The Spirit in the Gene: Humanity's Proud Illusion and the Laws of Nature (Comstock Book) [Hardcover]

Reg Morrison (Author), Lynn Margulis (Foreword)

Book Description

Series: Comstock Book | Publication Date: May 1999

...describes how a spiritual outlook combined with a capacity for rational thought have enabled Homo sapiens to prosper through the millennia

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Photojournalist Morrison (Australians Exposed, etc.) turns his attention to science writing in an attempt to describe and understand the world's growing ecological crisis. Though he writes with conviction and passion, he seems very much out of his depth when discussing scientific material. Morrison does an impressive job of summarizing the ways in which humans are altering the planet. He touches on the importance of biodiversity, the declining quality of agricultural lands, ozone destruction, global warming, acid precipitation and overpopulation, as well as a host of other critical issues. But the bulk of his book centers on his belief that virtually every aspect of our behavior is under strict genetic control. We are, in his terms, a plague animal, destined by our genes to reproduce abundantly and then, after destroying our environment, to endure a decimation of the species. As a metaphor, this is powerful stuff. Morrison isn't arguing metaphorically, however; rather, he contends that evolution, which he anthropomorphizes, is pushing us in this direction to protect the rest of the planet from our depredations. His conviction that genes dictate behavior lead him to political conclusions that are, by most lights, distressing. After saying that Hitler's policies arose from his lack of interest in sexual promiscuity, Morrison asserts that "national leaders who are discreetly promiscuous are merely displaying reassuring evidence of their well-balanced ambition and general genetic fitness for leadership." The kindest accurate description of this book is offered by Lynn Margulis in her very brief foreword, in which she refers to Morrison's ideas as "idiosyncratic." 49 b&w photos, 22 drawings, one map.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 286 pages
• Publisher: Cornell University Press (May 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0801436516
• ISBN-13: 978-0801436512
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,068,093 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Reg Morrison was born in England in 1934, and lived in Sri Lanka until 1944 when his family fled to Australia as war refugees. He became interested in photography as a 13-year-old Melbourne schoolboy, and finished his formal education at Mill Hill in London. After 15 years on the staff of two West Australian Newspapers he moved to Sydney and switched to book illustration. He has worked on assignments in India, south-east Asia, Hawaii and America, and
for the past 30 years he has specialized in evolutionary and environmental matters in Australia. During the 1980s he compiled a major coffee-table book that outlined the geological and biological evolution of this ancient continent and has subsequently distilled that research into two High School science resources. His last general-market book, 'The Spirit in the Gene' (Cornell University Press, 1999), summarized the impact that humans have had on the biosphere and explored the genetic origins of the behaviour that produced this impact. He continues to expand on this work via his website at www.regmorrison.id.au.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exactly what is happening and why you don't believe it., October 1, 2001

By 

Ron Patterson (Huntsville, Al USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Spirit in the Gene: Humanity's Proud Illusion and the Laws of Nature (Comstock Book) (Hardcover)

Reg Morrison tells us, in this book, not only what is happening to the world's ecosystem but he also tells us why most people do not believe it. Morrison lays it out step by step. He explains why the population, in the last century has grown at such an exponential rate, and why that growth will soon come to an end....and head dramatically in the other direction. But one of the most important things covered in this book is why we refuse to believe the obvious, why we are doomed to repeat the mistakes of the Easter Islanders and refuse to believe that our actions must inevitably lead to a dramatic population collapse.

Morrison tells it like it is, we are by nature anthropocentric and have ultimate faith in the ability of Homo sapiens to overcome any difficulty. Faith, Morrison tells us, is the magic ingredient that enables to make that wondrous leap from grim reality into the totally bloody ridiculous. So those who have given this book one star are the true believers. They have criticized it because they say it smacks of genetic determinism, a term invented by the critics of sociobiology, and not subscribed to by sociobiologists themselves. Or they have criticized the book because it does not offer a rosy picture where we are all saved by the wonders of science. Morrison paints science as one of the culprits in the rape of the world and not our ultimate savior. That is a message that raises the ire of many a true believer.

Yet all Morrison is trying to tell us is that what has happened many times in the past on a much smaller scale, is happening again on a worldwide scale. And it will happen because our population has already reached plague proportions and is now way beyond any sustainable level.

This is the very best book I have read in years, and I read an awful lot of books.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The elusive beast within, May 26, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: The Spirit in the Gene: Humanity's Proud Illusion and the Laws of Nature (Comstock Book) (Hardcover)

Reg Morrison summarizes in succinct and personal polemic style what problems the human race really faces, and does a good job of unmasking the nature of our mystically constructed delusions. It is a short book for covering such a broad sweep of our evolutionary and cultural heritage. Possibly some minor details are amiss, but the message is clear. For such an ultimately pessimistic view of what we prize most about ourselves, its punches are well delivered.
According to Morrison, globalism is heading for global ecological collapse under the weight of the human plague, and will be followed by massive decline in human numbers, if not outright extinction. As the situation gets more dire, the search for mental escape in our mystical beliefs in culture-land, nationalism, media will increase, not decrease. We will be all mentally "off the planet" by the time we are kicked off it.

Taking his presentation of facts and conclusions seriously means that the present course of human affairs is still heading for disaster. I present some conclusions of the book. Reg debunks some of our cherished mystical beliefs, and counterpoises his grim facts, and I present here his main conclusions.
Belief 1. Humans have spiritual autonomy and are therefore accountible for their actions.
Fact 1. We are genetically driven just like any other animal. We have no mind other than the body, and we lack behavioural choice.
Belief 2. The environment is inherently stable and will rebound if given half a chance.
Fact 2. The environment is a chaotic system and is therefore inherently unstable and always has been. If it were not so, evolution could not have occurred. Rebound is a not characteristic of the system.
Belief 3. With enough moral courage, political will and technical know how, time and money, the environment could be repaired.
Fact 3. Most environmental damage is inevitable product of overpopulation. The more technological the attempted solutions, the greater the environmental debt. All human activity adds to environmental debt.

We fall for the false beliefs most of the time, because humans have a split brain, with "two spheres of awareness available to us, with two entirely separate behaviour control systems, one rational and one entirely non-rational.... ". Unfortunately for the human species " ... the rational brain should be viewed, not as the principal generator of behaviour and the pivot on which the species turns, but as an optional extra designed to be switched off the moment any serious evolutionary matters, such as genetic survival or propagation, arise."
The best course for human species survival would be a global, concious coordinated reduction in human environmental impact, and a strong reduction in birth rate. Instead we are probably going to get conflict, continued exploitation to death and extinction, with war and upheavals on the scale of the Biblical Revelations. As Reg says, "All species must fail eventually, especially the very successful ones, or the whole system will grind to a halt". Reg hopes we will wipe ourselves out quickly as plagues tend to do, so the system can carry on without us.

15 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars #1 Best-Seller if we "get it!" (Don't hold your breath....), December 27, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Spirit in the Gene: Humanity's Proud Illusion and the Laws of Nature (Comstock Book) (Hardcover)

Reg Morrison has been able to take a few basic scientific proofs, put them together and achieve a conclusion that no scientist can argue with. Yet humanity is so amazingly, head-buttingly programmed to believe itself mystically created and guided that most readers will be unable to drop those "self-importance" blinders even as they read this simple truth. He realizes that fact, and realizes also that it doesn't matter.

We are what we are, and we're going where we're going. Changing our "progress" to give the human branch (of our real species) a longer stretch on earth would be quite undesirable as far as nature is concerned. There is no choice in the matter - we do what comes naturally. In our case, that would be self-extinction on the double-quick. Hey, don't worry about it!