Innate and Acquired: Genes, Experience, and What Makes Us Human

Author: Matt Ridley
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-09-01
Features: Heaven and earth were created, the sea waves lapped the shore, fish swam in the water, birds sang joyfully, crowds of things moved on the land, but there was still no soulful, superior being that could dominate the world. At this time, Prometheus was born, endowing all things with wisdom and stealing fire from the heavens to illuminate the world (this book) gives a modern soul to an ancient debate, while also providing an excellent introduction to contemporary genetics: the feedback loops between genes and the environment are often poorly understood. Now, this plasticity, this beautiful interplay, seems crucial to how our new understanding of human nature affects public policy. This is the kind of book the times need. — Ian McEwan, renowned author, winner of the British Booker Prize and the American National Book Award Clearly explains what makes us what we are today. It is excellent to think about these recent discoveries while contemplating what we want to become, written with insight, wisdom, and a charming style. — Steven Pinker, author of "The Blank Slate" and professor of psychology at Harvard University A delightful intellectual journey, clear, fair-minded, and, of course, highly engaging. "Nature and Nurture" offers a profound and fascinating examination of our modern understanding of genes and experience. — Oliver Sacks, professor of neurology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, renowned popular science writer This is truly a captivating book! What an excellent writer he is, and he is only getting better and better. — Richard Dawkins, author of "The Selfish Gene" and "The Extended Phenotype," and professor of biology at Oxford University This book meticulously documents a new revolution in our understanding of genes. Ridley describes the believers in innate forces and the believers in environmental forces, the century-old debate over how to explain humanity's paradoxical creation—how it can possess free will while also being driven by instincts and culture. It presents an exciting and cutting-edge discussion of how genes build brains to attract experience. The book is filled with insight, wisdom, and a charming style. In February 2001, the scientific community announced that the genome contained not the 100,000 genes previously anticipated, but only 30,000. This startling revision led some scientists to conclude that human genes were actually insufficient to explain all the different ways people behave: we must be shaped more by the environment than by genetics. Biology is once again being torn apart on the Procrustes bed of the nature-nurture debate. The acclaimed science writer Matt Ridley argues that the emerging truth is far more interesting than this myth. Environmental influence depends on genes, and genes require environmental influence. Genes not only pre-specify the broad structure of the brain but also absorb shaping experiences, respond to social cues, and even operate memory. They are the cause of will. They are also the result of will. Published 50 years after the discovery of the DNA double helix, "Nature and Nurture" meticulously documents a new revolution in our understanding of genes. Ridley describes the believers in innate forces and the believers in environmental forces, the century-old debate over how to explain humanity's paradoxical creation—how it can possess free will while also being driven by instincts and culture. "Nature and Nurture" presents an exciting and cutting-edge discussion of how genes build brains to attract experience.