 Section 1  will introduce and discuss several key terms, such as ‘genome’ or ‘genomics’.  Section 2  will then turn to the question of what it means to read and interpret the genome. What did the sequencing and the mapping of the human genome entail and what philosophical issues arose in the context of the human genome project? How did sequencing evolve into a much larger ‘postgenomic’ enterprise and what issues did this transformation bring about? To answer the last question  Section 3  will consider two different projects, perhaps newly emerging fields, namely the HapMap project, and metagenomics. In the supplementary document  The ENCODE Project and the ENCODE Controversy,  we will look at the ENCODE project and the controversy that surrounded it. These three cases will highlight key issues that come up again and again in the context of genomics and postgenomics.