Nature Via Nurture: Genes, Experience, and What Makes Us Human 1st Edition

by Matt Ridley (Author)

76 customer reviews

ISBN-13: 978-0965804851

ISBN-10: 0060006781

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Following his highly praised and bestselling book Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters, Matt Ridley has written a brilliant and profound book about the roots of human behavior. Nature via Nurture explores the complex and endlessly intriguing question of what makes us who we are.

In February 2001 it was announced that the human genome contains not 100,000 genes, as originally postulated, but only 30,000. This startling revision led some scientists to conclude that there are simply not enough human genes to account for all the different ways people behave: we must be made by nurture, not nature. Yet again biology was to be stretched on the Procrustean bed of the nature-nurture debate. Matt Ridley argues that the emerging truth is far more interesting than this myth. Nurture depends on genes, too, and genes need nurture. Genes not only predetermine the broad structure of the brain, they also absorb formative experiences, react to social cues, and even run memory. They are consequences as well as causes of the will.

Published fifty years after the discovery of the double helix of DNA, Nature via Nurture chronicles a revolution in our understanding of genes. Ridley recounts the hundred years' war between the partisans of nature and nurture to explain how this paradoxical creature, the human being, can be simultaneously free-willed and motivated by instinct and culture. Nature via Nurture is an enthralling,up-to-the-minute account of how genes build brains to absorb experience.

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In the follow-up to his bestseller, Genome, Matt Ridley takes on a centuries-old question: is it nature or nurture that makes us who we are? Ridley asserts that the question itself is a "false dichotomy." Using copious examples from human and animal behavior, he presents the notion that our environment affects the way our genes express themselves.

Ridley writes that the switches controlling our 30,000 or so genes not only form the structures of our brains but do so in such a way as to cue off the outside environment in a tidy feedback loop of body and behavior. In fact, it seems clear that we have genetic "thermostats" that are turned up and down by environmental factors. He challenges both scientific and folk concepts, from assumptions of what's malleable in a person to sociobiological theories based solely on the "selfish gene."

Ridley's proof is in the pudding for such touchy subjects as monogamy, aggression, and parenting, which we now understand have some genetic controls. Nevertheless, "the more we understand both our genes and our instincts, the less inevitable they seem." A consummate popularizer of science, Ridley once again provides a perfect mix of history, genetics, and sociology for readers hungry to understand the implications of the human genome sequence. --Therese Littleton

From Publishers Weekly

"Nature versus nurture" sums up in a nutshell one of the most contentious debates in science: Are people's qualities determined by their genes (nature) or by their environment (nurture)? The debate has only grown louder since the human genome has been found to comprise only 30,000 genes. Some scientists claim that we don't have enough genes to account for all the existing human variations. Ridley, author of the bestseller Genome, says that not only are nature and nurture not mutually exclusive, but that "genes are designed to take their cue from nurture." Genes are not unchanging little bits of DNA: their expression varies throughout a person's life, often in response to environmental stimuli. Babies are born with genes hard-wired for sight, but if they are also born with cataracts, the genes turn themselves off and the child will never acquire the ability to see properly. On the other hand, stuttering used to be ascribed solely to environmental factors. Then stuttering was found to be clearly linked to the Y chromosome, and evidence for genetic miswiring of areas in the brain that manage language was uncovered. But environment still plays a role: not everyone with the genetic disposition will grow up to be a stutterer. Ridley's survey of what is known about nature-nurture interactions is encyclopedic and conveyed with insight and style. This is not an easy read, but fans of his earlier book and readers looking for a challenging read will find this an engrossing study of what makes us who we are.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product details

Hardcover: 336 pages
Publisher: Harper; 1 edition (April 29, 2003)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0060006781
ISBN-13: 978-0965804851
Product Dimensions: 6 x 1.1 x 9 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 76 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,062,373 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #311 in Books > Medical Books > Psychology > Physiological Aspects
- #379 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Psychology & Counseling > Physiological Aspects
- #510 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Anthropology > Physical

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Mr. C. Doyle

End of the nature nurture debate.

