Accidental Brothers: The Story of Twins Exchanged at Birth and the Power of Nature and Nurture

by Nancy L. Segal

The riveting story of two sets of twins separated at birth and improbably reunited as adults, a dream case for exploring nature vs. nurture.

Accidental Brothers tells the unique story of two sets of identical Colombian twin brothers who discovered at age 25 that they were mistakenly raised as fraternal twins--when they were not even biological brothers. Due to an oversight that presumably occurred in the hospital nursery, one twin in each pair was switched with a twin in the other pair. The result was two sets of unrelated "fraternal" twins--Jorge and Carlos, who were raised in the lively city of Bogota; and William and Wilber, who were raised in the remote rural village of La Paz, 150 miles away. Their parents and siblings were aware of the enormous physical and behavioral differences between the members of each set, but never doubted that the two belonged in their biological families.

Everyone's life unraveled when one of the twins--William--was mistaken by a young woman for his real identical twin, Jorge. Her "discovery" led to the truth--that the alleged twins were not twins at all, but rather unrelated individuals who ended up with the wrong families.

Blending great science and human interest, Accidental Brothers will inform and entertain anyone interested in how twin studies illuminate the origins of human behavior, as well as mother-infant identification and the chance events that can have profound consequences on our lives.

Genres: Nonfiction, Psychology, Biography, Science, Biography Memoir, Health

352 pages, Hardcover

First published April 17, 2018

About the author

I am a Psychology Professor at California State University, Fullerton, with a special interest in twin studies--I am a fraternal twin myself! I have always been fascinated with the differences between my sister and myself, as well as the similarities and differences between identical twins. My career has been informative, and so much fun! And I am very excited about my recent books.

When I am not being an academic you can find me swing dancing or watching old films.

Reviews

[Jayne · Rating 2 out of 5]

This wa s a 2.5
Received this ARC from Westwinds Bookshop, Duxbury, MA.
An fascinating true story, set in Colombia. Whilst the events themselves are very interesting I felt the author was padding her story with infomaton about other separated twins. Could have been a shorter, tighter book. However, the bare bones facts about twins were informative .

[Stephanie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was so excited about this book. Two sets of twin brothers, two boys were accidentally swapped and grew up in two totally different types of homes - country life versus city life. A lifetime later they would discover the truth. Nurture vs. Nature is sure to shine through..

The story seemed extremely interesting and it seemed when I read the Preface that the author really knew her stuff. I expected there to be a thorough analysis of the boys' lives in regards to nurture vs. nature. I didn't even make it 60 pages in - the author kept repeating herself - mentioning "oh this woman was his sister - BUT NOT REALLY! He was switched as an infant!" DUH!! We know this!!

Wish this was a well polished book instead of a turd!

[Kay · Rating 3 out of 5]

I find this subject matter interesting but this book was hard to follow .

[Lorette · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a fascinating and respectfully done piece of work that explores two sets of brothers in Colombia, in which two babies from two sets of identical twins are accidentally switched at birth. The brothers and respective families come to find out about the switch when the "boys" are in their mid twenty's. It is a nature/nurture/epigenetic model (country mouse/city mouse too) researchers dream about - but the social worker and psychologist who wrote this book, the other layers are also attended to. I think there could have been more of an unraveling of the story, with the findings then described in clusters where it made sense. This read a little bit more like a research article - which I totally enjoyed.

[Tessie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Originally I read the story of the Bogota brothers in The New York Times Magazine article. I was fascinated with these events and noted the book being published as a to-read for the future. Well the future is now!

This was a very informational approach about twin studies and genetic significance, which I appreciate. But the real story is in the personal journeys of William, Wilber, Jorge, and Carlos. The circumstances of switched identical twins are rare and unimaginable, and I think this book did a good job presenting the facts objectively. It also did not sensationalize the intimate experiences of each brother, and clearly respected their individual feelings. I was touched to learn their stories, and I know the significance of their chance meeting will stay in my headspace forever.

Fascination aside, the writing did throw me for some loops. The author's enthusiasm is charming for it is clear how excited she is to be telling this tale. Statements repeat over and over again (The twins were switched!!), so the details become very padded. Anecdotes of previous switched twin cases also cloud the story at random intervals, up until the last chapter. I would be cruising along, eager to learn more, and then hit a road block because the sequence of events would be interrupted. Nothing a little editing could fix, but oh well. I enjoyed the documentation of these amazing brothers, and hope they continue to grow their fellowship in the future.

[Sandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating story of switched-at-birth identical twins -- with a twist. In this case, two sets of identical twins were switched, so that two families ended up with one biological child and one "accidental twin." William and Carlos were switched (so that the baby named Carlos became William and vice-versa, but that can get too confusing!), ending up with a William-Wilber pair and a Jorge-Carlos pair.

Of course, the story of these four alone, as well as their families, is pretty much endlessly fascinating, and I think Segal did a great job presenting it. She seemed to present an honest account and assessment, while not overly dramatizing. For instance, she never exploits the angle of William, who would have been raised in Bogota and had many more opportunities, being deprived of the upbringing Carlos got. William and Wilber lived in poverty, but it was simply the life they knew; William did not have the educational opportunities he craved, but he had two loving parents. Carlos, who would have been raised in La Paz instead of Bogota, loved the opportunities he got (and it appears he ended up, by a small margin, the most intellectually intelligent of all of them), but had an absent father with whom he was extremely angry, and a loving mother who died at age 56 or 57, when he was only 20.

For that aspect alone, the book is interesting. It also includes snippets about other twins separated at birth (some by accident, some by intentional separation at adoptions or the divorce of parents), which are also quite fascinating.

One of the most interesting parts of this book to me involves the manifestation of certain traits in identical twins.

In one case, two girls were both adopted by Catholic families; one was very religious as a child but less so as an adult; the other had a less religious family, but her faith became much more important to her when she was an adult. But "Mary and Elaine agreed on one point: neither could accept that genetic factors influence a belief in God" (76), but it seems likely that they are mistaken based on the extensive research.

Another case involved Jack and Oskar, born in 1933 in British-ruled Trinidad. When their parents decided to get a divorce, Jack stayed with their Romanian father in Trinidad; Oskar returned to Germany with his German Catholic mother.

Jack was raised Jewish, worked on an Israeli kibbutz, and entered the Israeli navy. Oskar was raised Catholic, joined the Hitler Youth, and labored in the coal mines of the Ruhr. After reuniting as adults--aside from their opposing political and historical views, which they variously argued about or ignored--the twins' abilities, personalities, and appearance were nearly indistinguishable" (77)

Undoubtedly because they were twins, the men set aside their differences and developed a relationship. And both acknowledged that, had the situation been reversed, their political/social/cultural leanings would have been that of their twin.

Finally, there's the story of "Todd and Josh . . . , the only known pair of separated identical twins who have experienced gender dysphoria the persistent discontent with one's birth or assigned gender and identification with the opposite gender) and have undergone surgery to change their sex" (161). While there are instances where one separated twin is straight and the other gay or lesbian, the unlikely situation of separated twins both experiencing such drastic gender dysphoria that they had sex-change surgery is, to me, a strong, persuasive argument that gender orientation is intrinsic, not some sort of awful mistake based on trauma, bad parenting, cultural influences, etc. the only difference in this era is that it was possible for them to remediate what they felt was a biological mismatch with their natural tendencies.

I got a little bogged down with some of the analyses of traits in the last sections of the book, but I think that was more because I was already a bit enervated from an excess of Thanksgiving break reading, and wanted to finish the book so I didn't have to take it to the library and request an extension.

[CC · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a unique, intriguing story. Two sets of identical twins are born in Colombia, South America; one set in Bogota, and one set in Velez, near La Paz. Through a series of confusing events, one twin of each pair is switched, so that the twins growing up together are, in fact, not even related. Because the twins in each “rearranged” set are so obviously different from each other, they are raised as fraternal, even though each mother had been told that she had given birth to identical twins. To make matters even more complicated, the two sets have vastly different living conditions and family structures.

Jorge and William are born in Bogota in December 1988. Wilber and Carlos are born in Velez. However, because Carlos (who would become "William") had a medical condition, he was taken to Bogota for treatment. An aunt was supposed to bring William back to La Paz, but instead she mistakenly was given the wrong child—Carlos (who then became "William")—to bring back. (Although this is never explained, I have to assume that the boy who was supposed to be Carlos is now William, and William is now named Carlos. This is a very confusing point).

So Wilbur and William were brought up together in La Paz, where the living conditions were very primitive. There was no running water, they lived in a three-sided thatched house, and there were no paved roads into their area. Schooling was free only through the 5th grade, and then it must be paid for—so the brothers did not go on with their education. Although the family lived in seemingly poor conditions, they had plenty of good food to eat because of their farm. Life in La Paz was arduous and physically demanding. Wilbur and William grew up strong and agile.

