Customer Reviews

Someone Else's Twin: The True Story of Babies Switched at Birth

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I just finished reading Someone Else's Twin - a great title, by the way!
Nancy Segal is a truly gifted investigative reporter - her research skills and knowledge add a tremendous sensibility to her lively writing style.
It is very evident that this book is a labor of love; it defines Segal's focused dedication to understanding the underpinnings of twinship.
Twenty-eight year old female identical twins inadvertently discover that they were switched at birth. The book chronicles how the lives of the twins and their families were impacted by this discovery. Segal discusses in vivid detail the psychological, legal, and sociological ramifications of such an event. Her tale is moving, and Segal does an excellent job describing how such a discovery can have both positive and negative outcomes. She presents the material in an evenhanded manner, bravely examining the joy as well as the sadness and emotional trauma involved in such a discovery in adulthood.

Top twins researcher, Nancy Segal, has, once again, managed to find the incredible drama and suspense in true twins stories. As an identical twin myself, and a journalist who recently explored the intensity and complexity of being born double, I found "Someone Else's Twin" riveting from start to finish. Segal simply has no peer when it comes to a command of multiple human beings in the world. I can't recommend it more highly.
- Abigail Pogrebin, author of "One and the Same: My Life as an Identical Twin and What I've Learned about Everyone's Struggle to be Singular."

As an adopted child, I'm extremely interested in the topic, yet Ms. Segal's dry style and repetitiveness of the information in the book bored me. In the hands of a more creative writer, the stories would've been more suspenseful and enjoyable to read. Ms. Segal spent too much time on the setup, on how she'd gotten to Canary Islands, on how wonderful her translator was, e.t.c. The speech of the family members involved in the switch sounded as if they had a Ph.D. instead of being cooks and dishwashers; it lacked authenticity.

If you're not an academic, skip this book. If you are, I can't give you advice.

I just finished reading this wonderful book. For those parents, parents-to-be, and academics interested in twins and twin research, this book is a must! Segal not only present convincing empirical support for her ideas and hypotheses of twin behavior and nature vs. nurture, but includes real life (extraordinary) cases that enrich our understanding. Her unique access to these cases makes this book super interesting. I highly recommend it!

How can someone with so much passion for such a fascinating subject write in such a dull, clumsy, tedious style? She includes boring details such as, "Jessica and I met for breakfast early in the morning on Wednesday..." and "When I returned to California, I resumed contact with both attorneys, who graciously facilitated my efforts to have the twins and Beatriz complete IQ tests" and "Delia...helped arrange two Skype interviews that allowed Scororro, Peregrina, Delia, Begona, and interpreter, my colleague Dr. Iris Blandon-Gitlin, and me to discuss my book plans."

And, all three of those spectacularly interesting quotes are just from page 167. Few other pages are better. I suggest you listen to the Fresh Air interview with Terry Gross and be done with it.

This is a fascinating book. In it Nancy Segal takes her readers on an investigative journey to discover the consequences of an accidental switch of two infants, one an identical twin. On the way, readers find out about other twin and non-twin switches and the frightening possibility that still others may never have been discovered because no identical twin was involved. Any reader is sure to come away with much more knowledge about twins and a much greater appreciation of the complex interaction of genetics, environment, and chance in determining who we are.

How would you feel if, being 28, someone arranged a meeting to have a coffee with a person who happens to be your real identical twin sister? This live changing experience is what Dr Nancy Segal brilliantly analyzes in Someone Else's Twin. Lost identities, family confrontations, legal issues and near death experiences all mixed and studied under both a clinical and a deep personal point of view. Segal has a unique skill to get inside Begoña and Delia's stories, all this thanks to her profound knowledge of twin relations and behavior. The impact of different contexts on people whose lives were dramatically changed due to a hospital mistake, the experiences of those who opened their hearts to make this book possible and the consequences of this encounter make this book a must read. Every page is full of details and teaches us life is an unexpected path.

When I first learned of this book I was very excited to read it. I'm interested in twins, and the bonds between them, and, in addition to that, I lived in Spain for 18 months. However, the book is so poorly written that it makes a very intriguing story almost tedious to read. She shares way too much information that is unimportant, and give too many of her own opions which color the way the viewer sees the people involved. Interesting story, terribly written.

Thirty-eight years ago, a set of identical twins was born in the Canary Islands. But through some confusion at the hospital, one of the baby girls the parents brought home wasn't theirs, and the mistake wasn't discovered until well after the girls reached adulthood. The revelation - that one of the "twins" wasn't even biologically related to her sister or parents, and that the real twin had been raised in a different family where she didn't belong - created a firestorm in the media even as it tore apart the lives of those involved. With "Someone Else's Twin," doctor and researcher Nancy Segal examines the circumstances that may have led to the switch, how the discovery affected the three women directly involved and their families, and the court case that followed. She also examines other examples of twins switched at birth, as well as twins reared apart for other reasons. Dr. Segal's writing is a little dry at times, but the information within this book is so fascinating that most readers will hardly notice; it is clear that she is an expert on these kinds of scenarios. This is a true human interest story that will strike a chord with parents everywhere.

Originally published for San Francisco/Sacramento Book Reviews.

I am so disappointed in this book. I thought it was a story from the real life experiences of this tragic event. This is a very poorly written document that does not bridge the gap between a research paper and a non-fiction story. Not only would I not recommend reading it. I will be telling people what a waste of time and money it is to purchase.