This is a book review of Biologie in der DDR: Beiträge zur 24. Jahrestagung der DGGTB in Greifswald 2015 edited by Michael Kaasch, Joachim Kaasch & Torsten K. D. Himmel. The book is a collection of contributions to the 24th annual meeting of the German Society for the History and Theory of Biology. While some discuss biology per se in the GDR, most are concerned with the politics of science or the influence of key individuals. While some aspects parallel those in other communist-bloc countries, the GDR was unique in that it had, in the FRG, a counterpart with a common language and history; some of the contributions address this aspect explicitly. Amongst the topics touched on in this volume are old and new loyalties, cooperation and competition, reforms between modernization and conformity, generational shifts, and international networks. The fate of Lysenkoism amongs East German scientists is also discussed within this broad framework. I am not a biologist, and though I have a broad interest in science and its history, and have lived in (West) Germany since 1983, the contents of this book (only some of which are mentioned above) were almost entirely new to me. Despite what one might expect from such conference proceedings (whether or not one is interested in the material), the book is enjoyable to read, helped by the fact that there are almost no typos, nor other technical or mistakes, nor examples of bad style.