Jorge and Carlos were brought up together in Bogota, a large city with all the amenities of cities, and free public education through the 12th grade. The mistake was discovered when the twins were twenty-five years old: a friend of Jorge coincidentally ran into his real twin—William-- and it was brought to light, eventually, through DNA testing, that there had been a switch.

This is an amazing story of how the four brothers and their families dealt with their discovery. The author became aware of the unique situation because she studies twins and the relationship between genetics and environment. This situation made for an ideal study of nature vs. nurture. Segal was able to visit the two sets of twins at various times and to complete a detailed study of their similarities and differences and the relative effects on their behaviors and personalities.

I was most interested to learn about these brothers, and how the identical twins seemed to form an instant bond, although they also remained close to their “adopted” families. Nowadays all four of the brothers try to spend as much time together as they can, and for William and Carlos, to also forge bonds with their respective biological families. The twin that seemed to have had suffered the most disadvantage was William, who had longed for a complete education, and was denied it. He was proactive in this desire, though, and had found other means to be educated with an eventual goal of going to law school and possibly a career in politics.

Although the story is fascinating, this book was written in such a confusing, disorganized manner that it was difficult to keep information straight.

[Cynthia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a brilliant case study of identical twins who were switched at birth with another set of identical twins, one from each set becoming an "accidental" sibling, one being raised with the family of origin, and other fascinating configurations. The 4 boys grew up in Colombia. The author is a twin and an academic who has researched and written about identical twin switches previous to this one, but finds this to be the most fascinating of the ones she has covered before.

Because the author is obviously empathic and passionate about her work, the book read like a novel, sometimes like a mystery novel. One of the reviewers stated that this was his favourite book of all those he had read this year. I would agree.

I learned a lot about twins and would recommend this book to others who are interested in identical twins. I would also caution people to be careful to go home from the hospital with the right baby because apparently it is not as uncommon as one would think that infants are accidentally switched and most parents would never dream that such a thing would happen so are not looking at that baby as possibly the product of a switch.

[Sheri S. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fascinating book about two pairs of identical twins where one twin from each pair was switched at birth. One set of twins comes from the countryside in Columbia and the other set is from a larger city. The book tells their stories and how discovery of the switch was made. The author/researcher goes to Columbia and meets with the four young men and conducts interviews and psychological testing with the goal or learning more about nature versus nurture.
The book contains interesting general information about twins as well as an appendix with fun facts about twins. For example, you'll never guess the longest recorded interval between twin births...At times, it was challenging to keep the individuals in the story straight, but fortunately there is a chart at the front with pictures to help keep everything clear.

[Jill · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating account of two babies switched shortly after birth in Columbia. The two sets of twins were thought to be fraternal because they didn't really look alike...but it turns out they were really identical twins. One family lived in the country, the other in Bogata. It was discovered entirely by accident when the country brothers moved to Bogata and one was seen by a young woman who knew his biological twin. It took over a year for the woman and her friend to figure it out and for all four men to meet. Nancy, who teaches at CSU Fullerton and has done many studies on twins and triplets, does a great job of not only telling their story but also talking about the genetics behind different traits. If you're interested in twins, also read her book Twin Mythconceptions.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

I gave this book four stars because the subject matter was fascinating. However, it was somewhat difficult to follow and I had to refer back constantly to the one page with pictures of the people involved in order to keep track of who was who. That may have been the nature of the story. More photos would have been helpful. I thought that Segal did a fairly good job of explaining some complicated material about heredity and gene expression. She also had a great deal of empathy for her subjects and was careful not to make anyone look bad. The exchanged twins faced a very challenging situation, but the support of their "accidental brothers" and their newfound twins made it possible for them to gain more than they lost.

[Angela · Rating 2 out of 5]

I loved the subject matter but hated the writing. Probably a third or more of this book could have been cut out. It was extremely repetitive. I took to skipping parts that I had already read multiple times but also trying not to miss new information. A good bit of it was boring because of this. This story could have been portrayed as emotional and exciting but turned out almost clinical and not showing much of the emotion although they tried. Some of the information was mixed up as well, seemingly put together haphazardly and causing confusion. Overall, however, I enjoyed learning about these twins and their families.

