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The Genius in All of Us: New Insights into Genetics, Talent, and IQ Kindle Edition

by
David Shenk (Author)
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David Shenk (Author)
88 customer reviews
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Length: 401 pages
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Product Details

  • File Size: 1715 KB
  • Print Length: 401 pages
  • Page Numbers Source ISBN: B00B9ZJL0A
  • Publisher: Anchor (March 3, 2010)
  • Publication Date: March 9, 2010
  • Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
  • Language: English
  • ASIN: B0036S4CHA
  • Text-to-Speech: Not enabled
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  • Word Wise: Not Enabled
  • Lending: Not Enabled
  • Enhanced Typesetting: Not Enabled
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #439,562 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

82 of 95 people found the following review helpful
Well written, with a vital message
By Marcus Anthony on April 21, 2010
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
"This book is not a dispassionate presentation of all scientific points of view. Instead it embraces the arguments of the Interactionists, whose views I came to trust most after much reading, conversation and consideration."(p. 148)

So writes David Shenk in The Genius in All of Us, and true to his word he is. Shenk's book is not a strictly scientific investigation of intelligence or giftedness, but a personal presentation for the case that intelligence is highly malleable, and that it emerges from the interaction of genes and environment. His case differs from many mainstream representations of intelligence in that he finds environment plays a far greater role than many intelligence theorists acknowledge. Intelligence, states Shenk, is a process, more so than a discrete entity which sits in the physical structure of the brain. He writes:

"...intelligence isn't fixed. Intelligence isn't general. Intelligence is not a thing. Intelligence is a dynamic, diffuse and ongoing process." (p.42)

So, David Shenk does not even attempt to be even-handed, and barely addresses the criticisms to the interactionist position. Some readers won't like the book for that reason.

I had no problem with reading the book. There is no law which says that a non-fiction book has to take a critical approach to its own thesis. If you are looking for a look at the arguments from multiple perspectives, this is not the book for you. You might instead try Howard Gardner's Intelligence: Multiple Perspectives, or Ken Richardson's brilliant little book, The Making of Intelligence (though both books largely comply with Shenk's position). These are very readable and concise volumes.Read more ›
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76 of 90 people found the following review helpful
Neo-Lysenkoism for dummies
By Jack on October 27, 2012
Format: Hardcover
"Sophisticated people sneer at feel-good comedies and saccharine romances in which all loose ends are tied and everyone lives happily ever after. Life is nothing like that, we note, and we look to the arts for edification about the painful dilemmas of the human condition. Yet when it comes to the science of human beings, this same audience says: Give us schmaltz!"-Steven Pinker

1. MISUNDERSTANDING HERITABILITY

In the first chapter of The Genius in All of Us David Shenk writes that Charles Murray and Richard Herrnstein (henceforth, M&H), the authors of The Bell Curve, "fundamentally misinterpreted a number of studies, becoming convinced that roughly 60 percent of each person's intelligence comes directly from his or her genes." For at least two reasons, this claim is not a very auspicious start for a book that purports to challenge the vast research literature showing that genetic differences are important determinants of success. Firstly, no such claim is made anywhere in The Bell Curve. On the contrary, M&H write (p. 106) that "heritability describes something about a population of people, not an individual. It makes no more sense to talk about the heritability of an individual's IQ than it does to talk about his birthrate." Secondly, the fact that Shenk nevertheless thinks that M&H's thesis is that "60 percent of each person's intelligence comes directly from genes" indicates that Shenk does not understand what it means to say, as M&H do, that the HERITABILITY of a trait is such and such.

Heritability is a measure of the extent that DIFFERENCES among individuals have genetic causes, not a measure of the extent that genes have contributed to any individual's ontogenic development.Read more ›
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14 of 16 people found the following review helpful
An effective deconstruction of hereditary talent, and clues for a new model of exceptional ability
By Todd I. Stark VINE VOICE on May 15, 2010
Format: Hardcover
It is easy to like or dislike this book from a casual reading based on how you feel about the premise: that everyone has the potential for genius, and that heredity is not destiny in any sense.
This sounds at first like a liberal political statement, but Shenk's treatment is far more nuanced than that characterization would imply.

In brief, Shenk's book is a very good deconstruction of hereditary talent, a competent but one-sided (or upon reflection I'll say very selectively focused) review of supporting research in several fields, and an interesting but abbreviated practical introduction to the interactionist (gene X environment) paradigm of development.

Just to be clear, this book is not about the psychometric definition of genius in terms of how far down the bell curve one is on Raven's Progressive Matrices or standardized tests of any sort. Nor is it about clever calculating tricks or precocious abilities, although it does do a very nice job putting those into a larger perspective. This book is more centrally about the expansive and inclusive sense of genius meaning people that accomplish something truly special and significant, and the potential that any given person may be able to get to that point. Somehow. And that's where the nuance is needed and appropriate.

Ok, I didn't like this book all that much when I first read it, and I at first gave it a mediocre 3 star rating on Amazon. I felt it did a great job deconstructing the concept of hereditary talent, but I strongly criticized it for leaving a gap where we need a better theory of where talent comes from and what it is, since obviously we don't all become true geniuses.Read more ›
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

Five Stars

Awesome!!!

Published 3 months ago by Charles S.
Five Stars

if you don't have it...buy it

Published 4 months ago by Royce PATTON
The author needs to understand the concept of science vs theory

For full disclosure, I started to read this book, but I just couldn't will myself to finish it. Actually, I did a cost benefit analysis and realized that the time required to read... Read more

Published 8 months ago by Harry M. Shin
Perhaps I will start giving this book as a gift for moms-to-be

Dear Mr. Shenk,
Thank you for your awesome book.
I was one of the people who believed that talent was mostly genetic. Read more

Published 9 months ago by Yasmin
Fantastic book! I checked this book out from the ...

Fantastic book! I checked this book out from the library and found it to be such a monumental book that I had to buy my own copy. Read more

Published 10 months ago by joeshmow
Remarkably good. Inspiring

Remarkably good. Inspiring, eye-opening and encouraging. Demonstrates that we all have opportunities to excel. Read more

Published 10 months ago by Phil the entrepreneur
Compelling and slightly more optimistic.

The book is well written and the implications are compelling. I like that it takes on a different perspective on this controversial and intriguing topic. Read more

Published 15 months ago by S.V.T
Is it possible

This book could show us the potential genius in all of us. Is possible to develop the talent. Yes. Are their gifted child that can do it. In my option yes. Read more

Published 16 months ago by Amazon Customer
Love the Content; Not fond of the Format

Content and Context: David Shenk’s The Genius in All of Us gives the reader the (compelling) opportunity to act upon Socrates’ quote “The unexamined life is not worth living” by... Read more

Published 16 months ago by DoubleM
Fascinating

I loved this book and gobbled it up. The message is an inspiring one: geniuses are made, not born. Readable and life-changing.

Published 17 months ago by Captain Critical

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