Steve Jones is professor of genetics and head of the prestigious Galton Laboratory, University College of London. Jones has previously written three trade books, with two published in the U.S.: DARWIN'S GHOST and THE LANGUAGE OF GENES. A geneticist whose specialty is snails (he did some of the most important early sex-differentiation work by studying their shells), Jones has regularly appeared as one of the top authors on THE TIMES's bestseller lists. His witty and often humorous writing compares with - and in some cases, surpasses - that of Richard Dawkins, Stephen Jay Gould, Edward O. Wilson, Jared Diamond, and Steven Pinker. His books have received outstanding reviews in the United States as well as Britain.