Innate: How the Wiring of Our Brains Shapes Who We Are

One of Forbes’ Must-Read Brain Books of 2018

One of Publishers Weekly’s Best Books of 2018

A leading neuroscientist explains why your personal traits are more innate than you think

What makes you the way you are-and what makes each of us different from everyone else? In Innate, leading neuroscientist and popular science blogger Kevin Mitchell traces human diversity and individual differences to their deepest level: in the wiring of our brains. Deftly guiding us through important new research, including his own groundbreaking work, he explains how variations in the way our brains develop before birth strongly influence our psychology and behaviour throughout our lives, shaping our personality, intelligence, sexuality, and even the way we perceive the world. Compelling and original, Innate will change the way you think about why and how we are who we are.

‘A lucid, up-to-the-minute account of the human mind…In considering the social, ethical, and philosophical implications of the accumulation of scientific discoveries, Mitchell changes the paradigm of what truly defines human nature.’ - Tiffany Jeung, Inverse

‘Nature versus nurture is a centuries’ old distinction, but neuroscience and genetics are taking us to a new level of sophistication in understanding it…Mitchell’s book is a new landmark in this debate, with clear and substantive explanations of the new light that biology is shedding on an old question.‘ - Steven Pinker, author of The Blank Slate

'A powerful antidote to genetic determinism.’ - Barbara Kiser, Nature