Review : Back to nurture

Nature seems to have been winning the nature-nurture debate in recent years.
A new genetic determinism is in the air, fuelled in part by The Bell Curve,
which suggested people’s genes determined their station in life. R. Grant
Steen’s DNA and Destiny (Plenum, £23.15/$28.95, ISBN 0 306 45260 X)
tries to swing the argument in favour of nurture by highlighting the limits of
genetic science and the philosophical contradictions between molecular biology,
evolutionary theory and chaos. In an area that has spawned many books, Steen’s
contribution is important, particularly for providing an American
perspective.