President Reagan: The Role of a Lifetime

Amazon.com

This is possibly the single best book available on the Reagan presidency. Lou Cannon began reporting on Ronald Reagan as a journalist when Reagan first ran for governor of California in 1966, and then covered him again in Washington after his 1980 presidential election. In short, there is probably no man or woman who has spent more years writing about the Gipper than Cannon. The result is a magisterial account of Reagan's two terms in the White House. Cannon is broadly sympathetic to his subject, but also coolly detached. President Reagan: The Role of a Lifetime pulled off the remarkable feat of winning praise from both Reagan's admirers and detractors when it was first published in 1991. This reissued edition, which includes a new preface describing Reagan's postpresidential descent into the abyss of Alzheimer's disease, must now be considered the standard text on the subject--especially in light of the controversy surrounding the book that aspired to Cannon's mantle, Edmund Morris's quasi biography Dutch.

Cannon's book is full of wise analysis and sound observation. He explains Reagan's success convincingly: "Optimism was not a trivial or peripheral quality. It was the essential ingredient of an approach to life.... [Reagan] had a knack of converting others to his optimism, almost as if he drew upon some private reservoir of self-esteem. People who listened to Reagan tended to feel good about him and better about themselves." Though the book bursts with detail, it's never so cumbersome that it bogs down Cannon's narrative. And these pages give only cursory attention to Reagan's life before the White House; this is more a biography of President Reagan than of Ronald Reagan. Conservatives who are defensive about Reagan's legacy may bristle at certain points; Cannon's portrait is not always a flattering one. Yet it's a compelling biography of a compelling man's most important years. It's possible to imagine that a fuller biography of Reagan will be written some day. Right now, however, this is the best there is--and it's very, very good. --John J. Miller

Book Description

Hailed by the New Yorker as "a superlative study of a president and his presidency," Lou Cannon's President Reagan remains the definitive account of our most significant presidency in the last fifty years. Ronald Wilson Reagan, the first actor to be elected president, turned in the performance of a lifetime. But that performance concealed the complexities of the man, baffling most who came in contact with him. Who was the man behind the makeup? Only Lou Cannon, who covered Reagan through his political career, can tell us. The keenest Reagan-watcher of them all, he has been the only author to reveal the nature of a man both shrewd and oblivious. Based on hundreds of interviews with the president, the First Lady, and hundreds of the administration's major figures, President Reagan takes us behind the scenes of the Oval Office. Cannon leads us through all of Reagan's roles, from the affable cowboy to the self-styled family man; from the politician who denounced big government to the president who created the largest peace-time deficit; from the statesman who reviled the Soviet government to the Great Communicator who helped end the cold war. "President Reagan is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the star of politics in the 1980s." (Time)

Customer Reviews:

Look Ma, no hands.......2007-07-28

In this book, Lou Cannon expounds the liberal view of Ronald Reagan's presidency better than any other author the reader is likely to encounter. In doing so, he portrays Reagan as a likeable, though simple minded, actor who knew little or nothing about government, economics, and world affairs and cared even less. He contends that by standing where he was told, i.e. "hitting his marks," and by saying his lines correctly, Reagan, like the Wizard of Oz, managed to fool those who could not, as Cannon could, see behind the curtain.

This is an interesting view and one which the author takes great pains to support through a seemingly inexhaustible stream of supporting evidence -- a snippet of conversation here, an opinion told in confidence there, another reporters editorial, an anonymous "leak," etc. The, most likely selected, evidence is so one sided that if this was the only book which a reader ever read concerning President Reagan, he or she would have to conclude that the Reagan presidency was a disaster; that Ronald Reagan was an abject failure as president; that everything good which happened during his administration was someone else's idea and, in most instances, happened without Reagan's knowledge; and that every negative episode during his term was Reagan's fault -- no matter that Ronald Reagan dominated the 1980s and that his administration was one of the most successful of the twentieth century.

