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A Separate Creation: How Biology Makes Us Gay Paperback – June 5, 1997

by Chandler Burr (Author)

4.5 5 ratings

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A Separate How Biology Makes Us Gay

Language

English
Publisher

Transworld Publishers Ltd
Publication date

June 5, 1997
ISBN-10

0553407287
ISBN-13

978-0553407280
See all details

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Transworld Publishers Ltd (June 5, 1997)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0553407287
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0553407280
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 11.4 ounces

Customer Reviews:
4.5 5 ratings

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Julie Vognar

"You'd have to be an idiot..."

Reviewed in the United States on September 25, 2007

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My favorite part of the book is Hamer (the geneticist who discovered Xq28--the GAY-1 gene, responsible for the gayness of 17% of the gay male population) saying"....you have to be sure first that the trait isn't chosen before you look for its gene." He pauses, incredulous, "Can you imagine any sane, reputable biologist spending years of their life and their resources looking through chromosomes for a gene for something that's CHOSEN? I suppose you could do it, but you'd have to be a complete idiot because it would be the equivalent of staking your entire scientific career and reputation on finding a gene for"--he searches for an example--"being a Methodist."

OR

"Personality has been uprooted, modified, ironed, tamed, altered. And through it all, no Prozac capsule, no psychopharmaceutical, no hormone, no drug, no surgical procedure* has ever changed anyone's sexual orientation. It seems, Weiss noted with a raised eyebrow, that our sexual orientation is an even more deeply rooted part of us than our personality."

Interesting, exciting, and sometimes really funny, the book is accessible to even those of us who had trouble with first year algebra and geometry...though an occasional chart or set of figures will give such people pause (don't give up! Go on to the next sentence...).

As far as being wide-ranging is concerned, I once read a short story in which a guest lecturer in a 10th grade high school science class based his entire lecture, and the following discussion, called "The Genetics of Baseball"(sic) on what he had learned from this book...

*see pages 124-125 for some of the horrors we learned from the Nazis and--used--in the 1950s.

4 people found this helpful

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G. L. Rowsey

A CAVIL CONCERNING GENETIC NON-RESEARCH

Reviewed in the United States on May 31, 2003

I enjoyed this book enormously and learned a great deal about homosexuality and about genetics. I especially appreciated Chandler Burr's letting the researchers speak for themselves, and got used to his (and their) not crossing all the t's and dotting the i's when discussing not-simple subjects. Some of what the researches say is wide-ranging and quixotic, but all of it is pretty consistently thought-provoking. For example, there's a statement on page 275 by David Botstein ("of Stanford"), having to do with genetic research, violence, IQ, and blacks (and nothing to do with homosexuality.) Chandler Burr writes: ". . .consider the search for the gene (sic) for violence." Botstein picks it up:

"I think there's more scientifically to that one, a greater likelihood of finding it, more than IQ. But it's COMPLETELY unacceptable at the moment. You can't even talk about it. Go to any university, research center, no one -- NO ONE -- will talk to you about this. Why? Simple. Because of the fear that there will be a racial correlation. And there could be. . .and I have some sympathy for this fear, mean (sic) that any scientific evidence linking some undesirable trait with black people will be used as an excuse for explicit or implicit genocide. Okay? That fear is not totally irrational. . ."

Geneticists everywhere are afraid of finding a gene for violence in "black people" in America? Huh? Well, the only way I could explain researchers fearing that they will find a "black" gene for violence instead of a "non-black" gene for violence is that their research would be based on disregarding the incidence of inter-racial violence in America (presumably, by defining inter-racial violence as a product of a "prejudice" gene, not a "violence" one?). But isn't that explanation absurd? Or despite having read this book, do I still fail to understand how genetic research experiments must be designed? Like I say, thought-provoking.

Presumably most geneticists working on DNA are white. And presumably in America a lot of geneticists are infected with the same myth-viruses as the mainstream public at whom corporations direct their advertisements and programming. But good golly, miss molly!! NO university or research center will talk about the gene for violence? I say let the chips fall where they may. Knowledge is knowledge. And as a white I'm not much concerned that blacks will want to impose eugenic solutions on me once research shows it is whites who have violence genes. Such measures would constitute violence, you see, and blacks would lack the genes for it.

7 people found this helpful

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Pro_Student

Decent but not great.

Reviewed in the United States on February 1, 2013

I was really excited when I stumbled across this book and the beginning had me quite captivated. However, I feel like the book loses momentum, drags on, and spends the last 200 pages or so beating the dead horse of a point - that we don't know (an might never know) the biology of sexual orientation. Nevertheless, that is not reason to pass judgement or diminish the fact that sexual orientation is not a choice. I did enjoy the analogy of sexual orientation and handedness and thought it was a unique and valuable perspective.
A word of caution: this book assumes NO scientific knowledge or understanding on the part of the reader. That may or may not be a good think. For instance, Burr drones on and on about basic genetics that most people should have picked up in high school. If you didn't, GREAT you won't be lost at all. If you did, you will want to skip over some major sections.
All in all, I thought it had some good ideas and information but became tedious and repetitive and could have easily done the same job in half the size.

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BearMaster

Five stars because they won't let me give it ten

Reviewed in the United States on July 4, 2001

This book is wide ranging, covering topics as diverse as handedness (and how to tell if a rat is left handed), bird songs, vision problems in siamese cats, and far, far more than I ever wanted to know about the reproductive tract of hyenas. It all comes together beautifully, scientific explanations simple enough to be understood by the layman but thorough enough to insure understanding. It is also a fascinating look at genetic research at the end of the 20th century, and how technical problem are sometimes easier to solve than political ones.
Buy it, read it, loan it to family and friends. Give it to anyone who still thinks that sexuality is a choice. The only thing wrong is that it's gone out of print, but I hope that's because the author is preparing a second edition.

14 people found this helpful

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