The Agile Gene

 Arguing that genetic predetermination and learned behavior are both at work in creating the human brain's structure, acclaimed science writer Matt Ridley sets out to describe how this paradoxical creature, the human being, can be simultaneously free-willed and motivated by instinct and culture. By decoding the human genome, we now know that genes not only predetermine the broad structure of the brain, they also absorb formative experiences and react to social cues. They are consequences as well as causes of the will.