Entwined Lives: Twins and What They Tell Us about Human Behavior

Rating:
Summary: Double the Intrigue
Review: Despite this society's apparent fascination with twins, it's hard to find extensive literature and research on this topic. I've been looking for some time, and I'm happy to say that this one is quality. Especially interesting if you are a twin, but even if you're a singleton you'll find this hard to put down. It's fascinating to read evidence and theories about what makes each of us who we are individually, as well as what makes us human. I lost my twin before birth, which is the only area I would have liked more information on, but regardless this gave me an insight I didn't have previously.
Very well written, fairly easy to follow. I definitely plan to re-read this a few times and I've passed it on to friends & family.

Rating:
Summary: A Twin Book with More than Most
Review: I am very impressed with this book. It discusses several topics on twins that so many other books on this subject seem to miss. It also goes into great detail about often overlooked discussions on twins. It includes statistics, interviews, and a variety of research on twin studies. This book is not easy reading, though. It is written, I believe, for fellow professionals and twin researchers. It's not a "cozy, get through quick" book written for the average mom-of-twins like those that line the shelves of so many local bookstores. However, the extra time I took to read (and sometime re-read the statistics)the book was well worth it as this piece of literature left me with more information than I have received from dozens of other books on twins.

Rating:
Summary: At times interesting but more often long-wided and anecdotal
Review: In Entwined Lives, researcher Nancy Segal draws upon hundreds of case studies to explore the physical development of twins, and to tackle the thorny nature-versus-nurture question. Segal is competent and often interesting when she sticks to the former; her forays into the latter, on the other hand, are long-winded and anecdotal, and clearly highlight her shaky grasp of statistical methods, not to mention the benefits of editing.

Among the more interesting ideas raised in the book is a detailed description of the different ways in which twins develop in utero from conception onward. I also found intriguing a description of a third type of twin, one in which both siblings share their mother's, though not their father's genes. This second topic, though, is barely developed, and there is little mention of how twins of this type are identified. This is typical for the book - interesting ideas are raised and then promptly abandoned, leaving the reader with little understanding or context.

At the same time, Segal does not hesitate to make broad generalizations about genetics and socialization from small collections of anecdotes. Much of the book is devoted to demonstrating the influence of genetics upon intelligence, behaviour, and athletic ability. A chapter on twins separated at birth is well-written and its methods well-described, but it's the exception. On the whole, this section is filled with dozens of case studies and stories from which Segal draws a multitude of conclusions, some better founded than others. She has ample data to support her uncontroversial claim that genetics play a large role in determining intelligence and similarities in abilities, and belabours this obvious point for several chapters during much of the book. (Do we really need several paragraphs explaining that height and weight play a role in determining athletic ability?)

But she is just as prepared to base her theories on a story here, a fact there: one identical pair's preference for very rare meat, for instance, prompts Segal to hypothesize that not only do identical twins share preferences, but that the things they enjoy are likely to lie outside the mainstream. She also ponders at length the significance of one athletic twin claiming an Olympic gold while his cotwin ended up with the silver. After a paragraph of grade-school-level speculation, she raises the (most likely) possibility that the medal discrepancy doesn't mean anything. This book is filled with these sorts of useless, irrelevant tangents (the most bizarre involving a mention of the wholly theoretical "twins paradox" from special relativity in a section on a pair of identical astronauts) that go absolutely nowhere, and that should have been edited out of the first draft of the book. She devotes virtually no space whatsoever to explaining which of her data are statistically meaningful, but rambles at length about very minor aspects of her methodology, such as choosing the most suitable acronym to denote biologically unrelated same-age siblings.

The stories in Entwined Lives make for entertaining, if light, reading, and would have been more enjoyable if Segal didn't keep interrupting them with unsupported generalizations, or with the dozens of "see? Genetics ARE important" assertions that appear over and over again. And the scientific data would have been more useful had it been better, or more rigorously developed. As a book about human behaviour, which it claims to be, it is too long, and explains too little.

Rating:
Summary: Nature trumps nurture!
Review: The extraordinary point about this book is that the twins research proved very decisively that nature is definitely the overwhelming deciding factor of our IQ, character, personality, etc., and not nurture. So, this book puts an end to the debate of "nature vs. nurture." This is a book that is better than a thousand other books.

Before reading this book, I wasn't clear whether nature has more effect on human development or nurture. There are so many theories and arguments for one or the other from ancient to the modern times. After reading this book, I am cleared that the research results from the identical twins separated at birth showed that nature is the most important factor in our human development.

Why does a person become a carpenter, a plumber, or a professor? The enviroment may have something to do with it, but the biggest factor is his/her inborn traits/talents.

This is a book that must be read by all educators, politicans, social scientists, and above all, parents. We will save ourselves from wasted energies, financial resources, frustrations, and useless social engineering if we try more to find out what nature has given us. Please don't get me wrong. Nurture is important, but it has to be done according to the nature's gifts to a person. In other words, "Nuture accoording to nature." We should nurture what is in the nature, not what is not there, or what is there but faintly.

I highly recommend another book, "Your natural gifts" (A new edition is published in 2002). It should be read together with this excellent book on twins.

Rating:
Summary: Too Technical - Could have been condensed into 2 chapters
Review: The first 2 chapters were informative and enlightening - much of what is exhibited by twins is genetic - however it just went on and on for the next several chapters. I have 1yr. old identical twin boys and thought that I would get more insightful information, it was too clinical and "research-ie" in tone. I would not recommend this if you are looking for a pleasant read.

