These days, having your DNA analyzed is almost as common as owning a smartphone, so when Dani Shapiro jumped on the trend, she thought she was just taking a measure of her genetic heritage. She didn’t ...

INHERITANCE: A Memoir of Geneaology, Paternity, and Love, by Dani Shapiro. Alfred A. Knopf, 247 pp., $24.95. Late last year, scores of people received DNA testing kits as holiday gifts; ancestry.com ...

In “What We Inherit,” Sam Trejo and Daphne O. Martschenko examine the link between genetic myths and social genomics.

Joselin Linder carries a rare mutation in her genes that is unique to the Linder family. The mutation causes a disease that killed her father in middle age and four other members of her family. In her ...

Writer and memoirist DANI SHAPIRO took a genetic test on a whim, not expecting any surprises from the results. After all, Shapiro thought she knew her history well – the daughter of Ashkenazi Jews, ...

Our March book club pick for Now Read This, the PBS NewsHour’s book club with The New York Times, is Dani Shapiro’s “Inheritance,” a memoir about grappling with the unexpected results of an ancestry ...

A DNA test, taken on a whim, leads to a startling result and a big meditation on the meaning of ancestry and family. Author Dani Shapiro tells her story in the celebrated new book, “Inheritance.” She ...

Of all the millions of people who have spit into a plastic vial and sent their DNA off to have it analyzed, writer Dani Shapiro might be the most prepared for what happened next. The core of Shapiro’s ...

When the author learns that the man who raised her was not her father, she seeks answers: Who is her father, and who is she? Dani Shapiro, right, visited Hawaii in 1966 with her parents, Irene and ...

Dani Shapiro learned through a DNA test that she was not her father's biological daughter. She wrote about the revelation — and her quest for answers — in her new memoir, Inheritance. Michael Maren / ...

Why is Christian Science in our name? Our name is about honesty. The Monitor is owned by The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and we’ve always been transparent about that. The church publishes the ...