Joel's Reviews > The Agile Gene: How Nature Turns on Nurture
The Agile Gene: How Nature Turns on Nurture
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Joel's review
bookshelves: psychology-neuroscience-mind, science, life-sciences, evolution, to-read-2019, to-read-2020
Jun 23, 2020
bookshelves: psychology-neuroscience-mind, science, life-sciences, evolution, to-read-2019, to-read-2020
This book is along the same lines as Genome: the Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters. The best thing I can do to review these two books together is list what I think their pros and cons are:
Pros:
1. Writing style: Ridley's writing style is engaging and humorous, yet not condescending. He respects his readers.
2. Scientific content: The science is very detailed and cutting edge. Ridley goes beyond the high-level science you'll find in other books and discusses the latest research.
3. Well sourced: The notes at the end reveal that Ridley is on top of the latest academic research and writing. Each chapter has about 20 citations from within a few years that the books were published.
4. Deep analysis: Ridley goes beyond the science and is willing to dig deep into the philosophical and political implications.
Cons:
1. Feels out-of-date: Because the scientific research cites is so cutting edge, it leaves you wondering if, in the approximately 20 years since the book was written, there has been more progress.
2. Organization: Each chapter reads somewhat like a stand-alone discussion. Although Ridley has a few central messages of the book, there isn't quite a narrative continuity that holds the book together.
Overall very much more enlightening and informative than you'll get from most other books.
Pros:
1. Writing style: Ridley's writing style is engaging and humorous, yet not condescending. He respects his readers.
2. Scientific content: The science is very detailed and cutting edge. Ridley goes beyond the high-level science you'll find in other books and discusses the latest research.
3. Well sourced: The notes at the end reveal that Ridley is on top of the latest academic research and writing. Each chapter has about 20 citations from within a few years that the books were published.
4. Deep analysis: Ridley goes beyond the science and is willing to dig deep into the philosophical and political implications.
Cons:
1. Feels out-of-date: Because the scientific research cites is so cutting edge, it leaves you wondering if, in the approximately 20 years since the book was written, there has been more progress.
2. Organization: Each chapter reads somewhat like a stand-alone discussion. Although Ridley has a few central messages of the book, there isn't quite a narrative continuity that holds the book together.
Overall very much more enlightening and informative than you'll get from most other books.
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Reading Progress
November 8, 2015
– Shelved as:
to-read
November 8, 2015
– Shelved
November 8, 2015
– Shelved as:
science
November 8, 2015
– Shelved as:
psychology-neuroscience-mind
July 21, 2016
– Shelved as:
life-sciences
April 25, 2017
– Shelved as:
evolution
August 9, 2018
– Shelved as:
to-read-2019
January 9, 2020
– Shelved as:
to-read-2020
May 1, 2020
–
Started Reading
June 19, 2020
–
Finished Reading
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Jim
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Jul 06, 2020 02:51AM
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Very true. I can't exactly say Ridley's science is "wrong" or that any of it changed, only that it's been updated. Often he'll write that something is only speculative or questionable or that there is only a little evidence that something is the case, and you just know that in the years that have passed, mush more evidence has emerged.
I wish he would publish an updated version of the two books with all the research that has filled in the gaps since their writing, but of course, that would be a wholly new book that would probably take him a couple of years to research.