The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature

Rating:
Summary: Crystal clear blue water of understanding
Review: Reading this book is like taking a university degree in biology, psychology, ethics and society. Along with Richard Dawkins, I think Steve Pinker is the best science writer in the world.

I like every chapter, but my favourites are:
The Many Roots of our Suffering - to know what we are, and why we feel the way we do, we must look at our evolutionary history.
Political Scientists - in which the arguments against sociobiology are dismantled.
The Voice of the Species - a wonderful merging of art and science.

Science books can often be dense and confusing - this one is like diving into the crystal clear blue water of understanding.
I can't wait for his next book!

Rating:
Summary: Theoretical Science
Review: The book started okay in describing many illogical assumptions on human nature. But it goes on to argue reason with reason and ultimately makes no point of any value. So long as we do not relate back to the stone age, what harm is there to assume the best from the simplest of us? It is one long (very long) academic essay that can be appreciated more for its research than for any original insight.

Rating:
Summary: A Dramatic New Entry in the Nature vs. Nurture Debate
Review: The idea that there are innate patterns of thinking, a hard-wired human nature that has evolved over the eons is often seen as threatening - even dangerous - so any discussion of the subject is usually controversial. Steven Pinker is a Canadian psychologist who teaches at M.I.T. and in contrast to many other academics, he enjoys sharing his knowledge and writes in a calm, lucid manner that is remarkably free of jargon. In recent years he has written extensively on the subject of cognition and both his book "The Language Instinct" on language acquisition and "How the Mind Works" which deals with behavioral science, have been well received. "The Blank Slate" is more controversial because it refutes the concept that our characters are overwhelmingly shaped by their environment, which has been popular again in recent decades. "The Blank Slate" draws on recent research in behavioral genetics, neuroscience, cognitive science and the controversial field of evolutionary psychology. Pinker, who is a true polymath, uses examples drawn from literature and pop culture to illustrate the science to show that there is a heritable and universal structure to the mind but with plenty of opportunity for individual and cultural variance. Throughout the narrative, he debunks many of hoary old theories that have been accepted as conventional wisdom. His conclusions is a threat to the left, who have adhered to the blank slate thesis because the immutability of human nature means that utopian social schemes are destined to fail in the face of an imperfectable man. The right worries that inherited traits may be used to absolve criminals of responsibility. Piker does not feel that these worries are valid. Instead, he argues that an understanding of our biology will compliment our human values rather than threaten them. Because of the breadth of the subjects that Pinker covers - gender, equality, cultural values, politics, the arts - a specialist may challenge some of his conclusions or oversimplifications, but in general, the book is a welcome and well through addition to the endless nature versus nurture debate. Jeffrey Morseburg