The Great Brain Debate: Nature Or Nuture?

San Diego Union-Tribune, November 24, 2004
"[Dowling] writes authoritatively and covers the important stuff."

Book Description:

Fiercely debated but not fully resolved, we continue to grapple with the nature vs. nurture question. But data from the study of the developing, adult, and aging brain are providing us with new ways of thinking about this issue-ways that, finally, promise answers.

From the Inside Flap:

"In The Great Brain Debate, John Dowling provides a marvelously concise primer on the brain. By means of vivid examples, he illustrates why nature and nurture are as inextricably interwoven as the threads in an Oriental carpet. If you must choose one source to learn about brain development, transformations, and enrichment, you could not do better than this enlightening and entertaining book." – Dr. Richard Restak, author of The Secret Life of the Brain and Poe's Heart and The Mountain Climber: An Exploration Into Our Anxious Brains and Culture

"…a very interesting and useful book… Dowling’s balanced account on this very important subject will be appreciated by thoughtful readers…" – Richard L. Sidman, M.D, Bullard Professor of Neuropathology (Neuroscience), Emeritus at Harvard Medical School

About the Author:

John E. Dowling is the Llura and Gordon Gund Professor of Neurosciences and Harvard College Professor at Harvard University. He currently serves as President of the Corporation of the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. Professor Dowling is author of the acclaimed book Creating Mind: How the Brain Works, which was a Los Angeles Times Best Nonfiction Book of 1998. He has received numerous awards for his research on the visual system, including the Friedenwald Medal from the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, The Von Sallman Prize and the Helen Keller Prize for Vision Research. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and member of the American Philosophical Society. Dowling lives in Boston with his wife, Judith.