When the biotech revolution comes, we may turn to guidebooks to advise us on which genes we should delete to enhance our intelligence, how we might regenerate a limb or how we should interact with our clone. In their quirky guide to the future of biotechnology, How To Defeat Your Own Clone (Random House, 2010), bioengineers Kyle Kurpinski and Terry Johnson convey with simplicity and humour the science behind stem cells, genetic variation and bioenhancements. Their first rule: don't let your clone read this book.

Genetic reproduction brings with it the risk of flaws. In Inside the Human Genome (Oxford Univ. Press, 2010), evolutionary geneticist John Avise celebrates our inherent imperfections, from genetic mutations to downright design faults. Taking a philosophical look across human genomics and biochemistry, he unravels the perfectionist arguments of creationists and offers a nuanced view of what it is to be human.

In his neatly packaged paean to science, physicist Sander Bais calls on researchers to be vocal in defending the scientific method in an age of voluble but often unsupported public opinion. In Praise of Science (MIT Press, 2010) calmly sets out Bais's reasoning on why scientists should be proud of their rationality and desire to experiment. He reflects on how science has influenced social change across history, and how scientific research is a long-term endeavour that goes beyond short-term political attention spans.