Produktdetaljer
Biografisk notat
Matt Ridley received his BA and D Phil at Oxford researching the evolution of behaviour. He has been science editor, Washington correspondent and American editor of The Economist. He has a regular column in the Daily Telegraph. He is also the author of The Red Queen (1993), The Origins of Virtue (1996) and Genome (1999). Matt Ridley is currently the chairman of The International Centre for Life.
<p>‘This clever and ambitious book is full of novel insights and reflections.’ James Le Fanu, Sunday Telegraph</p>
<p>‘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</p>
<p>‘An unrivalled view of cutting-edge research into the roots of human behaviour.’ Clive Cookson, Financial Times</p>
<p>‘A balanced, entertaining gallop through the world of environmental influences and genetic impulses.’ Robin McKie, Observer</p>
<p>‘Eminently readable.’ Dylan Evans, Evening Standard</p>
<p>‘Profoundly intelligent and persuasive.’ John Cornwell, Sunday Times</p>
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.
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.
• The major new work from the author of the international sensation Genome now in paperback
• Nature via Nurture was a Sunday Times bestseller, selling over 14,000 copies in hardback in the UK
• Matt Ridley will continue to tirelessly promote Nature via Nurture in paperback with his many key note appearances, lectures and talks
• Paperback review coverage assured for the major science publication from broadsheets to genre press
Produktdetaljer
Biografisk notat
Matt Ridley received his BA and D Phil at Oxford researching the evolution of behaviour. He has been science editor, Washington correspondent and American editor of The Economist. He has a regular column in the Daily Telegraph. He is also the author of The Red Queen (1993), The Origins of Virtue (1996) and Genome (1999). Matt Ridley is currently the chairman of The International Centre for Life.