The Bio Bookshelf

Students in Biology 2 have no required reading, but here are three books professor Lee Witters recommends for any Dartmouth student, past or present.

Middlesex by JeffreyEugenides (Picador USA, 2003) The main character in this 544-page novel suffers from 5-Alpha- Reductase, a genetic condition causing pseu- do-hermaphrodism. Witters recommends the novel to his students not only because he lectures on the condition in class but because "it's a wonderfully written book."

a The Xin Sex: How the XChromosome Controls Our Livesby David Bainbridge (HarvardUniversity Press, 2003) The X chromosome is one of the largest in the human body, controlling our gender and health in complex ways. When mutant, it can cause hemophilia, auto-immune diseases and colorblindness. "It's a readable book explaining this era of genetics and genomics that we're smack in the middle of," says Witters.

From Fasting Saints ToAnorexic Girls: The History ofSelf-Starvation by Walter Vandereycken and Ron Van Deth (New York University Press, 1994) Given the epidemic of anorexia on college campuses, Witters spends significant class time on eating disorders. This history of starvation begins in ancient times, wandering from literature to medicine to religion. 'Anorexia is not strictly a medical or biological disease," says Witters. "It has socio-cul-tural roots that go way back. To even appreciate the biology one has to understand the precursors."