Cats are not Peas ─ A Calico History of Genetics

In 1988, when Laura Gould brought her newly-adopted cat George to the vet, the vet smirked at hearing the masculine name. He soon turned pale, after taking a closer look at George. George is a calico AND he is male. The logic of genetics that resulted from Gregor Mendel's famous experiments with peas tells us that only female cats can be calico. But George and his maleness are undeniable certainties. How do you get a George? This question led Laura Gould on an exploration of the facts and history of genetics. As she dipped into this knowledge, many more questions soon followed.This book portrays Gould's journey through the research and understanding of (cat) genetics and her journey through cat ownership. Ten years after the first publication of Cats are Not Peas, the author updates the tale with two major developments in genetics: the sequencing of genomes and the production of clones. Where are cats on the list of species to first have their genomes sequenced? What was cloned first, a cat or a dog? The answers to these questions-and others-appear in the Addendum included in this new edition.

Laura Gould’s interests range from computational linguistics (participation in machine translation, child language acquisition, and speech understanding projects) to the social implications of technology (co-founder of Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility) to the innovative transmission of ideas (recipient of U.C. Berkeley’s Distinguished Teaching Award). She lives with her husband and copious wildlife in a wilderness area of Northern California.