Sherlock Holmes famously pointed out that Watson merely saw things, whereas he (Holmes) observed them. The point being, of course, that realizing something exists is not the same as noticing its significance. In this sense, gerontologists Caleb Finch and Thomas Kirkwood believe that chance variation—that is, variation specified neither by the genome nor by the environment as it is commonly defined—has been seen for years, but never properly observed. They intend with Chance, Development, and Aging to begin such observation. The result is an incisive and stimulating analysis of what the causes and consequences of chance variation might be. In challenging the increasingly geno-centric Zeitgeist, the book promises to arouse controversy and, one hopes, provoke innovative research programs.
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