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davidpwebber's review against another edition
5.0
the more I learn about evolution, the more my mind is absolutely blown away
mattnauwelaers's review against another edition
5.0
Epstein dares to explore the complex nature of innate talent (as opposed to the mainstream idea of nurturing talent) in an accessible way. A must read for anyone even remotely interested in sports
jgroden's review against another edition
4.0
Super interesting. As always, it's both nature and nurture. Way more complex than one or the other.
dunguyen's review against another edition
4.0
In The Sports Gene David Epstein tackles the world of sports and the age old question of nature vs. nurture. The nature vs. nurture debate is of course whether our success here in life is predestined by your genes or whether it is down to the habits, training and environment that you are exposed to.
David Epstein has found many interesting cases that might suggest either nature or nurture and you will during the book get a lot of knowledge of genetics, sports, sports history and the incredible tales of some talented athletes.
The language is very fluid and is easy to read and Epstein tells the tales of athletes so well that I finished this book in less than a week. The cherry-picked examples all build forward to the conclusion and all of them are not the most obvious choices. Reading this book you will definitely get to learn some names that are not household names.
Sometimes though I find the examples to go a bit too in depth with the person and perhaps a bit too easy on the science or the studies. I could perhaps also wish for more of an overview over how different genes could affect the human body. It would also be nice with a discussion of gene testing in the future and the implications it could have.
Overall though I find this book very interesting due to my interest in the nature vs. nurture debate (and because of my wish to be just a bit better at sports!).
I would recommend this book for evolutionists, biology and genetics interested people and also general science interested people.
David Epstein has found many interesting cases that might suggest either nature or nurture and you will during the book get a lot of knowledge of genetics, sports, sports history and the incredible tales of some talented athletes.
The language is very fluid and is easy to read and Epstein tells the tales of athletes so well that I finished this book in less than a week. The cherry-picked examples all build forward to the conclusion and all of them are not the most obvious choices. Reading this book you will definitely get to learn some names that are not household names.
Sometimes though I find the examples to go a bit too in depth with the person and perhaps a bit too easy on the science or the studies. I could perhaps also wish for more of an overview over how different genes could affect the human body. It would also be nice with a discussion of gene testing in the future and the implications it could have.
Overall though I find this book very interesting due to my interest in the nature vs. nurture debate (and because of my wish to be just a bit better at sports!).
I would recommend this book for evolutionists, biology and genetics interested people and also general science interested people.
tbauman's review against another edition
5.0
This was a fun book - now I know what physical traits make you good at running (narrow hips, long legs, small calves), or that wingspan is more important than height for NBA players. It would have been fun to learn even more about the neurological or mental aspects of sports like hand-eye coordination or sports psychology, but presumably those genetic studies haven't been done yet. I highly recommend this book.