May 31, 2014

Format: Unknown BindingVerified Purchase

It is hard to disagree with Matt Ridley's basic argument, that it is long time this debate was put to bed. The book gets five stars because Matt quotes and discusses a lot of really interesting studies. Modern work on genetic switching show that our genetic make up is not cast in stone and that what we do and experience changes what we are. Given that it is in a sense all nature, Matt comes down fairly heavily on the more fixed aspects of nature. Some studies are truly surprising, like those that show twins bought up apart are MORE alike than those brought up together. But of course all these things are statistical, so you tend to miss what falls through the cracks. For example in a comparison of kids with and without criminal parents brought up by non-criminal families and with criminal-element families. Having criminal parents certainly increased your chances of getting in trouble, as does growing up in a criminal family, but something like 70 percent of those with criminal parents in criminal families did not have a problem. So the differences we are looking at, although big, hang between the 15 and 25 % of all groups that do get in trouble.That is big crack, and suggests there is almost some innate tendency to be honest, or at least not get caught. I did not find the section on free will very convincing, but that is okt, I really enjoyed the book, I learned quite a lot and it made me think. What more do you want?

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S. Ben-Meyer

Science Awakens to What How the Environment Impacts on Genes

July 23, 2018

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This is a very good book about the confluence of factors that makes us human. It has always been obvious to parents that there is an interplay of nature and nurture that go into creating a child. It took the scientific community a little longer to realize this. But this book determines for the reader how genes are impacted by biology and environmental factors to make us who we are.

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Jeremy Colton

I almost skipped this one but...

July 11, 2003

Format: Audio CassetteVerified Purchase

"Nature via Nurture"; the title sounds like a dead horse that doesn't need to be beaten any more. I decided to pick this one up because I love Ridley's work, and because it is read by the author. What a treat that is! With the author reading the book, you know that the nuances are correct, and that the abridgement isn't harming the message.
The discussions in this book are dramatically and importantly different from other discussions of "Nature/Nurture", and I can hardly recommend it strongly enough. What is different is the degree of specificity that Ridley brings to the conversation. He demonstrates from a dozen different points of view HOW causality flows both ways, from the genes to the environment and back. He also pokes holes in logical fallacies one hears all the time - for example, the assertion that a feature is not genetic because the specific genes have not (and in some cases may not ever) been identified. A well-constructed twin study positively identifies heritability of traits; tracking that heritability back to a spot on a chromosome is useful and interesting but not necessary.
There is also basic science here that the lay reader might not otherwise learn for years. For instance, until very recently it was thought that there was a one to one correlation between genes and their proteins. It was also unknown what, if any, purpose breaking genes apart into exons on the chromosome served. Now we have discovered that many - ninety five on one mouse gene - different versions of one exon can exist on the chromosome, allowing one gene to make many different versions of its protein. Different versions mediated by... environment, of course.
Much of the information here is counter-intuitive. For instance, the more egalitarian a society is, the more the heritabilaty of traits becomes manifest. Potentially confusing, certainly mind-bending, and who better than Ridley to explain it?
If you are interested in biology, read this book.

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July 9, 2006

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

Another Ridley home run! He's batting a thousand. Not bad for a popularizer of science.

Don't let the book's title fool you. If Ridley merely resolved the nurture/nature debate, which most of us already know, the book might be a bust. However, Ridley's means of resolution is an unsuspected, yet dramatic, one. The book's strengths lie in applying the resolution of this dilemma to other dilemmas. Not that this approach "answers" these dilemmas; indeed, maybe the reverse, it seems to complicate them. Therein lies the book's brilliance and novelty, while being entirely scientific.

For example, 18th C. philosopher David Hume raised doubts about humans' causal inferences, i.e., "cause-and-effect." E.g. The light goes out (effect). Caused by what: the filament, the glass, the wiring, the switch, the panel, or maybe something else? Many people, including scientists, dismissed Hume's skepticism as extreme and anti-scientific. Ridley's Fourth Chapter vindicates Hume, more dramatically than Hume himself (or Popper in 1944). The subject for discussion is "schizophrenia." The perennial nature/nurture debate and the theories its drawn are investigated, and given Ridley's insight and science's "evidence," the putative "cause(s)" of schizophrenia are all found wanting. How wanting? Incredibly wanting. But ironically, it's not all wrong. Mostly wrong. And it's revealed in, through, and by the prism of nature/nurture dispute, seen through the topic of schizophrenia. (The subject of causality in human behavior makes an important reappearance later.)

[N.B. A cautionary note. Chap. 3 seemed uncharacteristically long-winded and redundant. It passes and never recurs.]

Ridley's encyclopedic knowledge (what field of knowledge does he not know?) is breathtaking. His ability to coordinate all this diverse, even disparate, knowledge in defense of this thesis is extraordinary. To keep all the scientific jargon on an accessible level is masterful. To use an artful device with elegant prose adds creativity and imagination. The implications of these insights are even more stunning. Science does not get better than this!

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