NATURE vs. NURTURE --- GENES, EXPERIENCE, AND WHAT MAKES US HUMAN by Matt Ridley. HarperCollins, 2003
    PROLOGUE --- Twelve hairy men (p1-6)

      This book celebrates the scientific advances made in our human understanding how our genes work. Fifty years since the discovery of the "double helix" of DNA, this book analyzes the 100 years of disagreement between the advocates on both sides of the "nature vs. nurture" arguments to explain how humans can be simultaneously "free-willed" and also motivated by "instinct and culture."

      This book explains how genes build brains to absorb experience!

    1) The paragon of animals (p7-37)

    2) A plethora of instincts (p38-68)

    3) A convenient jingle (p69-97)

    4) The madness of causes (p98-124)

    5) Genes in the fourth dimension (p114-150)

    6) Formative years (p151-176)

    7) Learning lessons (p177-200)

    8) Conundrums of culture (p201-230)

    9) The seven meanings of "gene" (231-248)

    10) A "budget" of paradoxical morals (p249-275)

    EPILOGUE --- Homo Stramineus --- the "Straw Man" (p277-280)

    ACKNOWLEDGMENTS (p281-282)

    ENDNOTES (p283-306)

    INDEX (p307-326)

Return to: Creativity Category Abstracts