Robert Plomin Recommended Books

Newspeak, Doublethink, Big Brother, the Thought Police - the language of 1984 has passed into the English language as a symbol of the horrors of totalitarianism. George Orwell's story of Winston Smith's fight against the all-pervading Party has become a classic, not the least because of its intellectual coherence. First published in 1949, it retains as much relevance today as it had then.

Voici près d'un siècle, dans d'étourdissantes visions, Aldous Huxley imagine une civilisation future jusque dans ses rouages les plus surprenants : un État Mondial, parfaitement hiérarchisé, a cantonné les derniers humains " sauvages " dans des réserves. La culture in vitro des fœtus a engendré le règne des " Alphas ", génétiquement déterminés à être l'élite dirigeante. Les castes inférieures, elles, sont conditionnées pour se satisfaire pleinement de leur sort. Dans cette société où le bonheur est loi, famille, monogamie, sentiments sont bannis. Le meilleur des mondes est possible. Aujourd'hui, il nous paraît même familier...

'Mind-blowing ... It is a hugely important book ... His story is crucial' Matt Ridley, The Times One of the world's top behavioural geneticists argues that we need a radical rethink about what makes us who we areThe blueprint for our individuality lies in the 1% of DNA that differs between people. Our intellectual capacity, our introversion or extraversion, our vulnerability to mental illness, even whether we are a morning person - all of these aspects of our personality are profoundly shaped by our inherited DNA differences.In Blueprint, Robert Plomin, a pioneer in the field of behavioural genetics, draws on a lifetime's worth of research to make the case that DNA is the most important factor shaping who we are. Our families, schools and the environment around us are important, but they are not as influential as our genes. This is why, he argues, teachers and parents should accept children for who they are, rather than trying to mould them in certain directions. Even the environments we choose and the signal events that impact our lives, from divorce to addiction, are influenced by our genetic predispositions. Now, thanks to the DNA revolution, it is becoming possible to predict who we will become, at birth, from our DNA alone. As Plomin shows us, these developments have sweeping implications for how we think about parenting, education, and social mobility.A game-changing book by a leader in the field, Blueprint shows how the DNA present in the single cell with which we all begin our lives can impact our behaviour as adults.

THE TOP 10 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLERAnil Seth's radical new theory of consciousness challenges our understanding of perception and reality, doing for brain science what Dawkins did for evolutionary biology.'A brilliant beast of a book. Seth proposes to explain not just what and how we are, but why we are the way we are. Hugely inspirational.'DAVID BYRNE'Insightful and profound. The nature of consciousness is still one of the hardest problems in science, but Anil Seth brings us closer than ever before to the answer. This a hugely important book.'JIM AL-KHALILI'Anil Seth thinks clearly and sharply on one of the hardest problems of science and philosophy, cutting through weeds with a scientist's mind and a storyteller's skill.'ADAM RUTHERFORD'Seth provokes us to think about thinking . . . readable, relatable, and gripping.'ALEX GARLAND, director of Ex Machina'Amazing . . . a brilliant read.' RUSSELL BRAND'An exhilarating book: a vast-ranging, phenomenal achievement that will undoubtedly become a seminal text.' GAIA VINCE, GUARDIAN (Book of the Day)'Likely to be one of the most important books of 2021.' FIVE BOOKS Being You is not as simple as it sounds. Somehow, within each of our brains, billions of neurons work to create our conscious experience. How does this happen? Why do we experience life in the first person? After over twenty years researching the brain, world-renowned neuroscientist Anil Seth puts forward a radical new theory of consciousness and self. His unique theory of what it means to 'be you' challenges our understanding of perception and reality and it turns what you thought you knew about yourself on its head.'A fascinating book. A joy to read. Anil Seth explores fundamental questions about consciousness and the self from the perspective of a philosophically-informed neuroscientist. Highly recommended.'NIGEL WARBURTON'Offers us new cause for astonishment and wonder . . . a must-read for anyone seeking a better understanding of the brain and how nature sculpts the human exprerience.'ANNAKA HARRIS, author of Conscious'Few people are as well positioned as Anil Seth to tackle the question of consciousness. Beautifully written, crystal clear, deeply insightful.'DAVID EAGLEMAN, Pulitzer Prize-nominated author of Livewired'Truly compelling.'PROFESSOR KARL FRISTON, Universty College London'A wonderfully accessible and comprehensive account of how our minds capture the world, and how that makes us who we are.'SEAN CARROLL, author of Something Deeply Hidden

Le 1% de notre ADN qui nous rend unique détermine à plus de 50% ce que nous sommes. L'un des chercheurs en psychologie les plus réputés pour ses travaux sur la génétique du comportement apporte une démonstration passionnante du poids prépondérant de la "nature" sur la "culture". Nos capacités intellectuelles, notre introversion ou extraversion, notre vulnérabilité aux maladies mentales, et même le fait que nous soyons ou pas du matin, tous ces aspects de notre personnalité sont profondément façonnés par les différences d'ADN dont nous avons hérité. Robert Plomin, pionnier de la génétique comportementale, s'appuie sur les recherches de toute une vie pour démontrer que l'ADN est bien le facteur majeur qui construit notre personnalité. Nos familles, nos écoles et notre environnement importent, mais ils n'ont pas le même poids que nos gènes. Raison pour laquelle parents et enseignants devraient accepter les enfants tels qu'ils sont, plutôt que d'essayer de les modeler et de les faire aller dans certaines directions.Aujourd'hui, grâce à la révolution de l'ADN, il devient possible de prédire qui nous deviendrons, à la naissance, à partir de notre seule génétique. Comme le montre Plomin, les répercussions de cette évolution sont considérables. Écrit par un ponte de sa discipline, ce livre promet de changer la donne." Une explication claire et captivante de l'un des domaines les plus brûlants (et les plus intéressants) de la science, par son praticien peut-être le plus distingué. " Steven Pinker