Rating:
Summary: Fascinating
Review: This book provides an encyclopedic overview of research about twins. When I first opened the book, my initial reaction was "ouch", because of the densely packed font. The reason for the denseness is that Segal has so many topics to cover and so much information to share with us that the letters had to be squeezed to get it all into one volume. But not to fear - - there are pictures sprinkled throughout the text.

Segal, a twin herself, has been researching twins for over 20 years, since her undergraduate studies. This book sums up much of that research in a format that is approachable by general audiences (and includes extensive endnotes to help interested readers find the studies that are cited). The many topics in her book include: identical twins, fraternal twins, twins reared apart, children adopted together, conjoined twins, non-human twins, friendship between twins, loss of a twin, famous twins, mental skills, athletic skills, and behavioral traits.

One of the most interesting results of Segal's and others' twin research is the strong influence that genes have on intelligence, behavioral traits, and athletic ability. Segal reports that identical twins, reared together or apart, are remarkably similar in these areas, and become more so as they get older. The similarity is weaker with fraternal twins, siblings, and cousins, and hardly found at all between unrelated same-aged children raised together. Certain health factors on the other hand, seem to be more dependent on environmental factors and life choices than on genetics, such as aging of the skin and heart disease. Many of Segal's results come from research on identical twins reared apart, in whom strong similarities point to genetic programming since the environments in which they were raised were different. The logical opposite of identical twins reared apart is unrelated same-aged children reared together, in whom any similarities would suggest environmental influences. Segal has a short chapter on such siblings, but this area could really use more research to complement what has been done with twins reared apart.

This book is absolutely fascinating for what it says, not only about twins and other multiples, about the siblings and parents of twins, about adopted children, but also about humans in general.

Rating:
Summary: Fascinating
Review: This book provides an encyclopedic overview of research about twins. When I first opened the book, my initial reaction was "ouch", because of the densely packed font. The reason for the denseness is that Segal has so many topics to cover and so much information to share with us that the letters had to be squeezed to get it all into one volume. But not to fear - - there are pictures sprinkled throughout the text.

Segal, a twin herself, has been researching twins for over 20 years, since her undergraduate studies. This book sums up much of that research in a format that is approachable by general audiences (and includes extensive endnotes to help interested readers find the studies that are cited). The many topics in her book include: identical twins, fraternal twins, twins reared apart, children adopted together, conjoined twins, non-human twins, friendship between twins, loss of a twin, famous twins, mental skills, athletic skills, and behavioral traits.

One of the most interesting results of Segal's and others' twin research is the strong influence that genes have on intelligence, behavioral traits, and athletic ability. Segal reports that identical twins, reared together or apart, are remarkably similar in these areas, and become more so as they get older. The similarity is weaker with fraternal twins, siblings, and cousins, and hardly found at all between unrelated same-aged children raised together. Certain health factors on the other hand, seem to be more dependent on environmental factors and life choices than on genetics, such as aging of the skin and heart disease. Many of Segal's results come from research on identical twins reared apart, in whom strong similarities point to genetic programming since the environments in which they were raised were different. The logical opposite of identical twins reared apart is unrelated same-aged children reared together, in whom any similarities would suggest environmental influences. Segal has a short chapter on such siblings, but this area could really use more research to complement what has been done with twins reared apart.

This book is absolutely fascinating for what it says, not only about twins and other multiples, about the siblings and parents of twins, about adopted children, but also about humans in general.

Rating:
Summary: Fascinating
Review: This is a fascinating view into the world of twins. It wouldn't have been complete without all the pictures. I felt that it covered every aspect about twins that one could possibly be interested in. However, I was hungry for more personal stories about the similarities and differences of twins in their own words. I also wished there had been more solid black and white percentage results given from the twin tests the author talked so much about. If it took days to give these tests, I would have liked to have seen some hard results.

Rating:
Summary: Though the book is interesting, the research is incomplete!
Review: What a wonderful read! A provacative, insightful look directly into the lives of twins, this book focuses on the years of research invested by its author. While including the obvious twin themes (zygosity identification, twin relationships, etc...), Segal also explores more provocative issues like cloning, sexual preference, and intelligence. This is not a "How To" manual, but rather an informative, intriguing analysis of twin lives as "laboratories" and what they tell us about the nature/nurture debate and human behavior.
Heavily footnoted, "Entwined Lives" also includes many case studies and interesting stories of individual twin relationshps. While the author betrays a definate bias toward evolutionary analysis, the book is a fascinating read for not only those with a special twin in their life, but for anyone interested in human behavior & development.

Rating:
Summary: Finally! A twin book with substance!
Review: What a wonderful read! A provacative, insightful look directly into the lives of twins, this book focuses on the years of research invested by its author. While including the obvious twin themes (zygosity identification, twin relationships, etc...), Segal also explores more provocative issues like cloning, sexual preference, and intelligence. This is not a "How To" manual, but rather an informative, intriguing analysis of twin lives as "laboratories" and what they tell us about the nature/nurture debate and human behavior.
Heavily footnoted, "Entwined Lives" also includes many case studies and interesting stories of individual twin relationshps. While the author betrays a definate bias toward evolutionary analysis, the book is a fascinating read for not only those with a special twin in their life, but for anyone interested in human behavior & development.