Terry Burnham and Jay Phelan take a pragmatic approach to the nature-nurture
debate in Mean Genes. Some of our instincts may be hard wired but inappropriate
in these modern times. Take risk: we should be much more afraid of lone sharks
than of snakes, but our savannah roots show, so the opposite tends to be true.
To trust our instincts would be disastrous, but then again, to advise someone to
“Just say no” is not that helpful. Published by Perseus, $24, ISBN
0738202304.
To continue reading, today with our introductory offers
Advertisement
More from 91av
Explore the latest news, articles and features

Comment
The best new popular science books of May 2026
Culture

Environment
Robin Wall Kimmerer's Braiding Sweetgrass is still an essential read
Culture

Humans
A lost ancient script reveals how writing as we know it really began
Features

Comment
Why I explore our inevitable love for robots in my novel Luminous
Culture
Popular articles
Trending 91av articles
1
There has been a sudden increase in the rate of sea level rise
2
PCOS postpones perimenopause and allows pregnancies at older ages
3
The mathematician who doesn’t exist
4
Slow breathing can calm the mind without any need for mindfulness
5
Fire is spreading in the Chernobyl exclusion zone after drone crash
6
Woman in cancer remission without treatment in highly unusual case
7
A lost ancient script reveals how writing as we know it really began
8
Red-light therapy does have health benefits but not the ones you think
9
Is consciousness more fundamental to reality than quantum physics?
10
Doubling their genomes may have helped plants survive mass extinctions