Introduction : how the genome lost its junk -- The inheritors -- Life as a code -- Switches and signals -- The spacious genome -- RNA out of the shadows -- It's a jungle in there! -- The genome in 3D -- The jumping genes -- The marks of Lamarck -- Code, non-code, garbage, and junk -- Genes and disease -- What makes us human? -- The genome that became conscious -- Conclusion : the case for complexity.

As the Human Genome Project completed its mapping of the entire human genome, hopes ran high that we would rapidly be able to use our knowledge of human genes to tackle many inherited diseases, and understand what makes us unique among animals. But things didn't turn out that way ... but the emerging picture is if anything far more exciting. Parrington gives an outline of the deeper genome, involving layers of regulatory elements controlling and coordinating the switching on and off of genes; the impact of its 3D geometry; the discovery of a variety of new RNAs playing critical roles; the epigenetic changes influenced by the environment and life experiences that can make identical twins different and be passed on to the next generation; and the clues coming out of comparisons with the genomes of Neanderthals as well as that of chimps about the development of our species.