Blueprint: How DNA Makes Us Who We Are
Written by Robert Plomin
Narrated by Robert Plomin
4/5
()
About this audiobook
A top behavioral geneticist makes the case that DNA inherited from our parents at the moment of conception can predict our psychological strengths and weaknesses.
In Blueprint, behavioral geneticist Robert Plomin describes how the DNA revolution has made DNA personal by giving us the power to predict our psychological strengths and weaknesses from birth. A century of genetic research shows that DNA differences inherited from our parents are the consistent life-long sources of our psychological individuality―the blueprint that makes us who we are. This, says Plomin, is a game-changer. It calls for a radical rethinking of what makes us who were are.
Plomin has been working on these issues for almost fifty years, conducting longitudinal studies of twins and adoptees. He reports that genetics explains more of the psychological differences among people than all other factors combined. Genetics accounts for fifty percent of psychological differences―not just mental health and school achievement, but all psychological traits, from personality to intellectual abilities. Nature defeats nurture by a landslide.
Plomin explores the implications of this, drawing some provocative conclusions―among them that parenting styles don't really affect children's outcomes once genetics is taken into effect. Neither tiger mothers nor attachment parenting affects children's ability to get into Harvard. After describing why DNA matters, Plomin explains what DNA does, offering readers a unique insider's view of the exciting synergies that came from combining genetics and psychology.
Robert Plomin
Robert Plomin is a leading behavioural geneticist who works at King's College, London. He has published more than 800 papers in scientific journals and is the author of the best-selling textbook in the field. In 2012, he was awarded a highly prestigious five-year Advanced Investigator Award from the European Research Council. He was the youngest president of the international Behaviour Genetics Association, and has been given lifetime achievement awards from that association as well the American Psychological Association and the Society for Research in Child Development, among others.
Related to Blueprint
Related audiobooks
The Epigenetics Revolution: How Modern Biology Is Rewriting Our Understanding of Genetics, Disease, and Inheritance Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Innate: How the Wiring of Our Brains Shapes Who We Are Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Editing Humanity: The CRISPR Revolution and the New Era of Genome Editing Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Tell-Tale Brain: A Neuroscientist's Quest for What Makes Us Human Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived: The Human Story Retold Through Our Genes Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Who's in Charge?: Free Will and the Science of the Brain Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Genome: The Autobiography of a Species In 23 Chapters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Making of the Fittest: DNA and the Ultimate Forensic Record of Evolution Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Book of Humans: A Brief History of Culture, Sex, War, and the Evolution of Us Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ancestor's Tale: A Pilgrimage to the Dawn of Evolution Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Equations of Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Hidden Spring: A Journey to the Source of Consciousness Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Bad Science: Quacks, Hacks, and Big Pharma Flacks Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Future Stories: What's Next? Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5What Is Life?: Five Great Ideas in Biology Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Gene: An Intimate History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Runaway Species: How Human Creativity Remakes the World Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Genome Odyssey: Medical Mysteries and the Incredible Quest to Solve Them Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Origin Of Species by Means of Natural Selection (version 2) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex, Part 1 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Primate's Memoir: A Neuroscientist's Unconventional Life Among the Baboons Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Why We Snap: Understanding the Rage Circuit in Your Brain Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An Anatomy of Pain: How the Body and the Mind Experience and Endure Physical Suffering Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hacking the Code of Life: How Gene Editing Will Rewrite Our Futures Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sensation: The New Science of Physical Intelligence Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Hacking Darwin: Genetic Engineering and the Future of Humanity Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Long for This World: The Strange Science of Immortality Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Demon in the Machine: How Hidden Webs of Information Are Solving the Mystery of Life Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMind Wide Open: Your Brain and the Neuroscience of Everyday Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Biology For You
Endure: Mind, Body, and the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs: A New History of a Lost World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Confident Mind: A Battle-Tested Guide to Unshakable Performance Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hot Zone Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lifespan: Why We Age—and Why We Don't Have To Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Neuroscientist Who Lost Her Mind: My Tale of Madness and Recovery Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Things We Make: The Unknown History of Invention from Cathedrals to Soda Cans Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Cosmic Serpent: DNA and the Origins of Knowledge Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Genius Foods: Become Smarter, Happier, and More Productive While Protecting Your Brain for Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Elephant in the Brain: Hidden Motives in Everyday Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Grieving Brain: The Surprising Science of How We Learn from Love and Loss Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Genome: The Autobiography of a Species In 23 Chapters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jaws: The Story of a Hidden Epidemic Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How the Mind Works Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Longevity Paradox: How to Die Young at a Ripe Old Age Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The End of Faith Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Change Your Brain, Change Your Life (Before 25): Change Your Developing Mind for Real-World Success Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Second Nature: A Gardener's Education Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All That Remains: A Renowned Forensic Scientist on Death, Mortality, and Solving Crimes Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Autistic Brain: Thinking Across the Spectrum Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Buddha's Brain: The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love & Wisdom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Blueprint
41 ratings2 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/52 main lessons: 1. personality, behaviour, attitudes (i.e.psychology) is highly influenced, though not determined, by genetics, 2. all these matters are on a spectrum not either/or. Both are things I suspected but this gives it scientific cred. DNA does not fix trait absolutely but makes for higher probabilities, which only show up when sampling is on a large enough scale. Clearly written with some personal touches, though the details of research processes sometimes a bit hard-going.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5It is not always clear how much do the estimated genetic propensities explain, even if they are predictive. maybe too many unqualified statements about the importance of genes, with the point that it is in narrowly defined populations and environments only underlying. Should be kept in mind regarding statements about parents/schools/X matter, but do not make a difference.