Given the information set forth herein, it must be admitted, however, that, as a manager, Reagan clearly had his faults. But just as surely, he must have done something right (see "Reagan on Leadership: Executive Lessons from the Great Communicator" by James M. Strock). It has been said, for example that Reagan didn't understand the mechanics of government, that he never put his hands on the levers of power, and that, unlike Jimmy Carter, who gripped those levers tightly, he was a "no hands" manager. Perhaps this is true, but Reagan's policies did bring America out of a recession which was the natural result of Carter's failed presidency, he did restore America's faith in itself, he did rebuild America's military so as to bring the Soviet Union to the bargaining table, he did bring about the first reduction in nuclear weapons, and he did facilitate the break up of the Soviet Union. All in all, not bad. Not bad at all.

What did I like best about this book? I liked the fact that, rather than resort to name calling, as most liberals do, the author took great pains to substantiate his opinions. I also liked the author's treatment of the Iran/Contra Affair and Reagan's negotiations with the Soviet Union, Chapters 19, 20, & 21.

What did I like the least? Let me count the ways. I really didn't appreciate the author's premise that Ronald Reagan was simply an actor playing the part of president. Neither did I appreciate the fact that Reagan was given very little credit and too much blame. It also seemed to me that the author concentrated on the negatives, either ignoring or sloughing over any positives, even going so far as to turn many positives into negatives (the general liberal approach). I also sensed that the author, although fair when it didn't matter, was an unabashed liberal. At least he always sided with the liberal view and seemingly couldn't understand the conservative view. I was also upset by the fact that Cannon appeared to hold Reagan to a much higher standard than he likely would hold any other president. For example: How many presidents know the names of all the world's leaders and have a sense of the history of all nations great and small? How many truly understand all the mechanisms of government? And, how many can put names to all the faces who work for them? I was also perturbed by the fact that Cannon continually harped on the fact that Reagan relied on 4x6 cue cards. Was he unaware that before becoming president, and early in his presidency, Reagan wrote all his own speeches, developed his own form of short hand notation, and personally transcribed it onto his 4/6 cue cards? If so, he never mentioned it. And I was also put off by Cannon's continual claim that Reagan relied so heavily on his advisors and that his aids always made sure that when he traveled abroad everything was orchestrated such that the President was shown in the best possible light. What president doesn't rely on his advisors and what president doesn't want to be shown in the best possible light? It also bothered me that many of Cannon's sources seemed to be the administration's "leakers" and that in his discourse he treated those leakers more kindly than he did the rest, i.e. the conservatives. But, as an aside: let me say this. After reaching this conclusion, It also occurred to me that McFarlane, Poindexter, and North were likely the only ones privy to information concerning the Iran/Contra Affair. Otherwise, that information would surely have been leaked to Cannon and the Washington Post long before it ever became public knowledge.

In any event, this is certainly a well thought out and well documented book which should be of some historical value. If nothing else, it has to be taken as further evidence that historians will be studying and attempting to understand Ronald Reagan, his administration, and his complex personality for many years to come. So, in my view: although this is a big book, it is well worth reading, but I'd do so with an open mind.

Typical Tripe from the Washington Post.......2007-06-07

In an address to Mt. Holyoke college, Phyllis Schlafly told the following joke:

"An AP bulletin went out alerting the Press that the world would end in two days. The next day's New York Times read - 'World to End in Two Days. See Details on A6'. The next day's Wall Street Journal read 'World to End in Two Days - Stock Markets will Close Early'. And the next day's Washington Post read 'World to End in Two Days - Women and Minorities Hardest Hit.'"

Much like the Washington Post author in the joke, Lou Cannon peppers this "biography" with irrelevant side comments of the sort the joke lampoons. For instance, in describing the effect of Reagan's tax cuts, Cannon grudgingly admits that they had the effect of making everybody richer, but throws in the sulky afterthought that it had "done this more for whites than for blacks." Perhaps Mr. Cannon has been asleep since 1896, when Plessy v. Ferguson was decided, but in this country, viewing people differently according to which race they belong to is typically called "racism." Besides which, considering the tax cuts made people richer proportionate to their income and black people were a poorer demographic than whites during the 80's, it makes sense that the tax cuts would have less of a grand effect on them. Shocking though it may be to the Post, it is not as though Reagan sat down with his advisers and said "I want to cut taxes, but not enough to let those damn n*****s get uppity." Cannon also treats Reagan unfairly over the AIDS problem, though he at least has the good taste to point out that AIDS only had about 300 victims when Reagan entered office. However, to imply that a President can do anything about a health crisis is to miss the point that Reagan made about government's role, which is that such things as illness are better handled by private enterprise, where the desire to create an AIDS cure will not be bogged down with pork barrel spending such as building a bridge to nowhere.

