Born that way : genes, behavior, personality

Taking the nature vs. nurture debate to a new level, this fascinating, comprehensive journey into the world of genetic research and molecular biology offers a fresh assessment of the work that has been done in this relatively new field during the last half century-work that has demolished common assumptions and overturned existing theories about what determines our personality and behavior.

Critiques (4)

Critique du Publishers Weekly

In spite of fascinating material and an engaging writing style, Wright (Sins of the Father) is largely unsuccessful in his attempt to portray the current state of the nature-vs.-nurture debate as it pertains to the underlying causes of human behavior. On the positive side, Wright does a fine job of explaining the controversy between those who believe that human behavior is significantly controlled by genetic influences and those opting for the primacy of environmental factors. Similarly, his descriptions of the results, both anecdotal and scientific, of the Minnesota Twin Study of identical twins raised apart and brought back together later in life are compelling, clearly demonstrating the importance of heredity. What detracts greatly from these successes is Wright's relentless attack on those who disagree with his pro-genes position (e.g., "Richard Lewontin, one of the Not in Your Genes authors, who has repeatedly proved he needs no collaborators in his campaign of distortion"). Wright's calling his opponents "gene police," "radical environmentalists" and "genophobes" does nothing to elevate the level of the debate. And while Wright interviews and fully develops the personalities of many of the scientists on the "nature" end of the continuum, he presents caricatures of those on the "nurture" side. Nonetheless, many important public policy questions are touched on in this otherwise useful book. (June) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Critique de Kirkus

An enthusiastic, informative account of the young field of behavioral genetics that could use less of the reporter and more of the subject. Wright (The Von Bulow Affair, 1983; Lillian Hellman, 1986; etc.) acknowledges himself a nonscientist who ``roots'' for the growing view that human behavior is heavily influenced by genes, as against the traditional social science perspective that environment alone is responsible. Though this admission of journalistic bias is refreshing, Wright overdoes it: His repeated attacks on ``genophobes'' begin to sound bullying. To dismiss psychoanalysis by speaking of a ``Freudian-analytic Anschluss'' is not only overstated but unkind, given that Freud was a refugee from the actual Anschluss. Wright is better at expounding the thinking of behavioral geneticists, particularly their complex view of the interaction of environment and heredity, though his account of their research is lopsided. Most of the book's first third is devoted to an engrossing, detailed account of Thomas Bouchard's studies of reared-apart twins. The middle third too hurriedly covers other top researcherssuch as Dean Hamer, whose recent Living with Our Genes (p. 171) is less contentious and better at detailing specific gene-behavior links. The last third gives a polemical account of the historical shift from eugenics to environmentalism to behavioral genetics. Wright's criticisms of intellectually dishonest ``antigene screeds'' are well taken, but the constant jabbing takes up space that could have been filled with more data. In a concluding chapter on the implications of gene-behavior links, he unconvincingly theorizes that knowledge of these links can make people more tolerant. Maybe, but also more patronizing: In a discussion of abortion, Wright characterizes the pro-choice position as rational and high-minded, the pro-life position as a benighted one driven by genes. The book leaves one wishing to hear less from polemicists rooting for or against genes and more from scientists striving to find out exactly what genes do. (Author tour)

Critique de Booklist

Each time science reveals truths that contradict dearly held beliefs, we vehemently object. The fears aroused by revelations regarding the genetic basis for human behavior, and the extent to which inherited traits define personality, are a perfect example of this resistance. Wright deftly articulates and attempts to defuse concerns that an emphasis on genetics will jeopardizes our assumptions about individuality, free will, equality, and the potential for change, assuring us that the discovery of biochemical blueprints affecting everything from intelligence to sexuality to taste to politics are wondrous in their complexity and do nothing to diminish the meaning and distinctiveness of our lives. Having soothed (he hopes) and intrigued (no doubt) his readers, he launches into fascinating reports on major behavioral genetic research projects, including Thomas Bouchard's study of reared-apart identical twins and the work of Sandra Scarr, switching about halfway through to the work of scientists who are studying DNA directly. Precise and witty, sensitive and forward looking, Wright is an ideal guide to this complicated new science and its vast implications. --Donna Seaman

Critique du Library Journal

Following closely on the heels of Dean Hamer and Peter Copeland's Living with Our Genes (LJ 4/15/98) is another persuasive account of the extent to which genes influence human behavior. Like Hamer and Copeland, Wright summarizes recent research suggesting that genes play a far greater role in our emotional and psychological development than previously imagined. Yet he focuses on the extraordinary obstacles that geneticists and psychologists have faced in conducting, publishing, and defending their research. The author presents an especially detailed account of Bouchard's Minnesota Twin Study, which, because it demonstrates a high degree of similarity between identical twins reared apart, has been extremely controversial with "environmental determinists." Not trained as a scientist, Wright has a background in art and literature and is the author of 12 books. A gifted writer and an astute observer, he has carefully researched the issues and forcefully presented his arguments. While occasionally belaboring the recalcitrance of diehard environmentalists, Wright offers an informative and engrossing account of the fundamental shift in thinking on the nature/nurture issue. This book will nicely complement Hamer and Copeland's work in both public and academic libraries.ÄLaurie Bartolini, Illinois State Lib., Springfield (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

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