BOOK · [4298]
Nature via Nurture: Genes, Experience, and What Makes Us Human
Science
Ridley examines the long-running nature-versus-nurture debate, arguing that genes are not fixed blueprints but are switched on and off by experience and environment. He surveys the discoveries of a dozen influential thinkers, from Darwin and Galton to Pavlov and the human genome scientists, to show how genes themselves are designed to respond to nurture. The book was reissued in the US as The Agile Gene and won the 2003 National Academies Communication Award.