But according to McGee, virtually everything a society might do essentially constitutes some form of eugenics, at least in the sense of creating an institutional "bias" toward the types of children that might ultimately be born. So he seems less troubled by the prospect of overt legislation regarding genetic testing than some might be (including me). Nonetheless, McGee's insights into such topics as patenting one's DNA and genetic engineering at the supermarket (including pondering why genetic engineering hasn't yet produced better tasting food) represent the leading edge of the ethical debate over these topics.

In that regard, McGee manages to synthesize complicated topics and explain them in everyday language (what a lawyer like me might call putting it into "plain English"). Beyond Genetics isn't a dense treatise on the subject of bioethics; it is an engaging, well-written crash-course for the lay person in what the future may hold.