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Not in Our Genes


by Richard Lewontin, Steven Rose, Leon J. Kamin

1 New starting at: $312.65
16 Used starting at: $1.90
Sales Rank: 324944
Studio: Pantheon
Binding: Paperback
Publication Date: February 12, 1985
Publisher: Pantheon


EDITORIAL REVIEWS

Product Description
Three eminent scientists analyze the scientific, social, and political roots of biological determinism.


CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 3.5 based on 11 reviews)

A fascinating and thought-provoking classic  
This book was published in 1984. Funnily enough, 24 years later and despite important scientific advances, "Not in our Genes" remains as fresh, interesting and fascinating today as it was back then.

If you want to develop your critical consciousness, to learn to think for yourself, not to depend on ready-made opinions and to find the other side or even an alternative to the predominant story about evolution, biological determinism and the like, read this book.

It is enlightening and already a classic. You won't regret it.
October 08, 2008

Has some good insights but...  
Lewontin, Rose and Kamin argue that people are the way they are because of social conditioning and birth privilege, not because of their biology. Not in Our Genes, and similar books, balance the argument that our actions and motives are governed only by our genes.

This book has some useful insights worth exploring. Having said that, as with many other books that argue specific areas have controlling influence on human behavior, this book needs to be read with discretion.

The Re-Discovery of Common Sense: A Guide to: The Lost Art of Critical Thinking

June 13, 2008

Attacking a Straw Man  
This book does a fine job of dispelling the view the genes solely determine cognitive ability. The problem is that virtually no researchers in the fields of differntial psychology or psychometrics are arguing this position. According to respected experts (e.g., Thomas Bouchard, Arthur Jensen, and Linda Gottfredson), the answer to the question "nature or nurture?" is nature and nurture. The available evidence indicates that both play an important role. The authors of this book are therefore attacking a straw man for ideological reasons.

The critique of this issue in Hernstein's and Murray's "The Bell Curve" is much more valuable for anyone with an open mind. But if you've already been baptized into the cult of egalitarianism, read and enjoy.
April 12, 2004


Not in our Genes? Not hardly.  
I read this book for a college human nature class and found it highly enlightening. I have long been an opponent to the rigid structure of the nature v. nurture argument, and have thus far found few (if any) serious intellectual scientific works to clearly articulate other possible explanations for why we are the way we are. Kudos to the authors of Not in our Genes for presenting a possible alternative to the norm. Read it and see whatcha think.
May 16, 2002

Not In Our Genes  
A breath of fresh air in a fetid miasma of assumption and association, anecdotes and lies. The politics of the radical left are obviously clear, yet this is an honest response to the radical right who have claimed for years to be neutral. This finally lays to rest the false dichotomy of the nature vs nurture debate. The attack on the cultural determinism which for many years has given ammunition to the "common sense" view of the world, is attacked with equal venom as that of the genetic determinists of Richard Dawkins and other chauvinists. Deserves to be printed more times than lira.
March 24, 2000


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