What makes you the way you are—and what makes each of us different from everyone else? In Innate, leading neuroscientist and popular science blogger Kevin Mitchell traces human diversity and individual differences to their deepest level: in the wiring of our brains. Deftly guiding us through important new research, including his own groundbreaking work, he explains how variations in the way our brains develop before birth strongly influence our psychology and behavior throughout our lives, shaping our personality, intelligence, sexuality, and even the way we perceive the world. Compelling and original, Innate will change the way you think about why and how we are who we are.
Awards and Recognition
- One of Publishers Weekly's Best Books of 2018
- One of Forbes' Must-Read Brain Books of 2018
Kevin J. Mitchell is associate professor at the Smurfit Institute of Genetics and the Institute of Neuroscience at Trinity College Dublin. He contributed to The Future of the Brain: Essays by the World's Leading Neuroscientists (Princeton) and runs a popular blog, Wiring the Brain.
"A powerful antidote to genetic determinism."—Barbara Kiser, Nature
"Innate is the best guide to the intersection of neuroscience, psychology, and genetics that I've found in recent years. . . . If there's any question you have about how our brains make us who we are, chances are you’ll find an enlightening answer in Innate."—Carl Zimmer, Publishers Weekly
"Engaging."—Anthony King, Irish Times
"A lucid, up-to-the-minute account of the human mind. . . . In considering the social, ethical, and philosophical implications of the accumulation of scientific discoveries, Mitchell changes the paradigm of what truly defines human nature."—Tiffany Jeung, Inverse
"Nature versus nurture is a centuries' old distinction, but neuroscience and genetics are taking us to a new level of sophistication in understanding it…. Mitchell's book is a new landmark in this debate, with clear and substantive explanations of the new light that biology is shedding on an old question."—Steven Pinker, author of The Blank Slate
