Introduction to Genetics

Reviewed by Anthony (Tony) T Cremo, Full - Time Faculty - Science, Rogue Community College on 6/17/26

Comprehensiveness rating: 3 see less

The text covers many of the major topics I would expect in an introductory genetics course including Mendelian inheritance, meiosis, pedigrees, linkage, recombination, and mapping. I also appreciated the inclusion of learning objectives, chapter summaries, study questions, answers, and key terms within each chapter. These features are helpful for students as they work through the material. However, I would not consider the text fully comprehensive as a stand-alone introduction to genetics. I would have liked to see more direct coverage of DNA structure, DNA replication, and foundational molecular mechanisms before students move into some of the later topics. Lastly, the chapter-level key terms are helpful, but a more complete glossary or index would make the text easier for students to use as a reference.

Content Accuracy rating: 4

The content appears generally accurate and appropriate for an introductory genetics course. I did not notice major scientific errors or areas where the material seemed biased. The explanations of Mendelian inheritance, meiosis, pedigrees, gene interactions, linkage, and mapping were consistent with how these topics are commonly taught. I did notice a few minor wording and presentation issues that could confuse students in places, especially where figure descriptions or examples needed more careful wording. For that reason, I would not rate the text as completely error-free, but I found the overall content to be reliable.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

Much of the content in this text is built around foundational genetics concepts that are unlikely to become outdated quickly. Topics such as Mendelian inheritance, meiosis, pedigrees, linkage, recombination, and mapping remain highly relevant to an introductory genetics course. The text also appears to be arranged in a way that would allow sections to be updated without having to rewrite the entire resource. I did feel that some portions, especially the chapter connected to COVID-19 and some of the linked video resources, may require more frequent review to remain current. Overall, the text seems durable and usable over time, but a few sections would need occasional updating.

Clarity rating: 3

The text is generally readable and many of the explanations are clear enough for students to follow, especially in the earlier chapters on Mendelian inheritance, meiosis, and pedigrees. I also appreciated the use of learning objectives, key terms, summaries, and study questions since these features help guide students through the material. At the same time, I think some sections would be difficult for students without additional instructor support. The text sometimes moves into more technical topics without providing enough background first, particularly for students who may not already have a strong foundation in DNA structure, replication, or molecular genetics. Overall, the writing is understandable, but I would likely need to provide additional context in class before assigning some of the later sections.

Consistency rating: 4

For the most part, the text is consistent in its terminology and overall chapter framework. Most chapters follow a similar pattern with learning objectives, sectioned content, summaries, key terms, study questions, answers, and graphic study sheets. This repeated structure would be helpful for students because they would know what to expect as they move through the book. There are some places where the text feels like it was adapted from different sets of course materials, and the depth of coverage is not always the same from chapter to chapter. Even with that, I found the terminology and general approach to be mostly consistent throughout the text.

Modularity rating: 5

The text is organized into smaller sections that would be easy to assign at different points in a course. Most chapters are divided by clear headings and subheadings, and the repeated use of learning objectives, summaries, key terms, study questions, answers, and study sheets make the material approachable in smaller pieces. I also did not find the text to be overly self-referential, so individual sections could likely be used without requiring students to read every previous chapter. Genetics topics naturally build on one another, but the structure of this text still makes it easy to assign, rearrange, or supplement specific sections as needed. Overall, this is a strong feature of the book.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 3

The topics are presented in a mostly understandable order, and the early chapters move logically from Mendelian inheritance and meiosis into independent assortment, mitosis, and pedigree analysis. However, the overall flow of the text felt uneven at times. Some later topics appear in an order that may make sense within a specific course, but I do not think the progression would always feel clear to students using the book as a stand-alone introductory genetics text. I would likely need to reorder some sections or provide additional background to help students understand how certain topics connect to one another. The organization is usable, but it was one of the areas where I felt the text could be strengthened.

Interface rating: 3

The text has some strong interface features, especially in the web version. The chapters are clearly divided, and the linked table of contents and headings would make navigation easier for students. I also appreciated that the text includes long descriptions and accessibility features for many images. However, I did notice some interface limitations. In the PDF version, some interactive elements are removed and replaced with links to the online version, which could interrupt the reading experience. Some figures also appeared lower in quality or less polished than others, and this could be distracting for students who rely on visuals to understand genetics concepts. Overall, the interface is usable, but the visual presentation and PDF experience could be improved.

Grammatical Errors rating: 4

The text is well written and I did not notice frequent grammatical errors that would interfere with student understanding. Most of the writing is clean and readable. I did notice a few minor proofreading issues, including occasional spelling or wording errors, but these were not common enough to significantly distract from the content. Overall, the text would benefit from another careful proofread, but grammar was not a major concern.

Cultural Relevance rating: 4

I did not notice anything in the text that seemed culturally insensitive or offensive. The examples were generally appropriate for a genetics course and focused mostly on common model systems, inheritance patterns, human disease, and molecular genetics. At the same time, I would not say that the text makes especially strong use of culturally diverse or inclusive examples. This may be partly due to the nature of the subject matter, but there are still places where more examples connected to a broader range of human populations, backgrounds, or health contexts could make the text feel more inclusive for students. Overall, I found this area to be appropriate, but there is room to strengthen representation.

I appreciate the amount of work that went into developing this resource and making it available to students. There are several features that are helpful including the learning objectives, chapter summaries, key terms, study questions, answers, and graphic study sheets. I also think the open format makes it easier for an instructor to adapt or supplement the material to better fit a specific course. For my own course, I would most likely use selected sections of the book rather than adopt it as a complete standalone textbook. The strongest areas are the sections on Mendelian inheritance, meiosis, pedigrees, linkage, recombination, and mapping. I would likely need to provide additional background in DNA structure, DNA replication, and molecular genetics before assigning some of the later chapters. With those additions, this could be an even more useful affordable resource for students.