However, the point where Mr. Cannon becomes truly egregious is his description of Reagan as basically a puppet to his advisers. As the very estimable (and similarly liberal) reporter Richard Reeves has described in his biography "President Reagan: The Triumph of Imagination", Reagan was a man decidedly in control of his staff. However, Cannon would have us believe that Reagan was a doddering, senile old actor who was constantly in thrall to a script written by a rogues' gallery of what Edmund Burke called "economists, sophisters and calculators." Reagan certainly used his advisers for, as their name suggests, advice, but to imagine that he only took orders from them and barely thought for himself is to slander the man beyond credulity. Besides, how can one explain the conflict between Reagan and his first secretary of State if Reagan was such a puppet? The answer is that one can't. As such, Mr. Cannon's biography is a poorly disguised sack of liberal condescension masquerading as a legitimate biography. It is not penetrating, not "unbiased" and most certainly not accurate. It deserves two stars for its engaging writing style and for its prodigious length, but no stars at all for its actual content. I recommend against this piece.

Where's the rest of Reagan?.......2006-11-26

Reagan's campaign autobiography is titled _Where's the Rest of Me?_, based on a line from one of his movies. Unfortunately, Cannon has amputated a lot of Reagan in the second volume of his biography. (The other volume is Governor Reagan, and it is much, much better.)

Much of the book is based on leaks, kiss-and-tell interviews, and the various Iran-Contra reports. As a result, the book is not a fair picture of Reagan but is really the revenge of administration officials. As a result, the book has a lot of inside information, but Cannon has not put it in context.

Even worse, there is very little of Reagan in the book. Most of the material describes what Reagan's staff is doing to each other, and there is plenty of in-fighting. There's very little of Reagan's thoughts or actions. For example, you get David Stockman's understandably bitter view of economic policy, but there is almost no discussion of the longest postwar economic boom, except an attempt to debunk it. Mostly he portrays Reagan as asleep and uncomprehending. It is highly telling that Cannon has not cited in his bibliography any documents from the Reagan library. He only seems to quote Reagan's diary when it was used by the Tower Board during its investigation of Iran-Contra. So this is a book about Reagan's chiefs of staff, counselors, and a few cabinet secretaries. They are interesting people, but it's not a Reagan bio.

My final complaint is that the book is written in stream-of-consciousness. Cannon describes whatever events he thinks of next, so there is little overall organization to the book. He jumps years between paragraphs. For instance, he doesn't mention the air-traffic controller's strike until he is discussing the re-election campaign, when it has only a tenuous connection to the matter at hand. Major events are hardly covered at all, such as the assassination attempt. So I still have no overall understanding of the themes and organization of Reagan's presidency.

Nonetheless, the book does have some strengths. Cannon is an interesting writer, so you'll enjoy his prose. He also has a lot of interesting inside information gained by his years as a reporter for the Washington Post and many years reporting on Reagan in California. For example, he seems to have a good understanding of Nancy Reagan, probably because Michael Deaver was a key source.

Also, he provides insightfuly analysis about Iran-Contra, the MX missile deployment, the 1984 re-election, and the first budget. His discussion of the different types of intelligence and the ones that were strengths for Reagan is very useful.

Note that even the revised version of the book ends with Reagan leaving the presidency in 1989. It also begins with him taking office in 1981.

Overall, I CANNOT recommend the book. It might be a good supplement if you already understand Reagan's presidency well. But if this is the only book you read about him, you'll be left in confusion and with a biased portrait by a reporter who mostly seems to disparage Reagan.

Honest History as Reagan Would Want It Written.......2006-08-02

Lou Cannon covered Ronald Reagan since his early years in California, knew him personally from within Reagan's inner-circle, and researched him meticulously. Cannon knew Reagan better than anyone, except Nancy Reagan. This is an essential book, loaded with details, for understanding the REAL Ronald Reagan.

