Born That Way : Genes, Behavior, Personality

Rating:
Summary: Nature vs Nurture ends in tie!
Review: Over all a very good book. It not only describes the twin studies in Minnesota, but also explains how genes influence, not determine, our behaviour.

Unfortunatly I was disapointed by the conclusion. Here the author makes some of his own speculations that really ignore facts.

He tries to state that the trouble in the former Yugoslavia is more genetic than cultural because they have been living in peace for so long. We actually don't know how they well they were getting along in a totalitarian society, and 50 years isn't even enough for one lifetime.

He also tries to say that anti-abortion sentiment might be natural, ignoring the fact that we have had ways of getting rid of unwanted children since at least the start of written history.

If it wasn't for the conclusion I would give it a 5.

Rating:
Summary: Making Sense of Our Times
Review: The central theme of this book --- that personality differences are largely (but not wholly) genetic --- is certainly ascendant. The opposing view, radical environmentalism, is increasingly seen as a lunatic fringe view within the academic community.

But "Born That Way" just isn't a very good book. Wright expends a great deal of effort excoriating radical environmentalists, and although many of his targets richly deserve this treatment, it gets boring pretty fast. This is primarily a political book, not a book about science.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful new addition to the new paradigm
Review: This book is simply riveting. I'd heard references to the Minnesota study of identical twins in many other books (Pinker's "How the Mind Works," Rich Harris's "The Nurture Assumption") but Wright's book goes into all the nitty-gritty details of the study itself, and it's just fascinating reading. It was helpful to read this book just before Matt Ridley's intense new study of behavioral genetics "Genome." Indispensible, I'd say, to those interested in the new paradigm.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting and Highly Readable
Review: Unlike other scientific books related to psychology and behavioral genetics, Mr. Wright's book does not bog down in "techno-jargon". He does a superb job at simplifying and codifying years of legitimate scienctific research regarding the genetic nudges of behavior. Having spent years myself as a psychology graduate student combing the same research, Wright is on target. The two most interesting aspects of his book is that he actually interviewed,face to face, prominent researchers in this field. Moreover, Wright adeptly outlined the history behind this turbulent subject. He put into words what I have observed for years; that some well-educated psychologists can be blinded to convincing scientific evidence. It is courageous of Mr. Wright to actually name the researchers which might have ulterior motives not to examine the evidence with an objective eye. In the end, "Born that Way", may not be the definitive book on behavioral genetics. However, it is an outstanding reference for people who wish to know more about where psychology has been and where it will soon be grounded. I certainly recommend this book to psychology students.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting and Highly Readable
Review: Unlike other scientific books related to psychology and behavioral genetics, Mr. Wright's book does not bog down in "techno-jargon". He does a superb job at simplifying and codifying years of legitimate scienctific research regarding the genetic nudges of behavior. Having spent years myself as a psychology graduate student combing the same research, Wright is on target. The two most interesting aspects of his book is that he actually interviewed,face to face, prominent researchers in this field. Moreover, Wright adeptly outlined the history behind this turbulent subject. He put into words what I have observed for years; that some well-educated psychologists can be blinded to convincing scientific evidence. It is courageous of Mr. Wright to actually name the researchers which might have ulterior motives not to examine the evidence with an objective eye. In the end, "Born that Way", may not be the definitive book on behavioral genetics. However, it is an outstanding reference for people who wish to know more about where psychology has been and where it will soon be grounded. I certainly recommend this book to psychology students.

Rating:
Summary: The best book on practical behavioral genetics
Review: William Wright does a terrific job of making a complex subject readable and readily understandable. The crux of the story revolves around Thomas Bouchard's, now famous, twin studies in Minnesota. As Wright tells the story of the remarkable similarities found between identical twins separated at birth and reunited after 20-30-40 years, one becomes stunned by the heritable clarity of traits, temperaments, abilities, intelligence, and metabolic rates and so on and so on. It's just breathtaking; so much so that's it's worth reading a second time just to make sure you didn't miss anything.

As the book progresses, Wright names the players on either side of the nature-nurture debate and what becomes clear from the outset is the astonishingly blinkered mindset of the environmentalists. Theirs is hardly a search for truth, but one of obstructing progress in order to further a socialist political agenda. Wright recounts the debates and the duels through the press, and the periodicals of the scientific community, until you're flustered with rage at the audacity of these obstructionists. Medical progress means less to these left wing scientists than the protection of their political agenda. Just amazing! It's reminiscent of the Catholic Church versus Galileo in the early 16th century. And, Wright makes it into a compelling story so easy to read, and to understand, as to make its perusal a delight.

