The Gene Illusion (Paperback)

by Jay Joseph (Author) "In 1925 psychiatrist Abraham Myerson, who was writing at the height of the eugenics movement's influence the belief in the overriding importance of genes, observed,..." (more)
Key Phrases: index biological relatives, most twin researchers, psychological trait differences, The Gene Illusion, The Genetics of Schizophrenia, United States (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Provides a much-needed rebuttal of the evidence cited in support of genetic theories. Rather than establishing the importance of genes, this book shows that family, twin and adoption studies are plagued by unsound methodology, researcher bias and a reliance on unsupported theoretical assumptions. Furthermore, the book demonstrates how this faulty research has been used by those wishing to bolster conservative social and political agendas.

Product Details

• Paperback: 348 pages
• Publisher: PCCS Books (January 2003)
• ISBN-10: 1898059470
• ISBN-13: 978-1898059479
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #835,944 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars shooting down decades of biopsychiatry's puffery, March 10, 2004

By	Peter C. Dwyer (Baltimore, Maryland United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Pick up virtually any text book on psychiatry or abnormal psychology, and you're sure to find confident assertions that schizophrenia has a "strong genetic component." Twin studies and adoption studies will be claimed to provide clear scientific evidence of this.

Jay Joseph has done something the authors of most such text books have not - he's actually looked at the studies themselves. His own book is detailed, comprehensive and scholarly - and when he holds these studies up to the light, most of their authors' confident conclusions virtually crumble. At the very least, Joseph shows how speculative and shakily supported these conclusions are. But I think Joseph establishes more: if the twin and adoption studies stand for anything, they show how overwhelmingly important environment and experience are in schizophrenia.

This book is not light reading. But it methodically puts biopsychiatry to the test. And, as so often in its history, biopsychiatry does not fare well when looked at too closely.