I highly recommend reading this detailed historical biography with Reagan's more personal autobiography called "An American Life." Then you will have a great understanding of Reagan.

This book is so loaded with details that I'm not sure what to mention. For example, Reagan's presidency was prophesized while Reagan was governor of California! Cannon gets the scoop. Reagan was a great leader because he knew how to lead and he knew his own strengths. He left details up to his aids. He would be given a schedule and note cards each day to work from. Cannon describes a scene in which George Schultz and Reagan are cramming for a summitt in a safe room, with Reagan rehearsing his lines. This is fascinating history. Reagan the Great Communicator knew how to best achieve his goals. Reagan idolized FDR - and voted for FDR four times - and modeled his leadership after FDR, like a great actor playing a great part on the world stage. But Reagan had an old-fashioned belief in the American Dream and individual liberty, and Reagan's goal was to lessen the role of government which he felt grew too big in the 1960s and 1970. Reagan changed the course of history.

Lou Cannon is accurate and honest. After Reagan died, the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum published an excellent biography of Reagan with a CD included called "Ronald Reagan: The Presidential Portfolio. History as Told through the Collection of the Ronald Reagan Library and Museum." That book was also written by Cannon.

However, much information about Reagan, previously classified, has been released about Reagan since the publication of "President Reagan," and much of it is favorable concerning his role in the Cold War. Therefore, this book, in fairness to Reagan, needs to be supplemented with a later Reagan biography, such as the biographies by John Patrick Diggins and Richard Reeves.

Also read "The Cold War: A New History" by John Lewis Gaddis or the Reagan biographies by John Patrick Diggins or Richard Reeves, but start with this biography by Lou Cannon. It's Reagan's history as Reagan would honestly want it told. Highly recommended!

A weird bird.......2006-05-05

The author - not the subject. Just a very strange book that requires a real will to finish.

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President Reagan The Role of a Lifetime
Cannon Lou
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000LC8DBK

Average customer rating:

President Reagan: The Role of a Lifetime
Lou Cannon
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000N6K7T0

Average customer rating:

President Reagan: The Role of a Lifetime
Lou Cannon
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000NZUQBK

Book Description

When thinking of India, it is hard not to think of caste. In academic and common parlance alike, caste has become a central symbol for India, marking it as fundamentally different from other places while expressing its essence. Nicholas Dirks argues that caste is, in fact, neither an unchanged survival of ancient India nor a single system that reflects a core cultural value. Rather than a basic expression of Indian tradition, caste is a modern phenomenon--the product of a concrete historical encounter between India and British colonial rule. Dirks does not contend that caste was invented by the British. But under British domination caste did become a single term capable of naming and above all subsuming India's diverse forms of social identity and organization.

Dirks traces the career of caste from the medieval kingdoms of southern India to the textual traces of early colonial archives; from the commentaries of an eighteenth-century Jesuit to the enumerative obsessions of the late-nineteenth-century census; from the ethnographic writings of colonial administrators to those of twentieth-century Indian scholars seeking to rescue ethnography from its colonial legacy. The book also surveys the rise of caste politics in the twentieth century, focusing in particular on the emergence of caste-based movements that have threatened nationalist consensus.

Castes of Mind is an ambitious book, written by an accomplished scholar with a rare mastery of centuries of Indian history and anthropology. It uses the idea of caste as the basis for a magisterial history of modern India. And in making a powerful case that the colonial past continues to haunt the Indian present, it makes an important contribution to current postcolonial theory and scholarship on contemporary Indian politics.

Customer Reviews:

Some Major Concerns.......2003-06-18

A lucid and though provoking work, Castes of Mind would be close to THE authoritative work on the construction of caste. However the boldness of Dirks's argument, mainly that British rule is responsible for the state of caste today, raises some serious questions, which are not easily answered. Firstly, the book is heavily focused on Southern India, which raises the question of how did this play out in the North, and with whom. The colonial state was not the only actor, and the role of Christian Missionaries in the construction of caste is instructive: no matter how hard they tried to rid the Gangetic plain of caste, it was met with no avail. Secondly, his use of archival material is rather concerning. One one chapter relies heavily on archival material, whlst the remainder is dangerously rhetorical. And lastly, the epilogue raises serious concerns regarding similar scholarship and other interpretations on colonial rule in India. Dirks dismisses offhand essentially any work which might be remotely classified as 'neo-colonial', although he does not seem to quite understand what this concept means. What is most dangerous however is that Dirks dangerously approaches a moral judgement on the British Raj, which is a taboo in the historical profession.

