The Genius in All of Us: Why Everything You've Been Told About Genetics, Talent, and IQ Is Wrong
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Product Price: $26.95
Manufacturer: Doubleday
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With irresistibly persuasive vigor, David Shenk debunks the long-standing notion of genetic “giftedness,” and presents dazzling new scientific research showing how greatness is in the reach of every individual.
DNA does not make us who we are. “Forget everything you think you know about genes, talent, and intelligence,” he writes. “In recent years, a mountain of scientific evidence has emerged suggesting a completely new paradigm: not talent scarcity, but latent talent abundance.”
Integrating cutting-edge research from a wide swath of disciplines—cognitive science, genetics, biology, child development—Shenk offers a highly optimistic new view of human potential. The problem isn't our inadequate genetic assets, but our inability, so far, to tap into what we already have. IQ testing and widespread acceptance of “innate” abilities have created an unnecessarily pessimistic view of humanity—and fostered much misdirected public policy, especially in education.
The truth is much more exciting. Genes are not a “blueprint” that bless some with greatness and doom most of us to mediocrity or worse. Rather our individual destinies are a product of the complex interplay between genes and outside stimuli-a dynamic that we, as people and as parents, can influence.
This is a revolutionary and optimistic message. We are not prisoners of our DNA. We all have the potential for greatness.
Louann Brizendine Reviews The Genius In All of Us
Louann Brizendine, M.D.,author of The Female Brain and The Male Brain, is a diplomat of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology and the National Board of Medical Examiners, and is clinical professor of psychiatry at UCSF. She is founder and director of the Women's Mood and Hormone Clinic and the Teen Girl Mood and Hormone Clinic. After receiving her medical degree from Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut, she completed an internship in medicine and neurology at Harvard Medical School's Brigham and Women's Hospital, and a residency in psychiatry at the Massachusetts Mental Health Center of Harvard Medical School. She sits on the boards of many prestigious peer reviewed journals and is the recipient of numerous honors and awards. Read Brizendine's guest review of The Genius In All of Us:
In The Genius in All of Us Shenk beautifully explains why the nature-nurture debate is dead. It is not just the genes we are born with, but how we are raised and what opportunities are open to us that determine how smart we will become. Nurture and experience reshape our genes, and thus our brain. Shenk argues that the idea we are either born with genius or talent, or we aren’t, is simply untrue. The notion that relentless, deliberate practice changes the brain and thus our abilities has been undervalued over the past 30 years in favor of the concept of “innate giftedness.” Practice, practice, practice (some say 10,000 hours or more) is what it takes. Shenk argues that it is just some fantasy that effortless, gifted genius is born and not made. He marshals evidence to show that genetic factors do not trump environmental factors but rather work in concert with them. Shenk notes that by the sweat of our brow we can train ourselves to be successful--even if we are born with only average genetic talent. Scientists know that how we are raised and how we are trained affects the expression of our genes. If you think you’ve reached your talent limit, think again, Shenk says. It’s not just in your genes, he says, but in the intensity of your motivation. Ambition, persistence, and self-discipline are not just products of genes, but can be shaped by nurture and environment. Certainly it is important to have good genes, but that determines at most only 50 percent of your talent. He underscores the point that intelligence is made up of the skills that a person has developed--with an emphasis on “developed”--through hard work. Encouraging ourselves and our children to work hard requires being surrounded by others also wanting to achieve striving for excellence. Moreover, Shenk gives the hopeful message not just for kids, but also for adults. Happily for us, the human brain remains plastic, changeable and trainable well into old age. So no matter how old you are, if you’d like to be smarter--get to work! --Louann Brizendine
A Q&A with David Shenk
David Shenk: It is a bold statement, and it reflects how poorly the public has been served when it comes to understanding the relationship between biology and ability. The clichés we’ve been taught about genetic blueprints, IQ, and "giftedness" all come out of crude, early-20th century guesswork. The reality is so much more interesting and complex. Genes do have a powerful influence on everything we do, but they respond to their environments in all sorts of interesting ways. We’ve now learned a lot more about the developmental mechanisms that enable people to get really good at stuff. Intelligence and talent turn out to be about process, not about whether you were born with certain "gifts."
