Ask HN: What texts about DNA do you recommend for a teenager(12)

2 points by milkoolong 2 years ago | 1 comment

I have a 12 year old who got interested in lego, dinosaurs, then minecraft modding from an early age. We step in to moderate and guide as needed. But as parents, we are not scientists or engineers, and that makes it a challenge to choose optimal learning materials for him to build on top of his interests which atm is dinosaur hybrids, dna, gene splicing (he watch yt and read wikipedia to fill in the holes).

We use yc, stackexchange, and amazon reviews to research curriculum for homeschool.

strangattractor 2 years ago |

The central dogma of biology is DNA -> RNA -> Proteins. The details are very interesting but maybe not so much for a 12 year old. Understanding the roles this plays in the functioning of the cell (the big picture) might be interesting at that age IMHO. So you have Biochemistry which deals with the chemical reactions and pathways and Cell Biology which deals with how these Proteins function in a living organism.

Not exactly textbook but a bigger picture of the role DNA plays in evolution. I enjoyed them and they definitely inspire a desire to understand more.

Climbing Mount Improbable - Richard Dawkins The Selfish Gene - Richard Dawkins The Blind Watchmaker - Richard Dawkins

Physics A Brief History of Time. - Stephen Hawkins