The rapidly changing field of genetics affects society through advances in health-care and through implications of genetic research. This study addresses the impacts of new genetic discoveries and technologies on different segments of today's society. The book begins with a chapter on genetic complexity, and subsequent chapters discuss moral and ethical questions arising from today's genetics from the perspectives of health care professionals, the media, the general public, special interest groups and commercial interests.

From a medical perspective, patients who do not comply with the doctor's orders are usually seen as deviant and deviance requires correction. But many chronically ill people view their behavior differently, as a matter of self‐regulation. In this light noncompliance supports people's desires for independence and autonomy, desires that align closely with the therapeutic goals of caregivers.

A history of western civilization as reflected in creation myths from the past two millennia also evaluates the debate about whether God created man or vice versa as it has been expressed by artists in a variety of disciplines, in a lavishly illustrated chronicle that traces a range of tales from Genesis to Ovid.

Book reviewed in this article: All God's Mistakes: Genetic Counseling in a Pediatric Hospital. By Charles L. Bosk.