Question: In The Genius in All of Us you state that the concept of nature versus nurture is over. Scientists, cognitive psychologists, and geneticists are moving towards an idea of ‘interactionism.' What does this mean? If the battle of genes versus environment is over, who has won? Which is more important?
David Shenk: They both won, because they're both vitally important. But the new science shows us that they do not act separately. Declaring that a person gets X-percent of his/her intelligence from genes and Y-percent from the environment is like saying that X-percent of Shakespeare's greatness can be found in his verbs, and Y-percent in his adjectives. There is no nature vs. nurture, or nature plus nurture; instead, it's nature interacting with nurture, which is often expressed by scientists as "GxE" (genes times intelligence). This is what "interactionism" refers to. A vanguard of geneticists, neuroscientists, and psychologists have stepped forward in recent years to articulate the importance of the dynamic interaction between genes and the environment.
Question: You describe genes and environment as a sound board. How so?
David Shenk: In the past, we’ve been taught that each distinct gene contains a certain dossier of information, which in turn determines a certain trait; if you have the blue-eyed gene, you get blue eyes. Period.
It turns out, though, that the information contained inside genes is only part of the story; another critical part is how often genes get "expressed," or turned on, by other genes and by outside forces. It’s therefore helpful to think of your genome as a giant mixing board with thousands of knobs and switches. Genes are always getting turned on/off/up/down by hormones, nutrients, etc. People actually affect their own genome’s behavior with their actions.
Question: How do these new findings affect the concept of the "The Bell Curve"--that we live in an increasingly stratified world where the "cognitive elite," those with the best genes, are more and more isolated from the cognitive/genetic underclass? Is that idea now completely obsolete?
David Shenk: Yes, it is obsolete. The idea that there is a genetic super-class that has a corner on high-IQ genes is nonsense. This comes out of a profound misunderstanding of how genes work and how intelligence works, and also from a misreading of so-called "heritability" studies. I am not saying that genes don’t affect intelligence. Genes affect everything. But by and large I think the evidence shows that people with low intelligence are missing out on key developmental advantages.
Question: Lewis Terman invented the IQ test at Stanford University in 1916. He declared it the ideal tool to determine a person’s native intelligence. Are IQ tests accurate? What are the benefits and fallout of the IQ test?
David Shenk: IQ tests accurately rank academic achievement. That’s quite different from identifying innate intelligence, which doesn’t really exist. Tufts intelligence expert Robert Sternberg explains that "intelligence represents a set of competencies in development." In other words, intelligence isn’t fixed. Intelligence isn’t general. Intelligence is not a thing. Instead, intelligence is a dynamic, diffuse, and ongoing process.
The IQ test has valid uses. It can help teachers and principals understand how well students are doing and what they’re missing. But the widespread belief that it defines what each of us are capable of (and limited to) is disabling for individuals and society. People simply cannot reach their full potential if they honestly believe that they are so severely restricted.
Question: How do we go about finding the genius in all of us? What steps we can take to unlock latent talent?
David Shenk: Find the thing you love to do, and work and work and work at it. Don't be discouraged by failure; realize that high achievers thrive on failure as a motivating mechanism and as instruction guide on how to get better.
(Photo © Alexandra Beers)
Reviews
Rating: 5 / 5
Date: 2010-09-04
Summary: "Unmasking the Myths Masquerading Behind Talent, IQ and Genetic Predisposition"
Dr. Robert A. Burton has said in his book On Being Certain - Believing You Are Right Even When You're Not: "We do not need and cannot afford the catastrophes born out of a belief in certainty." (1). David Shenk's book, The Genius In All of Us - Why Everything You've Been Told About Genetics, Talent and IQ is Wrong, lays out all the evidence to unmask the myths masquerading as what we think we most certainly know about being born with finite limitations regarding our capacity to develop as human beings.
