Blueprint (Plomin book)
{{short description|2018 book by behavioral geneticist Robert Plomin}}
{{About|the Robert Plomin book|other books|Blueprint (disambiguation)#Print media}}
{{Infobox book
| italic title =
| name = Blueprint: How DNA Makes Us Who We Are
| image = File:Blueprint (book).jpg
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| caption = First edition (UK)
| author = Robert Plomin
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| language = English
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| subject = Behavioural genetics
| genre = Nonfiction
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| publisher = Allen Lane (UK)
The MIT Press (US)
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| published = 2018
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| pages = 280
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| isbn = 978-0-262-03916-1
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| oclc = 1029797905
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Blueprint: How DNA Makes Us Who We Are is a book by behavioral geneticist Robert Plomin, first published in 2018 by the MIT Press and Allen Lane. The book argues that genetic factors, and specifically variations in individuals' DNA, have a large effect on human psychological traits, accounting for approximately half of all variation in such traits. The book also claims that genes play a more important role in people's personalities than does the environment.{{Cite web |url=https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/blueprint |title=Blueprint |website=The MIT Press |access-date=2019-04-01}} In Blueprint, Plomin argues that environmental effects on human psychological differences, although they exist, are "...mostly random – unsystematic and unstable – which means that we cannot do much about them."{{Cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/sep/29/so-is-it-nature-not-nurture-after-all-genetics-robert-plomin-polygenic-testing |title=So is it nature not nurture after all? |last=Anthony |first=Andrew |date=2018-09-29 |work=The Observer |access-date=2019-04-18 |issn=0029-7712 |author-link=Andrew Anthony}}
Reviews
Science journalist Matt Ridley praised Blueprint as "a hugely important book."{{cite news | last = Ridley| first = Matt | title = Review: Blueprint: How DNA Makes Us Who We Are by Robert Plomin — why nature always trumps nurture | newspaper = The Times | date = 2018-10-13 | url = https://www.thetimes.com/culture/books/article/review-blueprint-how-dna-makes-us-who-we-are-by-robert-plomin-why-nature-always-trumps-nurture-0cp7r2dsd| author-link=Matt Ridley}} Behavior geneticist Kathryn Paige Harden criticized the book for overstating the importance of genes for the development of human traits, writing, "Insisting that DNA matters is scientifically accurate; insisting that it is the only thing that matters is scientifically outlandish."{{Cite news |url=https://www.spectator.co.uk/2018/10/heredity-is-only-half-the-story/ |title=Heredity is only half the story |last=Harden |first=Kathryn Paige |date=2018-10-27 |work=The Spectator |access-date=2019-04-01 |author-link=Kathryn Paige Harden}} Steven Mithen gave the book a mixed review in the Guardian, in which he wrote, "I am happy to bow to Plomin as a psychologist and a geneticist, but I found his sociology rather lacking, in fact quite baffling."{{Cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/oct/24/blueprint-by-robert-plomin-review |title=Blueprint by Robert Plomin review – how DNA dictates who we are |last=Mithen |first=Steven |date=2018-10-24 |work=The Guardian |access-date=2019-04-01 |issn=0261-3077 |author-link=Steven Mithen}} Nathaniel Comfort criticized the book for promoting genetic determinism and "play[ing] fast and loose with the concept of heritability". He concluded that "Ultimately, if unintentionally, Blueprint is a road map for regressive social policy."{{Cite journal |last=Comfort |first=Nathaniel |author-link=Nathaniel Comfort |date=September 2018 |title=Genetic determinism rides again |journal=Nature |volume=561 |issue=7724 |pages=461–463 |doi=10.1038/d41586-018-06784-5 |pmid=30254357 |issn=0028-0836|bibcode=2018Natur.561..461C |doi-access=free }} Journalist David Goodhart reviewed the book more positively, calling it "an important and challenging book that reveals to the general reader what has quietly become a new scientific consensus: psychological traits, including intelligence, are significantly influenced by our genes."{{Cite news |url=https://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/books/blueprint-how-dna-makes-us-who-we-are-by-robert-plomin-review-a3953746.html |title=Blueprint: How DNA Makes Us Who We Are by Robert Plomin |last=Goodhart |first=David |date=2018-10-04 |work=London Evening Standard |access-date=2019-04-18 |author-link=David Goodhart}} Geneticist Barbara Jennings reviewed the book positively, suggesting that those who have criticized it for being "a manifesto for genetic determinism" are "misreading [...] the book".{{Cite journal|last=Jennings|first=Barbara A.|date=October 2019|title=The nurturing of nature|journal=European Journal of Human Genetics|volume=27|issue=10|pages=1619–1620|doi=10.1038/s41431-019-0456-8|issn=1476-5438|url=https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/71256/1/Accepted_Manuscript.pdf|doi-access=free}}