Excellent !.......2002-10-04

The british did not invent caste but they exploited it to the hilt to divide the pluralistic Indian society.
The thesis of the book matters. The thought provoking nature of the book is more valuable than its contents.
Columbia and Chicago are doing a valuable job of undoing or atleast explaining the british (and german) rape on indian history.
A thinking that an objective history can be written, like conducting a laboratory experiment where an observer is independent of the thing that is observed, is a major fallacy . No more attacks of scientific methods on humanities please!

A poor showing.......2002-05-28

Well-read in similar works such as B.S. Cohn, Spivak, et. al., Dirks's is the least tenable, and a farcical display of scholarship. Although he argues that 'the British did not invent caste,' after reading the 315 pages one might actually think they did. Dirks seems to ignore the roles of Brahmanic institutions and hegemony and the role of 'collaboration' and 'capitalist development,' (the latter which he seems to dismiss outright) and one might actually conclude that India was, in the pre-British era, caste-less! Embarrisingly enough, he still refers (however naively) to the uprising of 1857 as the 'Great Rebellion.' The rhetoric and culture of domination must be put behind, if any of are to write unbiased (or a close approximation thereto) history. I wonder how long it will take for Columbia and Chicago to realise this.

Nature Via Nurture: Genes, Experience, and What Makes Us Human
Average customer rating:

An interesting, light read

Sheds light on various nature versus nurture arguments

Nature through Nurture through Nature in an Endless Series of Adaptations

Educational

Maddenly Engaging

Nature Via Nurture: Genes, Experience, and What Makes Us Human
Matt Ridley
Manufacturer: HarperCollins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Physiological Aspects | Psychology & Counseling | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
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Genetics | Evolution | Science | Subjects | Books
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The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature

The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature

The Selfish Gene: 30th Anniversary Edition--with a new Introduction by the Author

ASIN: 0060006781
Release Date: 2003-04-29

Amazon.com

In the follow-up to his bestseller, Genome, Matt Ridley takes on a centuries-old question: is it nature or nurture that makes us who we are? Ridley asserts that the question itself is a "false dichotomy." Using copious examples from human and animal behavior, he presents the notion that our environment affects the way our genes express themselves.

Ridley writes that the switches controlling our 30,000 or so genes not only form the structures of our brains but do so in such a way as to cue off the outside environment in a tidy feedback loop of body and behavior. In fact, it seems clear that we have genetic "thermostats" that are turned up and down by environmental factors. He challenges both scientific and folk concepts, from assumptions of what's malleable in a person to sociobiological theories based solely on the "selfish gene."

Ridley's proof is in the pudding for such touchy subjects as monogamy, aggression, and parenting, which we now understand have some genetic controls. Nevertheless, "the more we understand both our genes and our instincts, the less inevitable they seem." A consummate popularizer of science, Ridley once again provides a perfect mix of history, genetics, and sociology for readers hungry to understand the implications of the human genome sequence. --Therese Littleton

Book Description

Following his highly praised and bestselling book Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters, Matt Ridley has written a brilliant and profound book about the roots of human behavior. Nature via Nurture explores the complex and endlessly intriguing question of what makes us who we are.

In February 2001 it was announced that the human genome contains not 100,000 genes, as originally postulated, but only 30,000. This startling revision led some scientists to conclude that there are simply not enough human genes to account for all the different ways people behave: we must be made by nurture, not nature. Yet again biology was to be stretched on the Procrustean bed of the nature-nurture debate. Matt Ridley argues that the emerging truth is far more interesting than this myth. Nurture depends on genes, too, and genes need nurture. 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 of the will.

