The new genetics has been one of the most rewarding subjects the two authors have ever written about, and because the ground being covered was vast, we have many people to thank. As long as the list is, every relationship was personal and personally gratifying.
Every book calls upon a publishing team, and Super Genes was fortunate to have such a superb one, beginning with our astute and encouraging editor, Gary Jansen. Also many thanks to others at Harmony Books who constituted and managed the working team: Diana Baroni, vice president and editorial director; Tammy Blake, vice president and director of publicity; Julie Cepler, director of marketing; Lauren Cook, senior publicist; Christina Foxley, senior marketing manager; Jessica Morphew, jacket designer; Debbie Glasserman, book designer; Patricia Shaw, senior production editor; Norman Watkins, production manager; Rachel Berkowitz and Lance Fitzgerald, foreign rights department.
We all know the pressures that book publishing is under today, and so a special thanks goes to the executives who must make tough decisions about which books to publish, including ours. Generous thanks to Maya Mavjee, president and publisher of the Crown Publishing Group, and Aaron Wehner, senior vice president and publisher of Harmony Books.
Our excitement over the breakthrough research in epigenetics was magnified by the Self-Directed Biological Transformation Initiative, a project that has been enormously fruitful thanks to a host of research collaborators. We offer our heartfelt thanks to all of you, including the following:
From the Chopra Center for Well-Being, Sheila Patel, Valencia Porter, Lizabeth Weiss, Wendi Cohen, and Sara Harvey and the entire staff.
The OMNI La Costa Resort and Spa, for generously accommodating our study.
Murali Doraiswamy, Arthur Moseley, Lisa St. John, and Will Thompson of Duke University.
Susanna Cortese at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School.
Eric Schadt, Sarah Schuyler, Seunghee Kim-Schulze, Qin Xiaochen, Jeremiah Faith, Milind Mahajan, Yumi Kasai, Jose Clemente, Noam Beckman, Zhixing Feng, Harm Van Bakel at the Institute for Genomics and Multiscale Biology/Mount Sinai Hospital.
Scott Peterson at the Sanford Burnham Medical Research Institute.
Paul Mills, Christine Peterson, Kathleen Wilson, Meredith Pung, Chris Pruitt, Kelly Chinh, Cynthia Knott, and Augusta Modestino at the University of California, San Diego.
Elizabeth Blackburn, Elissa Epel, Jue Lin, Amanda Gilbert, and Nancy Robbins at the University of California, San Francisco.
Eric Topol and Steven Steinhubl at the Scripps Translational Science Institute.
Barry Work, for his generous assistance in developing Web matrixes.
A special thanks to generous supporters Gina Murdock, Glenda Greenwald, Jennifer Smorgon, and the Self-Directed Biological Founders and Pioneers. Also the Chopra Foundation board of directors and advisory board, along with all the study participants.
Deepak offers thanks to a fantastic team whose tireless efforts make everything possible from day to day and year to year—Carolyn Rangel, Felicia Rangel, Gabriela Rangel, and Tori Bruce. All of you have a special place in my heart. Thanks also goes to Poonacha Machaiah, cofounder of Jiyo, for helping to bring an online presence for the Chopra Center and Chopra Foundation. As always, my family remains at the center of my world and is cherished all the more as it expands: Rita, Mallika, Sumant, Gotham, Candice, Krishan, Tara, Leela, and Geeta.
I would like to thank my wife, Dora, for her unconditional love, support, and endless nuggets of sage advice. Thanks to my daughter, Lyla—by thinking it was hilarious to call this book “pooper genes,” she reminded me about the importance of the microbiome, our second genome.
Deep thanks to my mom and dad for first introducing me to the wonders of biology. I would also like thank my dear friends at the Himalayan Academy for teaching me that I am not simply my genes but the user of my genes. Thanks to Dr. Jim Gusella, who first introduced me to the amazing intricacies of the human genome at Massachusetts General Hospital and inspired me to never look back. And, finally, I would like to thank the Cure Alzheimer’s Fund, for their very kind and generous support of my ongoing genetic studies of Alzheimer’s disease.