To say that David Shenk's goal in writing his latest book is ambitious is about as gross an understatement as you can make. What the author attempts to achieve in "The Genius in All of Us" is nothing less than to challenge hundreds of years of scientific dogma surrounding the importance of genetics in human development. "The public has gotten the impression that the answer to almost every question about our health and well-being can be found in our genome," writes Shenk. "With phrases like 'he must be gifted,' 'good genes,' 'innate ability,' and 'natural born,' our culture regards talent as a scarce genetic resource."
The only problem with this view, according to the author, is that it is not supported by facts. "The whole concept of genetic giftedness turns out to be wildly off the mark. In recent years, a mountain of scientific evidence has emerged that overwhelmingly suggests a completely different paradigm." As Shenk points out, this new way of looking at human traits does not reject the influence of genetics. "Instead it reveals how bankrupt the phrase 'nature versus nurture' really is and demands a whole new consideration of how each of us becomes us."
Shenk is an experienced journalist with credits as diverse as "National Geographic," The New York Times, "Harper's" and even "Gourmet." His six previous books cover everything from chess to Alzheimer's. In "Genius" he takes on the most sacred cow of human development: namely that everything we are is ultimately the result of the hand we are dealt at birth. As Shenk points out, this deterministic view of humanity is one that predates science: "In the twentieth century the presumed source of a person's natural endowment shifted from God-given to gene-given, but the basic notion of giftedness remained substantially the same. Exceptional abilities were things bestowed upon a very lucky few."
Perhaps the most intriguing question raised in "Genius" -- one which could be a book in its own right -- is why humans are so ready to accept the notion that their achievement or success, or more importantly the achievement or success of their neighbor, is due to some factors over which they have no control. Could this be, asks Shenk, because we are unable to comprehend the "inherently mysterious" nature of truly outstanding accomplishments? "Call it the greatness gap -- that sensation of an infinite and permanent chasm between ultra-achievers and mere mortals like us. Such feelings beg for a reassuring explanation: This person has something I do not have. They were born with something I wasn't born with. They are gifted."
Drawing on a broad range of sources, from philosophy and personal anecdotes to hard scientific research, the author repeatedly questions this notion. Instead, Shenk observes, the "genius" of those that achieve greatness often lies not in their genes but in the opportunities they receive before and after they are born and most especially what they do with those opportunities. Quoting Friedrich Nietzsche, Shenk writes: "All great artists and thinkers [are] great workers, indefatigable not only in inventing, but also in rejecting, sifting, transforming, ordering."
The most stunningly controversial aspects of the book deal with scientific studies that suggest even genes themselves, once thought to be set in stone, are in actuality malleable and respond to environmental factors. New research into epigenetics, the study of changes in genes caused by mechanisms other than changes in the underlying DNA, opens up a world of new possibilities in the ongoing search for what makes us who we are.
In the words of geneticists Eva Jablonka and Marion Lamb: "The popular conception of the gene as a simple causal agent is not valid. The gene cannot be seen as an autonomous unit -- as a particular stretch of DNA which always produces the same effect. Whether a length of DNA produces anything, what it produces, and where and when it produces it may depend on other DNA sequences and on the environment." Put another way, what we ultimately become is not solely a result of our genetic make-up. Which Shenk sums up as "We do not inherit traits directly from our genes. Instead we develop traits through the dynamic process of gene-environment interaction."
Though the concepts in the book are somewhat complex, the work is made infinitely more accessible by its structure. "Genius" is, in reality, two separate books. The first reads like a long and interesting magazine article. In it Shenk sets out his arguments and his questions in broad strokes. The second part is a more in-depth analysis of the concepts the author presents in the beginning, complete with elaborate footnotes and references. Those with Internet-influenced attention spans will appreciate the first part, while the second will appeal to those with a more academic bent.
In reading "Genius" it is impossible not to notice how broad the book's potential audience is. Teachers, students, prospective parents, serious artists, musicians and athletes: All would benefit from thinking about the provocative ideas the author puts forward. Scientists, journalists, politicians, priests and virtually anyone who is the slightest bit interested in the human condition will be stimulated by this book. In fact, the only people who will not get anything out of "Genius" are ironically those who need its lessons the most: namely those who cling religiously to the belief that they would be richer or smarter or more successful if it weren't for their lousy, rotten, inferior genes.