The Agile Gene: How Nature Turns on Nurture – Free Will, the Human Genome, and Behavior

“Bracingly intelligent, lucid, balanced—witty, too. . . . A scrupulous and charming look at our modern understanding of genes and experience.” — Oliver Sacks

Armed with extraordinary new discoveries about our genes, acclaimed science writer Matt Ridley turns his attention to the nature-versus-nurture debate in a thoughtful book about the roles of genes and environment in shaping human behavior.

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. With the decoding of the human genome, we now know that 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, the very mechanisms of free will itself.

A New Look at Nature vs. Nurture: Move beyond the century-long war. Ridley reveals how your genes are not puppet masters but are designed to respond to your experiences—making nurture an expression of nature. Evolutionary Psychology in Action: Learn why we are simultaneously motivated by ancient instincts and modern culture, and how the decoding of the human genome reshapes our understanding of both. The Science of Individuality: Delve into the fascinating findings from twin and adoption studies that reveal how our unique personalities and intelligence are forged. Genes as a Force for Freedom: Discover the paradox at the heart of our being: how the very genes that build our brains also provide the mechanism for us to absorb social cues, learn, and exercise our will.