The dragon that Ridley seeks to slay is the widespread popular fear of a genetic basis for human nature, whose cause and/or symptom is the idea that genes are destiny, the enemies of choice and meliorism: that 'a gene for' X is an unalterable sentence to suffer, or benefit, from X. Its main theme is outlined in the title: many traits of human behaviour, and consequently features of human culture and society, have a basis in enabling genes (nature), but the development and expression of these traits depends on complex regulatory mechanisms that are to some extent under environmental control (nurture), including control by the brain. 'Nature via Nurture' is loosely organised around the lives and thoughts of '12 hairy men' late 19th and early 20th century researchers (possessing between them a large amount of facial hair) whose thoughts have influenced the long-running nature/nurture debate. 'Genome' gave readers a grand tour of recent discoveries in genetics and genomics, traversing the individual chromosomes in turn. Ridley's follow-up to the success of 'Genome' (4th Estate, 2000) develops some of the themes introduced there.
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