One of the central themes of this book is, "Everything shapes us and everything can be shaped by us. The genius in all of us is our built-in ability to improve ourselves and our world." (p.131). It's a book about permission - permission to move beyond the myths that heretofore have hampered our ability to imagine the plausibility of becoming more than we are, by virtue of the common knowledge that is broadly distributed regarding intelligence, genetic predisposition and talent. Listen to Shenk: "But the new science suggests that few of us know our true limits, that the vast majority of us have not even come close to tapping what scientists call our "unactualized potential." It also suggests a profound optimism for the human race." (P.9). Now that's empowering!
David Shenk is a national bestselling author with five previous books, including The Immortal Game, Data Smog and The Forgetting - is also a correspondent and contributor to NPR, PBS, The New Yorker, The New York Times, National Geographic and The [...] This guy is incredibly insightful and an incredible researcher. This book has appendices ("Sources, Notes, Clarifications and Amplifications" that run some 160 pages) that are an integral part of the sumptuous fare provided for the reader - and comprise the body of evidence that support the authors arguments....don't overlook these.
Shenk argues: "We need to replace "nature/nurture" with "dynamic development." (P. 27). What does he mean?
"Dynamic development is the new paradigm for talent, lifestyle, and well-being. It is how genes influence everything but strictly determine very little. It forces us to rethink everything about ourselves, where we come from, and where we can go. It promises that while we'll never have true control over our lives, we do have the power to impact them enormously. Dynamic development is why human biology is a jukebox with many potential tunes not specific built-in instructions for a certain kind of life, but built-in capacity for a variety of possible lives. None is genetically doomed to mediocrity." (Pp.27-28.)
Once again, a myth-busting - empowering insight. His thesis is that "talent is not the cause but the result of something." (P.49)
He doesn't stop there. Listen to the following excerpts that evidence additional dimensions of his arguments:
"What we do know is that our brains and bodies are primed for plasticity; they were built for challenge and adaptation. This is true from life's earliest moments." (P.106).
"each of us is a dynamic system, a creature of development." (P.17).
"No one knows. We do not-and cannot-know our own limits unless and until we push ourselves to them. Finding one's true natural limit in any field takes many years and many thousands of hours of intense pursuit. What are your limits?" (P.58).
In a world that is desperately yearning to empower people to explore frontiers that will contribute to ameliorating current societal ills and providing new pathways to a better future, Shenk's argument obliterates our tendency to become complacent and/or accepting or mediocrity, when he writes:
"But the new science tells us that it's equally foolish to think that mediocrity is built into most of us, or that any of us can know our true limits before we've applied enormous resources and invested vast amounts of time. Our abilities are not set in genetic stone. They are soft and sculptable, far into adulthood. With humility, with hope, and with extraordinary determination, greatness is something to which any kid - of any age - can aspire." (P. 10)
Solid journalistic research, powerful prose, and penetrating arguments in habit this work by David Shenk. However, this particular book is actually much, much more than that. From time to time certain literary works unmask the fallacy behind "common knowledge" masquerading as "certainty." The Genius In All of Us - Why Everything You've Been Told About Genetics, Talent and IQ is Wrong, is one of those.
Thinking and the collective consciousness that any society tends to develop over time has an inertia behind it - an energy that maintains the body of widely held beliefs and assumptions about "what we think we know," including all the rationalizations behind our "certainty. However, as it pertains to genetics, talent and IQ (like a myriad of topics every society comes to be "certain" about) - this "certainty" has unconsidered consequences. What do I mean? Listen to David Shenk: "I believe the answer lies in the profound inertia of human thought. When an entire society believes something is impossible, it suppresses, by its very way of life, the evidence that would contradict that belief." p.123.
In David Shenk's The Genius In All of Us - Why Everything You've Been Told About Genetics, Talent and IQ is Wrong he provides a new inertia that unmasks the myths masquerading as talent, intelligence and genetic predisposition. It's a book written in a way that can be consumed by a broad audience. It's a book about permission - permission to embrace the new inertia contained in the following truth:
"The genius in all of us is our built-in ability to improve ourselves and our world." P.131.
