---
product_id: 82134084
title: "Blueprint: How DNA Makes Us Who We Are (The MIT Press)"
brand: "robert plomin"
price: "8345 kr"
currency: ISK
in_stock: true
reviews_count: 8
url: https://www.desertcart.is/products/82134084-blueprint-how-dna-makes-us-who-we-are-the-mit
store_origin: IS
region: Iceland
---

# Blueprint: How DNA Makes Us Who We Are (The MIT Press)

**Brand:** robert plomin
**Price:** 8345 kr
**Availability:** ✅ In Stock

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- **What is this?** Blueprint: How DNA Makes Us Who We Are (The MIT Press) by robert plomin
- **How much does it cost?** 8345 kr with free shipping
- **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship
- **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.is](https://www.desertcart.is/products/82134084-blueprint-how-dna-makes-us-who-we-are-the-mit)

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## Customer Reviews

### ⭐ 







  
  
    No Blueprint to Be Found
  

*by S***A on Reviewed in the United States on January 13, 2019*

Robert Plomin implies in this book that genetic studies, beyond just twin studies, have definitively established that much of who we are is related to genes and that this fact portends a “DNA revolution.” This is not an accurate representation of the literature to date. As even Plomin acknowledges, these genetic studies (genome-wide association studies) trying to tie genetic variants to specific traits like mental disorders, personality traits and IQ, despite a lot of fanfare, are rarely if ever reproduced in follow-up studies. This has led to a “replication crisis” in the field of Behavioral Genetics.  He attempts to side-step this ongoing issue by asserting that “polygenic risk scores” are effectively a kind of replication. This involves finding hundreds or even thousands of genetic variants that are in slightly higher proportion for a trait (schizophrenia, autism, etc.) and looking at all those that a particular person possesses and “adding” them up.  If the score is high, then the person would theoretically be more likely to have or get the trait in question.Plomin’s apparent obsession with polygenic risk scores is far in excess of its actual utility, and his timing for the book might be a bit off, as these polygenic risk scores are being called into question in numerous recent papers, noting both their inherent mathematical limitations and the possibility that they are largely skewed by population stratification (when your population is too homogenous, say all white European, then you might get false positive results).  Without polygenic risk scores, the book offers nothing new, and is otherwise a rehash of twin studies from decades ago.In my view, he goes in a dangerous direction with this focus on polygenic scores, suggesting, for example, that such scores for I.Q. could be used as admission criteria for elite schools.  Leaving aside their lack of validity, this borders on eugenics.  Moreover, because polygenic risk scores tend to distribute in a “bell curve,” he concludes that a disorder like schizophrenia is a matter of degree, with only the highest scores receiving the diagnosis.  Thus, it’s a matter of how many schizophrenic genetic variants someone has, with only those at the extreme end currently receiving the diagnosis.  “Who has not sometimes experienced these symptoms [hallucinations, delusions, disorganized thoughts, etc.],” he asks?  This would imply that, in addition to those we diagnose with schizophrenia, there is a larger population of somewhat schizophrenic individuals, an even larger population being a little bit schizophrenic and another half of the bell curve for those with gradations of “un-schizophrenia.” As a psychiatrist, I treated schizophrenia for many years and find this notion absurd.  No psychiatric diagnosis is perfect, but schizophrenia is a relatively distinct diagnosis, as are most other psychiatric diagnoses. They do not tend to fall into a bell curve continuum.  Thus, it appears that Plomin embraces his theory at the expense of reality.  His claim that, “psychiatric diagnoses are not supported by genetic research,” does not lead him to question the validity of the genetic research.  Instead, he proposes scrapping current diagnostic criteria, asserting that, “Genetics offers a causal basis for predicting disorders, rather than waiting for symptoms to appear.”  This strikes me as science fiction. Plomin argues that most environmental factors such as parents, schooling and life experiences “don’t make a difference” in regards to the traits a person has when they reach adulthood.  Because siblings and even identical twins often can be very different, he explains this by saying that it is related to unnamed, “non-shared environment,” guided by “...unsystematic, idiosyncratic, serendipitous events with lasting effects.”  He is effectively saying that, say, which side of the crib a twin is on is potentially more important than parents, schools and life experience and such undefined experiences account for 50% of our phenotype.  That’s hardly a “blueprint,” and really is absurd on its face.A telling portion of the book is Dr. Plomin’s attempt to evaluate his own polygenic scores.  This starts out well, since his score for height is high and he is tall, however he also has a high score for body mass index and schizophrenia (he is relatively thin and, presumably, not schizophrenic).  Rather than just admit the fallacy of these scores, he doubles down, stating “I came to accept that my high BMI polygenic score makes sense...[and] had a good effect on my attempts to persevere with my never-ending battle of the bulge...”  Even more ridiculous, related to his high score for schizophrenia, he states “...I wonder if my need for a highly structured, scheduled working life may be an attempt to keep myself on an even keel.” This seems little different than my “New Age” friends trying to justify their horoscope.Plomin is old enough that he need not concern himself about suddenly becoming obese or schizophrenic, but I would ask him if he thinks his life would have been different if he had been told (erroneously) as a youth that he was likely to become fat and schizophrenic?  What an irresponsible and reckless idea he is promoting. His motivation appears to be to promote his world view, rather than an interest in helping humanity.  His book is speculative, utopian, meandering and, in some ways, frightening.  This book is of little value, and reinforces views that are already being touted by some rather unsavory characters.  Other than his unsupported proclamations, it presents no real evidence to his “blueprint” claim.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    Important Work with Some Flaws
  

*by B***C on Reviewed in the United States on November 21, 2018*

This book discusses an important topic and one that should inform our policy decisions. Unfortunately it does not and this topic is generally taboo. The bottom line, supported by massive amounts of evidence by the way, is that the most important systematic influences on who we are and what we become our our genes.I give the author high marks for the courage to write this book and the first part of it was really outstanding. I was a little disappointed in the second part because I don't think the author's evidence support some of his conclusions. As of yet the correlations are not strong enough and there's way too much individual variation. To his credit Plomin admits and even shows in graphs the massive amount of overlap between individuals of different groups, but then he makes statements that seem to ignore what he just demonstrated.For example he says based on DNA alone you could predict that he is tall. His polygenic score for height is in the 90th percentile. And he is tall, however his own scatterplot shows a significant portion of the individuals in the 90th percentile of polygenic scores for height around the normal range. And there are plenty of people even below normal. So what you can predict from his DNA alone is that it is more likely than not that he is tall but not with a great deal of confidence. A significant portion of the people in his percentile are not tall. The same problem runs through much of the second part of his book.I do happen to believe that his general theme is correct and that EVENTUALLY polygenic scores will become much more predictive as the data accumulates. When he talks about how genes are responsible for approximately 50% of psychological traits, and how even a significant part of the so-called environmental effect is driven by genes, and finally how most of the rest of the environmental impacts are not systematic and unknown his analysis is outstanding and has powerful implications. This is important and we need to come to terms with it. We just aren't there yet with the predictive power of polygenic scores. And he way over plays its predictive power at the present time.Despite this flaw, overall I think this is an outstanding work and it's very important. I wish this information was much more widely known and accepted because it has important policy implications. I can't give it five stars but I do highly recommend this book.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    A real game-changer
  

*by J***E on Reviewed in the United States on November 14, 2018*

Very insightful and readable. I wish he had responded to some critiques of twins studies but otherwise there is more than enough making this book worth a read. Pay attention since this topic will become increasingly important with time.

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*Last updated: 2026-03-05*