Synopses & Reviews
Armed with extraordinary new discoveries about our genes, acclaimed science writer Matt Ridley turns his attention to the nature-versus-nurture debate in a thoughtful book about the roots of human behavior.
Ridley recounts the hundred years' war between the partisans of nature and nurture to explain how this paradoxical creature, the human being, can be simultaneously free-willed and motivated by instinct and culture. With the decoding of the human genome, we now know that genes not only predetermine the broad structure of the brain, they also absorb formative experiences, react to social cues, and even run memory. They are consequences as well as causes of the will.
Review
“An engrossing study of what makes us who we are … conveyed with insight and style.” Publishers Weekly (starred review)
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“Thoughtful and entertaining.” Salon.com
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“Ridley is simply one of the best science writers in the business.” Hartford Courant
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“NATURE VIA NURTURE proposes a new way of looking at an ongoing debate.” Washington Post Book World
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“Terrific popular science.” Booklist (starred review)
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“Fascinating and important information from the world of science.” New York Times Book Review
Synopsis
The bestselling author of Genome chronicles a new revolution in the world's understanding of genes.
Synopsis
"Bracingly intelligent, lucid, balanced--witty, too. . . . A scrupulous and charming look at our modern understanding of genes and experience." -- Oliver Sacks
Armed with extraordinary new discoveries about our genes, acclaimed science writer Matt Ridley turns his attention to the nature-versus-nurture debate in a thoughtful book about the roots of human behavior.
Ridley recounts the hundred years' war between the partisans of nature and nurture to explain how this paradoxical creature, the human being, can be simultaneously free-willed and motivated by instinct and culture. With the decoding of the human genome, we now know that genes not only predetermine the broad structure of the brain, they also absorb formative experiences, react to social cues, and even run memory. They are consequences as well as causes of the will.
About the Author
Matt Ridley's books have been shortlisted for six literary awards, including the Los Angeles Times Book Prize (for Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters). His most recent book, The Agile Gene: How Nature Turns on Nurture, won the award for the best science book published in 2003 from the National Academies of Science. He has been a scientist, a journalist, and a national newspaper columnist, and is the chairman of the International Centre for Life, in Newcastle, England. Matt Ridley is also a visiting professor at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York.