientific genius and attention to detail shows throughout her account. She has a sound appreciation of both the promise and the ethical dilemmas provided by modern genetic discoveries (which she really only expounds upon in the final chapter). My only complaint would be that she provides no insight into the spiritual life of the "monk in the garden", something many readers might expect given the title of the book. I would recommend this book for anyone interested in the science, the history of science or the biography of outstanding individuals.

This book is a vivid picture of a not-so-vivid genius. Henig's ability to make her subject come alive is impressive. In a graceful and entertaining style, she shows his diligent, painstaking work and his very human qualities; there's nothing dry about this book. I particularly enjoyed the byways Henig took me down. She provides fascinating details about not only Mendel but also other scientists and scientific controversies, both during Mendel's life and afterwards. She sets the stage brilliantly, I think, and shows the repercussions of Mendel's work with lively portraits of men like Bateson and Weldon. I would recommend this book heartily, both to people in the field (such as my son, who is a geneticist) and to people who like a good read about a major figure and an important era in scientific history.

As a gardener, I love the story of a monk who loves gardening founding the science of genetics -- and it's a good story. As a mother and sometimes teacher, I love the fact that Mendel was a lousy test-taker and didn't do well in school as a result -- and still became the founder of genetics.(He became a monk to get an education, as I recall--or was it to do his plant breeding work? I don't remember that detail.) At a time when overachievement is a sickness, this tale of a man who loves his numbers becoming obsessed about patterns in pea reproduction stumbling on the secret to a whole modern industry is tonic. And the whole second half of the book, which is the story about how his discoveries were lost and found and became the center of a story of science politics, are simply fascinating. I am a little puzzled at the reader who complained there was no original research. You don't even have to read the book to know the author went to Brno. On C-Span Books the author explained about how when she was at the monastery in Brno she learned about the "secret" door in the monastery's formal library and went through to the room in back where the monks actually studied and did their work -- and how it was from that window that they probably shouted out to Mendel in his garden, thereby explaining one piece of the puzzle about why people thought he fudged his numbers and why he probably didn't. Far more interesting to me, in some ways, was realizing that this was a time when religion supported science and science was something the average gardener could get involved in and would then talk about in a local talk -- in the days before people were glued to their tv sets -- when science and religion weren't seen as adversaries, as they appear to be in Kansas. A good read.

This is a terrific book, exquisitely timed. The race to decode the human genome has just been concluded (supposedly)--but how many of us have any clue about how and where the science of genetics originated? I knew of Mendel and had a vague sense of his role, but Henig's book tells the whole human story, and in terms that make the fundamentals of genetics easy to understand. To read this book is to gain a whole new sense of how chance and personality can sometimes yield discoveries that change the world, even if the true import of those discoveries at first goes unrealized. What I especially liked, however, were the insights into Mendel, the monk, a guy with a really bad case of test anxiety and a passion for practical jokes, flowers and, thankfully, peas. There's something very sweet about this book and, ultimately, very moving.

I thought I had read enough nonfiction history books to know what to expect -- edifying, but not entertaining. This book blew those expectations out of the water. Chock-full of information, yes, but also liberally sprinkled with anecdotes and slices of life from the times surrounding Mendel and his rediscoverers. It's downright funny at times. I came away with an understanding of the birth of genetics that I'd even never known I was missing, not to mention a renewed interest in the field, without ever really realizing that I was reading a work of historical scholarship -- those are dry. This was fun.