Original Sin

An intellectually daring and deeply intimate exploration of how genetics complicate our ideas about blame, punishment and moral responsibility - from the acclaimed psychologist and author of The Genetic Lottery

This is a serious and knotty book... but it can be beautiful. Harden draws movingly on autobiographical material... Ultimately, this is a well-informed attack on an American style of justice that relies on notions of sin and punishment. Harden acknowledges that retribution feels good - we are human. She wants everyone to be accountable for their actions, whatever their genetics. But she calls for rational measures aimed at reducing offending, and for restorative justice over vengeance. For Norway, not Texas. For compassion, not cruelty... A darkly glittering book.

A book littered with fascinating scientific findings... Harden is exceptionally skilled at interweaving the personal and the scientific. She writes about her own life experiences - leaving the church, becoming estranged from her parents, the challenges of early motherhood - with rare, dangerous honesty... [A] complex, thought-provoking book.

A tour de force. Original Sin is a thoughtful and thought-provoking book that invites us to go deep into questions about why people do terrible things and how we should treat them afterwards. Harden's discussion is deepened by her personal reflections on her own responses to hurt and cruelty - a rare mixture, showing how the scientific and the personal perspective combine in a rich complementarity. I loved this book

A daring, complex, sometimes confounding and ultimately powerful tapestry of a book . . . [moves] with propulsive momentum and elegant logic from dog-training and child-rearing to corporal punishment, mass incarceration and, ultimately, hope for the future

An extraordinary book, the very best of science writing, because it is not just about science, but is memoir, history, bleeding-edge genetics and a completely original take on original sin. Thrilling, entertaining, provocative, brilliant

Original Sin is an ambitious, compact and often moving contribution to the literature at the intersection of genetics and ethics. It is magnificent to have an established scientist such as Harden address social, political, religious and deeply personal issues in the context of scientific work meant for public consumption. The book should serve as a nucleation point for broad, intense and enlightening discussion

A very powerful read.

What makes Original Sin so readable apart from damned good writing is a sincere and palpable search for the safety of a god in what we're beginning to know. It's not only part of the solution to a human future but a blind date with the meaning of life. Anyone with a beating heart and a hungry mind should eat this up

A powerful read that stops you dead in your tracks and forces you to think very deeply

Regardless of the side you take in the nature vs nurture debate, Kathryn Paige Harden's Original Sin offers an eye-opening perspective on possible genetic links to antisocial behaviour. Those who can accept that there is nothing inherently amoral about having an unconventional experience of emotion will see the potential life-changing and positive impact this understanding can have on stigmatised and marginalised antisocial youth

Unique, expansive and illuminating - a mix of religion and genetics that interweaves intensely personal storytelling with rigidly objective science to explore big questions about the bad things we have the capacity to do

Even if you have no interest in the concept of sin, this is a compelling read. Harden's bottom line is that we subjective beings are morally responsible for our actions (sorry), despite the fact that we also tick along deterministically. This emotionally startling and intellectually erudite book explains why

Wonderful. Popular science these days, in its understandable desire to attract readers, can feel overly simplistic. But Harden's fascinating personal revelations never obscure the fact that what she has written is an undeniably intellectual and moral book. We need more of this kind of writing, and I absolutely loved it

A brave, open-hearted examination of how our glitchy brains make sense of what our imperfect bodies do

This perspective-shattering exploration of how genetics complicate our ideas about blame, punishment and moral responsibility is like no other science book I have ever read

Kathryn Paige Harden, Ph.D., is a Professor of Psychology at the University of Texas, where she directs the Developmental Behavior Genetics lab and co-directs the Texas Twin Project. Paige lives in Austin with her husband, three children, and dog (who also participates in genetic research).