Published fifty years after the discovery of the double helix of DNA, Nature via Nurture chronicles a revolution in our understanding of genes. 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. Nature via Nurture is an enthralling,up-to-the-minute account of how genes build brains to absorb experience.

Customer Reviews:

An interesting, light read.......2007-05-10

In "The Agile Gene: How Nature Turns on Nurture" (previously published as "Nature via Nurture") Matt Ridley explores how the modern understanding of the genome recasts the boundaries of the age-old nature versus nurture debate. Nature versus nurture is a long, intense and often highly charged, intellectual debate but Ridley shows it to be a false dichotomy. The two sides are not mutually exclusive. Genes (on the nature side of the equation) enable the acquisition of environmental influences (nurture) and the environmental influences in turn exert their effects by changing the patterns of gene expression. Ever since the work of Francois Jacob and Jacques Monod at the Institut Pasteur on the genetic control of enzyme synthesis in E. coli bacteria, it has been appropriate to think about genes in terms of 'switches'. Jacob and Monod had shown that in the absence of lactose (a milk sugar) the E. coli bacterium does not bother to produce the enzyme which processes lactose. This is because the gene for that enzyme is effectively turned off by what's called a `repressor protein'. However, in the presence of lactose this repressor protein is inactivated and the gene in question begins to churn out the required enzyme. This work showed that the control of gene expression could be tuned by the bacterium's environment. The gene was not just a template for the production of proteins - it was also a switch. As the psychologist Gary Marcus has pointed out, genes function like IF-THEN lines of code in a computer program. The IF refers to the regulatory portion of the gene and THEN refers to the protein template region.

Ridley's book is an interesting historical look at the nature-nurture debate and how either one or the other extreme has waxed and waned in popularity - from Francis Galton and the eugenics movement to the ideological blank slate views of 20th century social scientists to modern developments in evolutionary psychology which attempt to balance the debate and bring it in line with our current knowledge of how genes work. He also discusses some of the most interesting findings to emerge from the study of the genome, particularly as these findings pertain to issues of behavioral genetics. This includes an overview of the CREB genes which are necessary for the modification of neural circuits in learning and memory, the FOXP2 gene whose mutation in humans has been implicated in the development of language, the role of the BDNF gene in neuroticism and many others. The writing is accessible to a general audience as it does not delve into the biochemical details of how these genes perform their work but rather discusses the implications of the findings. Ridley also lightens the reading with anecdotal details about some of the scientists involved and the ways in which some of the discoveries were made.

As in "The Genome", Ridley appears to stumble a bit when he attempts to discuss the really big philosophical issues like free will. His attempt to explain how genes enable free will is not convincing and the argument that he tries to make does not seem all that clear even to Ridley himself. It is also of some interest that Ridley, like several others, paints Freud as an 'environmentalist'. The extent to which Freud's was a blank slate world is certainly debatable. The historian of science, Frank Sulloway, in his book "Freud, Biologist of the Mind" shows how Freud was far less of a `blank slater' than some might think.

All in all Ridley's book is a light and highly accesible read on an interesting and still controversial topic. It is a bit skimpy on the details and it is far from being an exhaustive treatment on the subject but as far as popular science writing is concerned, it is recommended.

Sheds light on various nature versus nurture arguments.......2006-11-10

Science writer Matt Ridley is a must read for anyone wanting to understand new discoveries about genes, and how they influence us throughout our lives. "The Agile Gene" is not as illuminating and captivating as the other Matt Ridley books (his best works are "The Origins of Human Virtue" and "The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature"). You'll get a broader and deeper understanding of nature vs. nuture from the other books if you are interested in understanding how genes effect human relations in societies, and civilizations. This book, however, is of particular interest if you want to understand how genes can effect an individual throughout ones life.

For example, the book is dedicated to supporting Ridley's comments like the following: "the influence of genes increases and the influence of shared environment gradually disappears with age. The older you grow, the less your family background predicts your IQ and the better your genes predict it." or "the shared environment plays only a small and non-significant role in the creation of personality differences in adults."

If you are interested in knowing how Ridley can support such statements, and his arguments either way, then this book is for you.

Nature through Nurture through Nature in an Endless Series of Adaptations.......2006-08-02

Note: This book was originally published as "Nature via Nurture."

