Table of Contents
Genetics
Since reading Dawins's The Selfish Gene when I was about 16 I developed a strong interest in Genetics. This led to me stuyding BSc Zoology & Genetics at The University of Sheffield (sadly they no longer run this excellent complementary dual-honors course) and then for an MSc Genetic Epidemiology, again in Sheffield (I was one of four students who took the course in its first year of running).
Genetics is a huge area, and has many different facets from classical genetics dating back to Gregor Mendel, the neo-Darwinist revolution based on the work of Fisher, Wright and Haldane through to the molecular revolution that ensued from the discovery of the structure of DNA by Watson and Crick.
Software
Population Genetics
stdpopsim
A Python library of population genetic simulations.
Books
I seem to regularly recommend books to people on /r/genetics so rather than re-write the same thing over and over here is a list of books I've found useful over the years.
Statistical Genetics
- Statistics in Human Genetics by Pak Sham
- Analysis of Human Genetic Linkage by Jurg Ott
- Mathematical and Statistical Methods for Genetic Analysis by Kenneth Lange.
- Handbook of Statistical Genetics (Vol 1 & 2) by David Balding, Martin Bishop and Chris Cannings (very expensive but comprehensive, studied under Chris Cannings on my MSc, he sadly passed away a couple of years ago ).
- Human Molecular Genetics by Strachan and Read.
Population Genetics
- Foundations of Mathematical Genetics by Anthony Edwards is a short but good book.
- Basic Concepts in Population, Quantitative and Evolutionary Genetics by James Crow (another excellent book with exercises at the end of each chapter, get a second hand copy if you can).
- The Genetical Theory of Natural Selection by RA Fisher
- Introduction to Quantitative Genetics by Falconer
Evolutionary Genetics
- The Neutral Theory of Molecular Evolution* by Motoo Kimura
- Evolution and the Genetics of Populations : Vol 1 by Sewall Wright
- Evolution and the Genetics of Populations : Vol 2 by Sewall Wright
- Evolution and the Genetics of Populations : Vol 3 by Sewall Wright
- Evolution and the Genetics of Populations : Vol 4 by Sewall Wright
- Evolutionary Genetics by John Maynard-Smith (brilliant book, has exercises which you can solve through programming)
- The Narrow Roads of Gene Land Vol I-III by William Hamilton (collected primary research papers by one of the most brilliant evolutionary biologists of the 20th century)
Molecular Genetics
- Recombinant DNA by Michael Gilman, James D. Watson, Jan Witkowski, Mark Zoller (technical and dated, but a good foundation)
- Introduction to Genetic Analysis by Griffiths et al..
Popular Science
- Slanted Truths by Lynne Margulis and Dorian Sagan (“popular science” but Margulis co-proposed the theory of endosymbiotic evolution)
- The Double Helix by James Watson
- The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins
- Genes, Peoples, and Languages by Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza
You can also read a lot of Fishers original papers on genetics (and statistics) via the R. A. Fisher Digital Archive
Papers
I read a lot when I was studying, not all of its stayed in my head, here are some I found interesting.
Links
- slack.ser.man.ac.uk : my first ever web-site, written whilst working as a Statistical Geneticist for the ARC Epidemiology Unit, University of Manchester.
Courses
Miscellaneous
- One of the Most Egregious Ripoffs in the History of Science - Issue 107: The Edge - Nautilus - What was going on behind the scene during work on the structure of DNA.