false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1183473094m/1422244.jpg 1422244 4 Have you ever met a person who left you wondering, "How could someone be so twisted? So evil?" Prompted by clues in her sister's diary after her mysterious death, author Barbara Oakley takes the reader inside the head of the kinds of malevolent people you know, perhaps all too well, but could never understand. Starting with psychology as a frame of reference, Oakley uses cutting-edge images of the working brain to provide startling support for the idea that "evil" people act the way they do mainly as the result of a dysfunction. In fact, some deceitful, manipulative, and even sadistic behavior appears to be programmed genetically--suggesting that some people really are born to be bad. But there are unexpected fringe benefits to "evil genes." We may not like them--but we literally can't live without them. Oakley deftly ties together the big picture implications of revolutionary neuroscientific and genetic discoveries, showing the eerily similar behavioral tics of Mao, Stalin, Hitler, and Slobodan Milosevic. The dramatic recent scientific findings presented in Evil Genes shed light not only on dictators far afield, but on politics at home, as well as business, religion, and everyday life. In fact, history itself has been shaped by the strange confluence of genes and environment that science is just now beginning to understand. Oakley links the latest findings of molecular research to a wide array of seemingly unrelated historical and current phenomena, from the harems of the Ottomans and the chummy jokes of "Uncle Joe" Stalin, to the remarkable memory of investor Warren Buffet. Throughout, she never loses sight of the personal cost of evil genes as she unravels the mystery surrounding her sister's enigmatic life--and death. <i>Evil Genes</i> is a tour-de-force of popular science writing that brilliantly melds scientific research with intriguing family history and puts both a human and scientific face to evil. 1412672 1 10 2007 Evil Genes: Why Rome Fell, Hitler Rose, Enron Failed and My Sister Stole My Mother's Boyfriend total:68|5:13|4:21|3:20|2:8|1:6| 68 231 192 35 5 1 false false Fri Dec 21 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Sun Feb 10 12:26:31 -0800 2008 Sun Feb 10 12:54:55 -0800 2008 more...]]> 0 1 false false Sat Feb 21 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sat Feb 21 17:55:41 -0800 2009 Sat Feb 21 17:55:41 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Fri Jul 24 06:41:57 -0700 2009 Fri Jul 24 06:48:23 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 2 false false Wed Jul 08 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Jun 12 16:49:04 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 08 10:01:37 -0700 2009
Part science writing, part historical analysis, part sociological study, ...more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Aug 29 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Aug 29 09:21:11 -0700 2009 Sun Aug 30 09:07:09 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Fri Feb 06 13:41:17 -0800 2009 Wed Feb 11 09:55:32 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 1 false false Sun Mar 29 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Mar 05 03:59:56 -0800 2009 Sun Mar 29 05:57:38 -0700 2009 more...]]> 2 1 false false Sun Feb 10 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Tue Mar 04 15:11:43 -0800 2008 Tue Mar 04 15:15:55 -0800 2008 One might be forgiven for assuming that the nature versus nurture argument had been quietly settled long ago, with the obvious winner being "both." But apparently that's not what most of us want to hear, as the continuing supply of sociobiology books championing the near-irrelevance ...more...]]> 3 0 false false Sun Jun 07 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Oct 05 12:30:04 -0700 2008 Sun Jun 07 12:08:17 -0700 2009 more...]]> 1 0 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sun Nov 08 16:51:30 -0800 2009 Sun Nov 08 16:51:30 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sat Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Sat Aug 23 18:26:14 -0700 2008 Sat Aug 23 18:28:27 -0700 2008 more...]]> 1 0 false false Sun Jan 25 19:12:01 -0800 2009 Thu Jan 29 13:03:30 -0800 2009
Must have flexible thinking.

The book was a let down in it was glorified lit review that never matched ...more...]]> 3 0 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sun Jan 13 07:45:50 -0800 2008 Sun Jan 13 07:53:44 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Oct 13 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Apr 01 12:21:08 -0700 2009 Tue Oct 13 23:21:27 -0700 2009 Do Evil Genes go with Cruel Shoes?

Re-reading this book when it comes back around from the library.
I liked what I read then but have since forgotten. Back to square one.
One of 3 books I'm reading at once. Not bragging-it's just something I have always done: read...more...]]> 0 0 false false Wed Sep 02 20:59:42 -0700 2009 Wed Sep 02 21:02:01 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Mon Jul 27 14:57:08 -0700 2009 Mon Jul 27 14:58:31 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Sun Jun 21 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Jun 14 14:27:05 -0700 2009 Sun Jun 14 14:27:05 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Sun Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Mon May 18 10:56:26 -0700 2009 Mon May 18 10:57:52 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Thu Nov 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Fri Sep 11 12:00:55 -0700 2009 Fri Sep 11 12:02:56 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Thu Jun 11 13:17:27 -0700 2009 Thu Jun 11 13:30:56 -0700 2009 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=1422244