Buy this book! One of my favorites for 2010. Required Reading.
NOTES:
(1) Burton, Robert A. M.D. On Being Certain - Believing You Are Right Even When You're Not, St. Martins Press, New York, NY Copyright © 2008 by Robert A. Burton, M.D. p.223-224
Rating: 4 / 5
Date: 2010-08-19
Summary: "Nature was Having an Affair with Nurture"
The basic premise of this book is that there is no such thing as a gifted person but rather there are individuals who build their talent through hard word, perserverance, and the right environment. This applies to even so-called child geniuses like Mozart. In addition, the book also introduces the notion that talent is not an issue of nature (genes) vs. nurture (environment) but a result of a very intricate and complex interaction between the two. This outlook is very optimistic because it suggests that everyone has the potential to become very good at something, whether that be athletics, music, the arts, business or even plumbing. The science in this book can provide the foundation for some of the claims made by self-help authors and others about the potential for every human being to achieve something outstanding. One odd thing about the book: it's 270+ pages long before the list of sources and index; however, the actual text is only about 140 pages long - the other 130 pages or so are reference notes, mostly the details of points sufficiently covered in the text.
Rating: 5 / 5
Date: 2010-07-18
Summary: "What it takes to be a Genius"
A major idea of this book is our societal emphasis on talent as being innate, i.e. genetic, despite the evidence that shows the importance of family, culture, physical environment on the success of people. The author doesn't adequately deal with the issue of "idiot savants" but otherwise, he makes a strong case based on the research he has selected.
Unlike most books for the average person, the last half of the book details the sources for each topic and quote/idea. He often gives a quote in its original context. This lends lots of credibility to his argument; at the least, readers can check for themselves. These are not treated like end-notes but are in full text as any other part of the book. This emphasizes the evidence rather than the author's opinion as stated in the first half of the book.
This book is useful for parents and teachers.
Rating: 4 / 5
Date: 2010-06-27
Summary: "Solid Ideas, Unorthodox Packaging"
Let me start off by saying that I solidly agree with the ideas presented by David Shenk: the human potential for development vastly exceeds our genetic heritage. Shenk's view of human potential dovetails with my own experience in classes in education and psychology and work I have done with children. I very much enjoyed reading this book and hope that it achieves a wide readership -- our country is in desperate need of an expanded understanding of human potential.
However, Shenk has not been well served by his publishers. Less than half of the book is the text proper -- the rest is notes and additional discussion. The problem is that there is no indication in the text (such as a note number) to indicate that additional discussion or elaboration is available. One abruptly reaches the end of the text and is presented with the notes, long after one has passed a passage where additional material would have been instructive. The notes are printed in regular text type and thus are very readable, but they are keyed to quotations and page numbers, which forces the reader to turn back to acquire the complete context. As a result, I skipped the notes -- there is a wealth of material here, but it's inaccessible.
Second, there is no index, which is a major failing in a book of this kind. If you wish to know, for example, whether Shenk discusses Richard Dawkins, you are out of luck unless you page through the entire book and notes peering at every page. There is a wealth of discussion about current research in genetics, education, psychology, athletics, and much, much more -- but locating the discussion of a particular researcher is impossible. This is particularly frustrating because the bibliography seems comprehensive. I cannot imagine the rationale for omitting an index -- if cost were an issue, the notes could have been printed in smaller type to reduce the page count. All this sadly detracts from the usefulness of a very interesting and provocative book.
Rating: 2 / 5
Date: 2010-06-25
Summary: "a book that contradicts itself"
The study of expert performance has been popularized by (among others) a number of articles in the NY Times and in Gladwell's book "The Tipping Point", and this book seems like an attempt to ride the wave in book form. Unfortunately you'll find three seemingly mutually exclusive claims in this book (1)"Heritability is a population average, meaningless for any single person" on pg. 65 (2) genes interact with nature to produce what we observe (3) "single-gene diseases do exist" pg 21
So in other words genes can be completely deterministic, they interact with the environment to produce outcomes, and they are irrelevant. At various points this book will tell you all 3 are true!