Twins: And What They Tell Us About Who We Are [Paperback]

Lawrence Wright (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0471296449 | ISBN-13: 978-0471296447 | Publication Date: January 27, 1999 | Edition: 1

A New York Times Notable Book for 1998

Critical acclaim for Lawrence Wright's

A Rhone-Poulenc Science Prize Finalist

"This is a book about far more than twins: it is about what twins can tell us about ourselves."—The New York Times

"With plenty of amazing stories about the similarities and differences of twins, Wright respectfully shows, too, how their special circumstance in life challenges our notions of individuality. A truly fascinating but sometimes spooky (Mengele's experiments with twins at Auschwitz figure among Wright's examples) study."—American Library Association

"Like so much of Wright's work, this book is a pleasure to read. Because he writes so well, without pushing a particular point of view, he soon has you pondering questions you have tended to comfortably ignore."—Austin American-Statesman

"Informative and entertaining . . . a provocative subject well considered by a talented journalist."—Kirkus Reviews

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Twins and their implications are illuminated by a staff reporter for the New Yorker in this compelling, well-researched overview. Anchoring the reader in the historical mystique of twinship, Wright (Remembering Satan) documents humanity's low point in studying the special nature and possibilities of twins by recapping the horrific experiments of Josef Mengele. Wright proceeds to outline the newest research being conducted regarding twins, describing how separated-twin studies have thrown open the door on the nature-vs.-nurture debate. This is tricky ground fraught with political and social-policy land mines, but Wright does an admirable job of sorting through the differing research in a well-reasoned, clearheaded manner. He also provides a plethora of anecdotes of eerie similarities between twins separated at birth, such as personal habits and choices in spouses and careers. One notable British pair who were reunited later in life shared such puzzling traits and life events as frugality, marriage to men they met at local dances at age 16 and an avoidance of voting, except for a single instance when they worked as polling clerks. They even shared the habit of pushing their noses up, which they inexplicably called "squidging." Clear and compulsively readable, Wright's slim book sheds light on the allure of twinship: "The fantasized twin that we carry about in our minds is not only an idealized partner in the experience of being who we are, he is also a means of escape from the life we are living." Informative if brief, it shows us that even in identical lives there is no escape from the solitary experience of selfhood. For those seeking more information, Wright's extensive bibliography offers a treasure trove of leads.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From School Library Journal

YA-Twin girls are given up for adoption. One is doted on, the center of her upper-middle-class family's existence, the other is subtly rejected by her mother, and is not the center of her lower-class family's life. Which would most likely be the one described as, "tense, demanding...clinging to her blanket...crying when left alone"? Surprisingly, the description aptly describes both girls. Wright presents the conflicting, and often confounding results from twin studies done primarily over the last 50 years. Most people have heard the stories of separated twins (and one well-publicized case of triplets) being reunited as adults only to find astonishing similarities in their habits and personalities. The "nature versus nurture" debate has yet to be settled; if anything the studies add confusion to the mix. Wright offers summaries of research and the stories of researchers themselves; conclusions reached and discarded, and describes why twin studies fascinate us. The "shared" and "nonshared" environments of identical twins, and the differences in development that result from these experiences, offer new insight. The book serves up questions such as: "Do our genes determine our personality?" "How much, if any, effect do parents have on the personalities of their children?" These questions are not answered; readers are left to ponder the possibilities and draw their own conclusions.
Carol DeAngelo, Garcia Consulting Inc., EPA Headquarters, Washington, DC
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 202 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (January 27, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471296449
• ISBN-13: 978-0471296447
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #218,672 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #64 in Books > Parenting & Relationships > Family Relationships > Siblings

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Everyone should read this book., April 26, 1999

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Twins: And What They Tell Us About Who We Are (Paperback)

An open-minded reading of this book will change the way you think about yourself and everyone you know. It's not just about identical twins, but about all of us, and what makes us who we are. I've read many books about twin research, and this is the best.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A book that ends "nurture vs. nature" debate, October 8, 2007

By 

John H. Hwung (Fair Oaks, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Twins: And What They Tell Us About Who We Are (Hardcover)

This is a unique book, a book that worth its weight in gold. All parents should read this book. All politicians and policy-makers should read this book. All school teachers should read this book. All social scientists should read this book. Why? Because this is the book that could end all debates on nature vs. nurture.

Identical twins are, in a sense, best gifts nature can give us to understand about ourselves especially if they were reared apart. This affords us to investigate whether environments and socioeconomic backgrounds, or the genetics have greater or major influence over our personalities, political and religious inclinations and so on.

This book mainly details studies done by Dr. Peter Neubauer (chapters 1 and 3 -- four sets of identical twins plus one set of identical triplets) and Dr. Thomas J. Bouchard (chapter 4 -- sixty six pairs of identical twins and two sets of identical triplets). Other major studies were also cited in this book.

The amazing conclusion from these studies showed that despite the different socioeconomic backgrounds and environments these twins and triplets were raised, they have, in many, many aspects, become the same person. This proves that nurture has very little to do with forming our personality, interests, inclinations, etc. and that nature is the dominate factor. Here is a quote from the last chapter of this book:

"We think we are born with the potential to be many things, and to behave in an infinite variety of ways, and that we consciously navigate a path through the obstacles and opportunities that life presents us with, through a faculty we called freewill. But when we read about twins who have been separated at birth and reunited in middle age only to discover that in many respects, they have become the same person. It suggests that ... The experiences that we presume have shaped us are little more than ornaments or curiosities we have picked up along the way and that the injunctions of our parents or the traumas of our youth that we believed to have been the lodestones of our character may have had little more effect on us than a book we may have read or a show we have seen on television ... Twin studies, have made a persuasive case that much of our identity is stamped on us from conception; to that extent, our lives seem to be pre-chosen -- all we have to do is live out the script that is written in our genes."

This book forces us to contemplate on the following important issues:

1. The government -- What are the roles of the government? What social programs government should drop and what new ones to add?
2. The education -- How to reshape and restructure?
3. Parenting -- How to raise children?
4. Social sciences and psychology -- What fields are invalidated by these studies and what fields are vindicated?
5. Political theories -- What fields are invalidated and validated?

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Real insight into the human condition, December 2, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Twins: And What They Tell Us About Who We Are (Paperback)

This book provides proof for the perennial "Environment vs Genes" debate about humankind and personal destiny. After reading this book, I have come around 180 degrees - it's genes. Stories of separated twins leading essentially parallel lives are so compelling, that I realized that we are all propelled through our lives by personality. Our individual fates are controlled mostly by our abilities and instincts than by the conditions of our life. Those abilities and instincts are largely genetic. Far from being a kind of predestination, this frees us to live fully through our personalities, our selves. It frees us from the myth that we are victims of fate - we, our instincts and our abilities are all its shapers.