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: 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: A Marvelous Book about Twins--and non-Twins
Review: This is the best book ever written about twins. It provides a synthesis of the scientific literature written by a scholar who is herself one of the experts in the field of twin studies and the writing, unlike that of many scholars, is elegant. One will find all of the fascinating stories about twins that often captivate the imagination of laymen, even some that are little known, such as identical twins of different sexes, or twins who marry one another (by accident, of course). Any twin or parent of twins (both of which I am) will find the book irresistable, but even people with no particular concern for twins may well find this book of great interest because the book is not simply a compendium of twin stories, but is rather an attempt to discern the origins of human behavior--why people are they way they are. Though traits like eye color are determined by one's genes, while the particular language one speaks is determined exclusively by the environment, much of human behavior is the product of the complex interaction of genes and environment. For example, studies of identical twins indicate that homosexuality is influenced by one's genes but is not strictly determined by them. This is because if one identical twin is gay, the other twin has a one in two chance of being gay, whereas for non-twins (or non-identical twins) the odds would be something like one in ten. The import of twin studies for many other aspects of human behavior is discussed in detail. Anyone interested either in twins or the origin of human behavior will find this book both fascinating and informative. It will certainly be the definitive study of twins for the foreseeable future.
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.
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