Ridley is a journalist with an impeccable and broad understanding of "sociobiology." He is capable of distilling a broad array of sociobiological phenomena so that the layman can grasp what science is doing behind those polysyllabic and arcane words. This is yet another of his home runs.

Another Ridley home run! He's batting a thousand. Not bad for a popularizer of science.

Don't let the book's title fool you. If Ridley merely resolved the nurture/nature debate, which most of us already know, the book might be a bust. However, Ridley's means of resolution is an unsuspected, yet dramatic, one. The book's strengths lie in applying the resolution of this dilemma to other dilemmas. Not that this approach "answers" these dilemmas; indeed, maybe the reverse, it seems to complicate them. Therein lies the book's brilliance and novelty, while being entirely scientific.

For example, 18th C. philosopher David Hume raised doubts about humans' causal inferences, i.e., "cause-and-effect." E.g. The light goes out (effect). Caused by what: the filament, the glass, the wiring, the switch, the panel, or maybe something else? Many people, including scientists, dismissed Hume's skepticism as extreme and anti-scientific. Ridley's Fourth Chapter vindicates Hume, more dramatically than Hume himself (or Popper in 1944). The subject for discussion is "schizophrenia." The perennial nature/nurture debate and the theories its drawn are investigated, and given Ridley's insight and science's "evidence," the putative "cause(s)" of schizophrenia are all found wanting. How wanting? Incredibly wanting. But ironically, it's not all wrong. Mostly wrong. And it's revealed in, through, and by the prism of nature/nurture dispute, seen through the topic of schizophrenia. (The subject of causality in human behavior makes an important reappearance later.)

[N.B. A cautionary note. Chap. 3 seemed uncharacteristically long-winded and redundant. It passes and never recurs.]

Ridley's encyclopedic knowledge (what field of knowledge does he not know?) is breathtaking. His ability to coordinate all this diverse, even disparate, knowledge in defense of this thesis is extraordinary. To keep all the scientific jargon on an accessible level is masterful. To use an artful device with elegant prose adds creativity and imagination. The implications of these insights are even more stunning. Science does not get better than this!

Educational.......2006-07-11

The main thesis of this book was nothing new to me. The flow of concepts and explanations was often difficult for me to follow and I had to read them over a number of times before I felt I comprehended them - maybe his writing wasn't as clear as it could have been, or maybe because I'm getting older my mind isn't as sharp as it used to be. At any rate, I felt I learned a lot from reading this book. I hadn't realized that genes (or their resultant enzymes) might have such varying functions. The first bit of information which stood out in my mind was that Oxytocin could be the Love chemical. I was familiar with Oxytocin's function of precipitating the birth of a baby. The idea that it might be secreted by the pituitary during intercourse and thus result in the two individuals falling in love was new to me, and fascinating indeed. Or that it's presence might result in males being the faithful type rather than skirt chasers was also very interesting. There were a number of specific genes mentioned and how they played a part in talents, illnesses, or behavior. This information made me think and even modify some of my beliefs about what determines character. I've been leaning on the nurture side and now feel I am seeing better the part that nature plays (in conflicts, for example). So I feel this book has been very important to me. A disappointment was his pages on Free Will. I couldn't understand what the heck he was saying about this. Daniel Dennett is much easier to understand. Personally I don't feel that this knowledge about genes implies anything about questions like: Is there a God? What is consciousness? or Does Free Will exist? This book seems to me to be more about how living things function, regardless of the answers to such questions. How nature works and how living things function is fascinating stuff, and after reading this book I feel I have a clearer idea.
I should add that the results of studies he cites should be taken with a grain of salt. Mr. Ridley's writing is not that of a rigorous scientist. But even though he writes as though the conclusions he draws from the studies cited are clear and definite, and even though there is much room for doubt, his general positions as to what the genes do are in the ballpark of the functioning of the genes/enzymes which for me was the main value of this exposition.

Maddenly Engaging.......2006-07-10

Another Ridley home run! He's batting a thousand. Not bad for a popularizer of science.

