The discovery of DNA is still relatively recent, and while there’s been a lot of money and time spent trying to get to the bottom of it’s mysteries, it’s so complex that we’re still only touching the surface. The debate about nature and nurture aside, we know that our DNA plays a large role in who we are–from our personality to our height, and how we deal with stress and success.

As technology and science progress it will be exciting to see not only what we come to learn from DNA, but also the possibilities of altering it. We do know that the structure can be changed throughout life in certain circumstances, but altering it on purpose in a defined way could radically change our lives. Before any of that happens, we need to understand it, and a new book by Dr. Lee Goldman is hoping to dispel some myths about it:

… Dr. Goldman takes the long, long view in “Too Much of a Good Thing,” arguing that many common modern ills result from the surpassingly excellent genes that allowed our species to endure over the millenniums. Only very recently did these survivor genes turn on us, creating the collection of overweight, hypertensive, jumpy and miserable individuals we are today.

When it comes to food, we are programmed to ingest more calories than we need. Some triggers are social (the pleasures of fine dining, the easy availability of tasty food), but many more are inherent in the body’s workings.

Our natural taste for salt doubtless dates to the times when salt and potable water could be hard to find. Now we have plenty of both — and we sweat considerably less than primitive humans did — but we still crave more salt than we need.

The book promises to be an interesting and eye-opening look at the way our genes, while providing benefits in the past, have become problems in the modern age. Check out the full review in the New York Times to see if it’s something you’re interested in.

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