Dna And Destiny [Hardcover]

R. Grant Steen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 21, 1996

The Bell Curve has sparked a fiery debate over the origins of human intelligence and the roots of human behavior. Does nature determine intelligence so completely that we should give up on the disadvantaged? Or can intelligence and positive human behavior be fostered by intellectual nourishment and emotional support? In short, to what degree is DNA our destiny? Dr. Grant Steen - popular science writer and respected medical researcher - has drawn together the best and most cutting-edge research to gain insight into the effect of genes and the environment. He provides up-to-the-minute answers to some of the most important and explosive questions facing society today: How much of intelligence is inherited and how much is it a result of environment? Is violence borne in the genes or does it result from poor upbringing? Is homosexuality an inborn trait? What role does gender play in our intellectual abilities? What evidence is there that alcoholism and drug addiction are hereditary? This book shows that, to understand the human condition better, we must develop a keener appreciation for the subtle interactions between nature and nurture. First, Dr. Steen confronts the dark history of eugenics, and the horrifying legacy of the Nazis. He then proceeds to illuminate the latest advances in molecular biology and behavioral genetics. He explains fascinating results that have emerged from "split-twin" experiments, in which eerie parallels were found between twins separated at birth. He clarifies how the Human Genome Project might help create a new understanding of the human condition and how it may ultimately help alleviate some of the major health and even behavioral problems facing society today.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In a useful, opinionated, accessible survey of the nature-versus-nurture controversy, Steen, a Tennessee medical researcher in brain physiology, argues that human behavior is roughly half the result of genes and half the result of the environment, with an ongoing interplay between the two forces. He reviews recent research suggesting that children structure their own environments, selecting milieus congruent with heritable personality traits and proclivities. Steen defends intelligence tests as a measure of general problem-solving ability, but he attacks Richard Herrnstein's and Charles Murray's bestseller The Bell Curve as a pseudoscientific legitimization of racism. He finds the evidence of a genetic and hormonal basis for homosexuality to be fairly compelling. Alcoholism, he maintains, is a disease to which many people inherit a genetic susceptibility, although family environment plays a strong causative role. His synthesis touches on many topics, from cognitive and emotional differences between men and women to transsexuality, eugenics, sociobiology and a reported link between attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder and criminality.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"A satisfying overview of such topics as heritability of traits, environmental influences, sexual orientation, and mental illness." -- Discover magazine --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 295 pages
• Publisher: Da Capo Press (March 21, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 030645260X
• ISBN-13: 978-0306452604
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,846,690 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Delivers, May 7, 1999

By 

SeanFurl (San Francisco) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dna And Destiny (Hardcover)

Excellent look at the question of "Nature Versus Nurture In Human Behavior", assuming you like getting facts and percentages from good quantitative studies, and you'd also like to know why the studies were good, and you don't want any speculative unified theories. It rambles off the point from time to time, though I found it rambles fairly engagingly myself. My favorite item in the book is about schizophrenia in identical twins. If one identical twin has it, the chances the other has it are around 1 in 3. When one with and one without the disease are looked at with magnetic resonance imaging it can be seen that their brains are significantly different in structure and function.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Nothing new, February 21, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Dna And Destiny (Hardcover)

This book has nothing that I was looking for...
It's not very well fundamented on scientific studies, nor it is a thourough study of what Nature (genes) and Nurture (environment, education) can influence you.

It's just a fun reading for a weekend, nothing more.

The author just finalizes by saying that it's not anyone's fault that they are what they are... and they can't blame their parents for their inherited genes or by the education they had, because parents allways hope for the best...

Nothing new...