Genes and Behavior

Professor Sir Michael Rutter trained in psychiatry at the Maudsley Hospital, London, and in child development at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York. He was appointed to the first UK Chair in Child Psychiatry in 1973 and since his retirement in 1998, he has held a research chair in Developmental Psychopathology at the Institute of Psychiatry, Kings College, London. He has authored or edited some forty books, published over four hundred scientific papers, and has received numerous international awards and honors. Sir Michael is a member of the US Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine and a foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and of the US National Academy of Education. He received a CBE in 1985 and was knighted in 1992. He was Deputy Chairman of the Wellcome Trust from 1999 to 2004 and continues as a trustee of several foundations, including the Nuffield Foundation.

• Preface. Acknowledgments.Chapter 1: Why is the topic of genes and behavior controversial?.Chapter 2: Concepts of behavior and of mental disorder.Chapter 3: Environmentally mediated risks.Chapter 4: Patterns of inheritance.Chapter 5: How much is nature and how much nurture?.Chapter 6: The heritability of different mental disorders and traitsChapter 7: Finding and understanding specific susceptibility genes.Chapter 8: What genes do.Chapter 9: Nature-nurture interplay and causal pathways from genes to psychopathology.Chapter 10: What environments do to genes.Chapter 11: Conclusions.Complete reference list.Glossary.Index

"By carefully considering basic principles and illustrating them with cutting-edge examples, Rutter has written an excellent introduction to behavioral genetics." (The Quarterly Review of Biology, March 2009)"When I came to read this book I anticipated the critical integration of evidence by one of the most resourceful scientists of our era. I was not let down." (Journal of Children's Services, December 2007)"The question of how genes and the environment interact should be an area of interest to all social and physical science; it should not remain solely the domain of geneticists. For anyone interested in developing a greater understanding of the mechanics of this interaction, this book would make an excellent choice." (Young Minds Magazine, July 2006)"Michael Rutter, the United Kingdom's gift to world psychiatric excellence deals with this issue head-on in an amazingly readable and highly accurate book about genes and behaviour.... This book is a gem." (Psychological Medicine, 2006)"If you want an inspiring contribution to the debate in this highly topical area or research and also want to learn about the most up-to-date approaches to genetic research, then this is the book to choose." (Nature, 2006)"Rutter offers a highly critical and extremely clear and well-written review of the current state of the nature/nurture argument as it relates to human behaviour and psychiatric illness.... It is written in a way that should be easily accessible to the general reader as well as to the specialist. And, since its subject matter affects all of us, it should be read widely." (Times Higher Education Supplement)"The author deftly deals with the extreme arguments of genetic and environmental evangelists. It is a lucid, balanced tour de force. Highly recommended." (Journal of Clinical Psychiatry)