Genetics of Focal Epilepsies

Abstract

Genetics of Focal Epilepsies . Edited by s f berkovic, p genton, e hirsch, and f picard. (Pp 286, £59.00). Published by John Libbey and Co, London, 1999. ISBN 0 86196 569 8. Are we on the verge of molecular Armageddon, to be ravaged by the onslaught of giant, genetically modified, giant tomatoes? Are we entering a molecular Utopia, where all the world's ills will be solved with a golden key to a nucleotide code or at the gateway of a eugenic nightmare? As far as epilepsy is concerned, a central message of this book is that clinical heterogeneity is the rule—the genes are only part of the story. Those of us with a deep suspicion (acquired not innate) of genetic models of life the universe and everything, can breathe a sigh of relief. There …