[4] The book was marketed as an ideal supplement to a previous volume in the series, Darwin for Beginners, written by Jonathan Miller and illustrated by Borin Van Loon.

[1] After it went out-of-print, Icon Books, the UK based publishers of the series commissioned Genetics for Beginners, written by Steve Jones and illustrated by Van Loon, to fulfil this role from 1993.

"[6] Stanley Shostack, writing in The European Legacy, while generally positive, concluded that, due to the ambiguity, the revised edition is, "probably not a stand-alone introduction for interested non-students.

"[5] The Harvard Crimson reviewer confirmed that the authors "provide precision with an English brevity of expression," and that "the text can remain simple and straightforward and avoid the eye-catching exaggeration all too common in science journalism.

"[7] Cian O'Luanaigh, writing in New Scientist, conversely claimed the book, "reads more like an abridged textbook," where "text dominate[s] at the expense of images," and concluded that, "comic-book fans should seek their biology elsewhere.