DNA Is Not Destiny

Book excerpt: “[An] important book.… Heine’s vibrant writing makes it come alive with personal significance for every reader.”—Carol Dweck, author of Mindset Scientists expect one billion people to have their genomes sequenced by 2025. Yet cultural psychologist Steven J. Heine argues that, in trying to know who we are and where we come from, we’re likely to completely misinterpret what’s “in our DNA.” Heine’s fresh, surprising conclusions about the promise, and limits, of genetic engineering and DNA testing upend conventional thinking and reveal a simple, profound truth: your genes create life—but they do not control it.