[In · Rating 2 out of 5]

This has a fascinating topic---two sets of identical twins born at the same time in the same place . One baby from each pair ended up switched and sent home to live as part of a set of fraternal twins. Twenty five years later a chance discovery by a friend, unites all 4 men and their families. This all happened in Columbia. Unfortunately the editor did not find all the repetition. Tidbits were written about over and over again. Entire phrases/sentences popped up again and again. It was really ridiculous and ruined the second half of the book.

[Kenneth · Rating 4 out of 5]

1. It must be so weird to realize you've lived the wrong life your whole life. I cannot begin to imagine the inner turmoil one must experience (especially for Carlos - growing up in the city by chance, even though he should have lived in the countryside with no electricity, education, running water, opportunity.)
2. The impact of genetics on our outcomes (intellect, personality, etc.) is predictably tremendous.
3. Sample size for these studies is terribly small, so it's hard to look too much into them.

[Joana · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book provided me with an understanding of the impact of genetics, behavior, environment, chance, lifestyle, education, and decisions on life. I always wondered if my life would be similar had I been raised in a different location as we are products of our environment, but this helped me realize the tremendous impact we have in influencing our environment as well. All these factors and many more are intertwined in influencing our lives and what better to learn from twins who are genetically similar? Definitely, a good book to recommend.

[Francine Rattner · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is the first time I felt compelled to write a negative review on Goodreads. The subject of the book sounded very interesting to me. Unfortunately, after trying to read it 3 or 4 times, I gave up today. The writing is very repetitious and often hard to follow. Unrelated material is inserted which adds to the confusion. Perhaps there will be more thorough editing done before a second edition is published.

[Jane Marie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I lost interest about halfway through, so the second half was a chore to get through. The parts about Carlos, Jorge, William and Wilber were interesting, but most of this book is the author bragging about her different accomplishments and all the different research she has done about twins. The author obviously favored Carlos and William (the ones that were switched) and only mentioned Jorge and Wilber in relation to Carlos and William most of the time.

[Kim Jordan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't get all the bad reviews. The people who are saying that the book jumps to stories of other twins clearly are folks who are not familiar with nonfiction. Non-fiction authors on a topic such as this are supposed to give background and examples. I thought it was a great read. Maybe a little repetitive in places but I would love a updated introduction for a later edition of this book to see how the twins are doing today

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

The facts of the story of two brothers, each half of a pair of identical twins, switched at birth and raised in very different environments is fascinating. This would have made a good article. There was not enough information for a full book, so other twin stories were stuck in awkwardly, which made the book hard to follow.

I received an ARC from NetGalley.

[Robert Saul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating book chronically the story of two sets of identical twins separated at birth and raised as fraternal twins. They discovered this situation in their 20s and Dr. Segal (a psychologist with a career in studying twin behavior) provides an interesting look at this situation. An enjoyable read.

[Sue · Rating 2 out of 5]

The circumstances of the twin mix-up and subsequent serendipitous recognition that they were twins are interesting. I found the author's style of hopping around her knowledge of twin studies rather disorienting.

[Cheryl · Rating 2 out of 5]

The subject matter was fascinating, but the way it is told is jumbled and confusing. The editor was too lenient, so much of the material is redundant, reminding the reader over and over of what is already known.

[CAAudio BookLover · Rating 5 out of 5]

Switched Twins Switched Names?

If they were named by their parents before they were switched don't they have the wrong names?

Fascinating story that could have been a major tragedy.

[Tunes · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author takes forever to get to the actual story of the switch and tends to repeat herself quite frequently. However, I enjoyed this book immensely. What a fascinating story of a truly rare situation.

[Karen Murnane · Rating 2 out of 5]

Being adopted, was NOT fan of many of the author's terms and assumptions, her education be dammed. You can't be taught certain things if you haven't experienced them. Also didn't finish. It just got more and convoluted as she continually threw in other separated twins, just randomly.

[Stacy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book informative and interesting. Thank you to the author, St.Martin press and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book

[Rhonda Lomazow · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating look at twins from Colombia switched at birth the concept of nature vs.nurture.Well written very interesting read.

[Maria · Rating 2 out of 5]

Did not finish. Found it repetitive and not much new light on the nature v. nurture issue. Maybe if I read it all, there would have been more information.

[Jerri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting story, but not the best writing.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating tale. Mlm

Fascinating tale. Truly one of the most interesting books I've read in recent memory.