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OverviewTaking 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. Full Product DetailsAuthor: William WrightPublisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd Imprint: Routledge Dimensions: Width: 15.20cm , Height: 2.20cm , Length: 22.90cm Weight: 0.453kg ISBN: 9780415924948ISBN 10: 0415924944 Pages: 320 Publication Date: 09 August 2021 Audience: College/higher education , General/trade , Tertiary & Higher Education , General Format: Paperback Publisher's Status: Active Availability: In Print  This item will be ordered in for you from one of our suppliers. Upon receipt, we will promptly dispatch it out to you. For in store availability, please contact us. Table of ContentsReviewsAn intriguing survey of genetic influence. - The Bookwatch, October 1999 A stimulating and highly readable introduction to the nature-nurture debate. . . . Essential for those who want to keep pace with the rapidly evolving sciences that seek to tell us exactly who we are. -The New York Times Book Review ... well-written and forceful. -Washington Times A gifted writer and an astute observer...offers an informative and engrossing account. -Library Journal Precise and witty, sensitive and forward looking. -Booklist An intriguing survey of genetic influence. <br>- The Bookwatch, October 1999 <br> A stimulating and highly readable introduction to the nature-nurture debate. . . . Essential for those who want to keep pace with the rapidly evolving sciences that seek to tell us exactly who we are. <br>-The New York Times Book Review <br>... well-written and forceful. <br>-Washington Times <br> A gifted writer and an astute observer...offers an informative and engrossing account. <br>-Library Journal <br> Precise and witty, sensitive and forward looking. <br>-Booklist <br> An intriguing survey of genetic influence. - The Bookwatch, October 1999 A stimulating and highly readable introduction to the nature-nurture debate. . . . Essential for those who want to keep pace with the rapidly evolving sciences that seek to tell us exactly who we are. -The New York Times Book Review ... well-written and forceful. -Washington Times A gifted writer and an astute observer...offers an informative and engrossing account. -Library Journal Precise and witty, sensitive and forward looking. -Booklist An intriguing survey of genetic influence. -- The Bookwatch, October 1999 A stimulating and highly readable introduction to the nature-nurture debate. . . . Essential for those who want to keep pace with the rapidly evolving sciences that seek to tell us exactly who we are. -- The New York Times Book Review ...well-written and forceful. -- Washington Times A gifted writer and an astute observer...offers an informative and engrossing account. -- Library Journal Precise and witty, sensitive and forward looking. -- Booklist 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 researchers - such 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. (Kirkus Reviews) Author InformationWilliam Wright grew up in Philadelphia and graduated from Yale University. He is the author of many books and articles. Wright lives in Bucks County, Pennsylvania and Key West, Florida. Tab Content 6Author Website:Countries AvailableAll regions |
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