Matt Ridley. Nature Via Nurture (2003)

     Matt Ridley. Nature Via Nurture (2003) Ridley’s densely argued thesis that the genes cannot work without input from the environment is a pleasure to read. Much of his research is first-hand: he has read the papers he cites or alludes to, and/or has spoken with the people who wrote them (including his own wife.) Unfortunately most of his older research is third or fourth hand; his comments on Skinner show a thorough (and very common) misunderstanding of behaviourism. (1) But that’s a minor flaw in a well-done book, one that unlike many of its kind reflects current research.
     A book that anyone who wishes to understand where biology is going should read. Some of its inferences will no doubt soon prove wrong, but that’s because the field is expanding so quickly. Something like a coherent vision of how organisms become what they are is emerging. The central message: we, like all other organisms, are the product of an exquisite interplay between what we are born with and what our environment foists upon us. **** (2006)

Footnote (1): The common misconception of behaviourism is that conditioning can produce new behaviours. It can't. It can only re-direct and combine existing behaviours. Skinner called it "shaping". No amount of conditioning will make a pig fly, but conditioning could make a pig operate a car shaped like an airplane. Pigs poke at things with their snouts, and that behaviour could be redirected to push on various buttons and levers. Etc.