Don't let the book's title fool you. If Ridley merely resolved the nurture/nature debate, which most of us already know, the book might be a bust. However, Ridley's means of resolution is an unsuspected, yet dramatic, one. The book's strengths lie in applying the resolution of this dilemma to other dilemmas. Not that this approach "answers" these dilemmas; indeed, maybe the reverse, it seems to complicate them. Therein lies the book's brilliance and novelty, while being entirely scientific.

For example, 18th C. philosopher David Hume raised doubts about humans' causal inferences, i.e., "cause-and-effect." E.g. The light goes out (effect). Caused by what: the filament, the glass, the wiring, the switch, the panel, or maybe something else? Many people, including scientists, dismissed Hume's skepticism as extreme and anti-scientific. Ridley's Fourth Chapter vindicates Hume, more dramatically than Hume himself (or Popper in 1944). The subject for discussion is "schizophrenia." The perennial nature/nurture debate and the theories its drawn are investigated, and given Ridley's insight and science's "evidence," the putative "cause(s)" of schizophrenia are all found wanting. How wanting? Incredibly wanting. But ironically, it's not all wrong. Mostly wrong. And it's revealed in, through, and by the prism of nature/nurture dispute, seen through the topic of schizophrenia. (The subject of causality in human behavior makes an important reappearance later.)

[N.B. A cautionary note. Chap. 3 seemed uncharacteristically long-winded and redundant. It passes and never recurs.]

Ridley's encyclopedic knowledge (what field of knowledge does he not know?) is breathtaking. His ability to coordinate all this diverse, even disparate, knowledge in defense of this thesis is extraordinary. To keep all the scientific jargon on an accessible level is masterful. To use an artful device with elegant prose adds creativity and imagination. The implications of these insights are even more stunning. Science does not get better than this!

Nature Via Nurture CD: Genes, Experience, and What Makes Us Human

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Nature Via Nurture CD: Genes, Experience, and What Makes Us Human
Matt Ridley
Manufacturer: HarperAudio
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OEZD4K

Nature Via Nurture: Genes, Experience, and What Makes Us Human

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Nature Via Nurture: Genes, Experience, and What Makes Us Human
Matt Ridley
Manufacturer: HarperAudio
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OEVUCO

Book Description

Lawrence J. MacDonnell is director and Sarah F. Bates is associate director of the Natural Resources Law Center at the University of Colorado School of Law. Bates is co-author, with Marc Reisner of Overtapped Oasis.

Natural Resources Policy and Law: Trends and Directions. (book reviews): An article from: Journal of Soil and Water Conservation
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Natural Resources Policy and Law: Trends and Directions. (book reviews): An article from: Journal of Soil and Water Conservation
Sandra S. Batie , and Craig A. Cox
Manufacturer: Soil & Water Conservation Society
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital
ASIN: B00092XLO6
Release Date: 2005-07-28

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Journal of Soil and Water Conservation, published by Soil & Water Conservation Society on September 1, 1994. The length of the article is 2194 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Natural Resources Policy and Law: Trends and Directions. (book reviews)
Author: Sandra S. Batie
Publication: Journal of Soil and Water Conservation (Refereed)
Date: September 1, 1994
Publisher: Soil & Water Conservation Society
Volume: v49 Issue: n5 Page: p463(3)

Article Type: Book Review

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International Petroleum Contracts:Current Trends and New Directions (International Energy and Resources Law and Policy)

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International Petroleum Contracts:Current Trends and New Directions (International Energy and Resources Law and Policy)
Gao Zhiguo
Manufacturer: Springer
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1859661033

Book Description

This book scrutinizes the development policies behind the evolution of various arrangements for international petroleum exploitation. By studying examples of the principal categories of petroleum arrangements in four representative developing countries (Thailand, Indonesia, Brazil and China), this study examines in particular the issues of recent trends and new directions in contractual development and environmental sustainability that are reflected in both the structure and substance of the modern petroleum contracts that have emerged since the 1950s. Modern petroleum contracts are generally able to achieve a greater commerciality and mutuality of interests, but they have failed to produce a necessary balance between resources extraction and environmental sustainability. The future direction for petroleum agreements is that they must explicitly recognize the inherent interdependence of commercial viability and sustainable development.

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