Nature via Nurture: Genes, Experience and What Makes Us Human [Englisch] [Taschenbuch]

Nature Via Nurture follows on from Matt Ridley's bestselling Genome. He 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 of human and animal behaviour, 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 behaviour. 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 populariser 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, Amazon.com -- Dieser Text bezieht sich auf eine vergriffene oder nicht verfügbare Ausgabe dieses Titels.

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 -- Dieser Text bezieht sich auf eine vergriffene oder nicht verfügbare Ausgabe dieses Titels.

Ridley likes to pursue a book's argument according to a set pattern. In Genome (2000), a Booklist Top of the List winner for nonfiction, he revealed what is known and supposed about the human genome. For the sequel to his best-seller, Ridley imagines a group portrait photograph taken in 1903. The subjects are nine men, a little boy, a baby, and a ghost, constituting a gathering of the most influential contributors to the dispute in human psychology and biology over whether nature or nurture (genes or environment; endowment or experience) predominates in determining individual human personality. The text that follows takes one or more of those figures' ideas as a starting point for a discussion of the truths they--and just as important, their critics--discovered. That mode of discussion--really, a matter of on-the-one-hand/on-the-other-hand--allows Ridley to pose as a popular lecturer, vivifying the subject matter with plenty of humor and lots of intriguing illustrations (few males will be able to read the passages about prenatal environmental influences on sexuality without measuring their fingers), and to exemplify the complementary nature of the solution to the nature-versus-nurture dispute: nature via nurture, which denotes the realization that the two factors must interact constantly to promote development. Terrific popular science. Ray Olson
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'This clever and ambitious book is full of novel insights and reflections.' James Le Fanu, Sunday Telegraph 'Ridley belongs to the coterie that truly pushes science forward and brings it within the broader purlieus of "culture". Nature via Nurture is another fine contribution to an already outstanding oeuvre.' Colin Tudge, Independent Magazine 'An unrivalled view of cutting-edge research into the roots of human behaviour.' Clive Cookson, Financial Times 'A balanced, entertaining gallop through the world of environmental influences and genetic impulses.' Robin McKie, Observer 'Eminently readable.' Dylan Evans, Evening Standard 'Profoundly intelligent and persuasive.' John Cornwell, Sunday Times 'Nature via Nurture will not end the debates about human nature between those who look to biology and those who prefer the social sciences. In his plunge into the fray however, Matt Ridley offers and excellent view of the battlefield.' The Economist 'Characteristically for a book by Ridley, there is much fascinating material here, lucidly and entertainingly presented!Elegantly written and highly instructive' A C Grayling, Literary Review 'Nature via Nurture sets the modern terms for an ancient debate, and at the same time delivers a superb tutorial on contemporary genetics; the feedback loop that embraces genes and environment is generally not well understood. And yet this plasticity, this elegant mutuality, seems crucial if our new understanding of human nature is to inform public policy. These times need a book like this.' Ian McEwan 'Lucidly explains the most recent discoveries on what makes us what we are, and how we should think about these discoveries as we ponder who we want to be!A treat, written with insight, wisdom, and style.' Steven Pinker, author of The Blank Slate 'Bracingly intelligent, lucid, balanced -- witty, too. Nature via Nurture is a scrupulous and charming look at our modern understanding of genes and experience.' Oliver Sacks 'A real page-turner. What a superb writer he is, and he seems to get better and better.' Richard Dawkins, author of The Selfish Gene

Paperback edition of Ridley's bestselling follow-up to the acclaimed "Genome". This time Ridley attempts to discover what makes us who we are, in a fscinating and entertaining examination of genes and the extent to which they influence our social interaction. The hardback sold over 14,000 copies in the UK. "Profoundly intelligent and persuasive" "Sunday Times"

Acclaimed author Matt Ridley's thrilling follow-up to his bestseller Genome. Armed with the extraordinary new discoveries about our genes, Ridley turns his attention to the nature versus nurture debate to bring the first popular account of the roots of human behaviour. What makes us who we are?In February 2001 it was announced that the genome contains not 100,000 genes as originally expected 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. 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 new 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.

Matt Ridley ist in Oxford promovierter Zoologe, er hat als Journalist beim "Economist" gearbeitet und war als Banker tätig. Als Buchautor ist er international erfolgreich und in mehr als 25 Sprachen übersetzt.