I couldn't help seeing the same socialist obstructionist patterns in "Born That Way" as I've seen in "Constant Battles" by Leblanc re anthropology, in "Taboo" by John Entine re racial differences in athletic achievement, in Hayek's "Road to Serfdom" about free market economics vs. Socialism, in Fumento's book "the Myth of Heterosexual Aids", in Bjorn Lomborg's book "the Skeptical Environmentalist", in Charles Murray's book "Losing Ground" and Myron Magnet's book "the Dream and the Nightmare," both about the trials and failures of government policy in welfare, and in books on 30 other category's of social policy as practiced in America over the last 40 years. It's the same story of resistance that Wright found when he took it upon himself to write this excellent book about the profound debates ongoing in the nature-nurture arena.

I've enjoyed "Genome" and "Nature via Nurture" by Ridley, and "Living with our genes" by Hamer, and "The Selfish Gene" by Dawkins, but this is the book I'd recommend as the introductory read in what is becoming the biggest medical breakthrough in the history of man: the reading of the Gene String via the Human Genome project. Wow!


Rating:
Summary: In a word: Fascinating!
Review: William Wright tackles the link between genes and behavior in plain language. He makes it clear that as human beings with consciousness and choice, genes do not dictate behavior, but contribute to it. He separates the politics of the fear regarding genetic research from what we know and how we know it and how we use new information. He also discusses how researchers might avoid some methodological hazards or the accusation of fudged data (document everything!).

He says, "Most scientists take the position that knowledge is neutral, value free; the use to which it is put might be good or bad, beneficial or hurtful to society in general. First, learn as much as we can, then let society decide how new information will be used. The opponents of behavioral genetics have consistently feared such a climate of unfettered inquiry." (p. 215)

Much of this book focuses on twin studies, but Wright also describes some of the research on hormone levels and their effects. He attempts to tease out the variables of nature and nurture on specific behaviors such as intelligence, depression, and a tendency toward violence.

My reading of this book sparked a frenzy of my reading other books on twins, homosexuality, and other research on the links between genes, environment, and behavior. I highly recommend this book.

~~Joan Mazza, author of Dream Back Your Life; Dreaming Your Real Self; Things That Tick Me Off; and Exploring Your Sexual Self.

Rating:
Summary: In a word: Fascinating!
Review: William Wright tackles the link between genes and behavior in plain language. He makes it clear that as human beings with consciousness and choice, genes do not dictate behavior, but contribute to it. He separates the politics of the fear regarding genetic research from what we know and how we know it and how we use new information. He also discusses how researchers might avoid some methodological hazards or the accusation of fudged data (document everything!).

He says, "Most scientists take the position that knowledge is neutral, value free; the use to which it is put might be good or bad, beneficial or hurtful to society in general. First, learn as much as we can, then let society decide how new information will be used. The opponents of behavioral genetics have consistently feared such a climate of unfettered inquiry." (p. 215)

Much of this book focuses on twin studies, but Wright also describes some of the research on hormone levels and their effects. He attempts to tease out the variables of nature and nurture on specific behaviors such as intelligence, depression, and a tendency toward violence.

My reading of this book sparked a frenzy of my reading other books on twins, homosexuality, and other research on the links between genes, environment, and behavior. I highly recommend this book.

~~Joan Mazza, author of Dream Back Your Life; Dreaming Your Real Self; Things That Tick Me Off; and Exploring Your Sexual Self.

Rating:
Summary: Twin-study incomplete: Oversight: Non-related look-alikes!
Review: Wright's book points out the profound issues confronting behavioral geneticists during this century. Major genetic breakthroughs in explaing our behavior become easy targets for the opposition since these ideas are outside their accepted "paradigm." Where are you, Thomas Kuhn? By marking the existence of monumental social programs being constructed out of the environmentalists' control over behavioral thinking, he reminds us how a little common sense could solve our societal problems. He says that environmentalists look for external "problem" issues that allow the continuance of victim mentality. In addition, he brings us to the point where other groundbreaking questions need to be asked and answered. Can we anticipate behavior by an individual's appearance...since the way we look is hereditary?