Reviewed by Traci Stevens, Professor of Biology, Randolph-Macon College on 10/29/24

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

This book covers a broad range of topics related to transmission genetics, and includes all topics related to inheritance that would be discussed in most introductory genetics courses. This book does not cover molecular or population genetics, so few connections are not made between inheritance and molecular genetics.
Most topics contain a combination of written text and links to YouTube videos from various sources. There are many concepts within topics that are only covered in the YouTube videos, without an accompanying written explanation.
This book does not have a comprehensive set of practice problems. There are few solved problems within the text, and for topics in which there are solved problems, they are written out in paragraph form, with the math embedded within sentences, rather than in a format in which inheritance problems are typically solved. There are a limited set of practice problems, with answers, at the end of each chapter, and there “solved video questions – created by students, for students” in each chapter. In addition, the questions covered in the student-created videos are not provided, except in the video with the solution, so students do not have the opportunity to solve the problem before seeing the solution. Due to the overall limited number of practice problems, there are several concepts for which there are no practice problems.

Content Accuracy rating: 4

The text of this book is generally accurate, although the inheritance of some human traits described as Y-linked is inaccurate. In addition, the embedded YouTube videos, which are from a variety of sources, contain some information and wording that is questionable at best. Furthermore, while the actual solutions in the student-created videos are generally correct, these videos include statements that are not accurate, and I would be uncomfortable using a textbook that includes these videos.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

This book contains a variety of examples related to inheritance, but many are outdated (including a reference to ear hair being a Y-linked trait). In addition, there are few examples describing the inheritance of human traits and health conditions, so this book misses opportunities to engage the large population of students who are interested in health care.
Some of the videos also include references to cultural events that were current at the time of recording, but are already outdated. Furthermore, the focus of some embedded videos is not relevant to its subsection topic.

Clarity rating: 3

The use of YouTube videos from various sources to cover many important concepts reduces the clarity of this text. In addition, some of the videos contain information irrelevant to the topic of that particular section, contain introductions that are too basic for a college course, and are quite long (30 minutes or more in some cases). I think that students would quickly conclude that watching the videos are not the best use of their time, and since much of the content is embedded in those videos and not written in text form, students would lack exposure to large chunks of content.

Consistency rating: 2

Again, the use of a variety of YouTube videos to deliver the content (rather than to supplement) means that consistency is lacking. The choice of wording, style, and content level are all over the map throughout the book. Even the symbols used vary greatly. For example, even though the text explains that shaded indicates an affected individual and unaffected individuals are not shaded, several of the pedigrees shown in the text use blue and red to indicate affected and not affected.
In addition, the chapter on Genes and COVID-19 Susceptibility in Humans seems to have been written at a much higher level and would require an understanding of molecular biology that is not included in the rest of the book.

Modularity rating: 5

This book is divided into fairly short chapters on specific topics, with multiple short sections in each chapter. It would be easy to assign specific portions of content from different areas of the book.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

The book is organized, and it is easy to find information. Each chapter follows a consistent format.
In some cases, it appears that perhaps some videos have been linked to the wrong sections because the content of the video more closely aligns with other headings.

Interface rating: 5

The interface is straight forward. However, I do have concerns that the selected YouTube videos could become inaccessible, which would greatly affect the usefulness of this book, as the book relies on those videos to deliver critical content that is not covered in the text.

Grammatical Errors rating: 4

The book was relatively free of grammatical errors, although there are a few typos and places where upper-case letters are used inappropriately and inconsistently.

Cultural Relevance rating: 4

Most genetic traits discussed in this book are not human traits or health conditions, so representing diversity in this way is not relevant to this book. However, some genetic conditions are referenced by a common name (such as “porcupine man”), rather than using medical terminology.

Reviewed by James Langeland, Professor, Kalamazoo College on 1/30/23

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

This text does what it claims to do. It provides an introductory overview of a broad swath of genetics.

Content Accuracy rating: 4

No glaring errors. One could always nitpick any text book.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 3

The text is relevant, but not particularly unique in any sense. One could find virtually the same information in any number of genetics textbooks, presented in largely the same way. A major problem here is that the filed is presented more or less historically with many of the experiments and concepts being described having little to no relevance to genetics today. This is a problem with many texts so I do not single this one out.

Clarity rating: 4

As with many open source texts, this one suffers from substandard figures, which directly influences clarity. The words on the age are fine, but the adage is true-a picture can be worth a thousand words. The mainstream publishers spent a lot of money on figures and it shows--they can be really good.

Consistency rating: 4

No comments here.

Modularity rating: 4

There seem to be appropriate and logical chapter and section breaks.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 3

The flow is the same as nearly any other genetics textbook. It suffers from a rigid historical framework. Better than most at Muller's morphs however!

Interface rating: 5

No problems here. I do really like the integrated you tube links. I did not dive into the content of those videos (beyond the scope of my review), but the fact that they are there in abundance is a good use of the open source approach.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

No problems here.

Cultural Relevance rating: 3

No comment.

A very timely section on SARS-Cov-2 at the end! Rich with study questions and answers. Genetics is and should be very problem based, so this is good.
I appreciate what is being offered here and I understand the market. There is nothing "wrong" with this textbook. There is also no wow factor that would cause me to adopt it at this time.