The Genius in All of Us: New Insights Into Genetics, Talent, and IQ (56 page)

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Acknowledgments

A person must first be alive in order to write a book, so I must first thank, quite literally from the bottom (and side) of my heart, Dr. Sidney Cohen, Dr. Robert Gelfand, and especially Dr. Manish Parikh. Humility is watching someone repair your own coronary artery live on a large television screen. I’m also grateful to Dr. James Blake, Dr. Phyllis Hyde, and Dr. Lawrence Gardner.

Somewhere in a freshman writing class, a kid with more ability than I’ll ever have is wondering if he could ever write books for a living. The answer is yes, if he never gives up and is lucky enough to get with the right people. I was lucky enough to get with Bill Thomas and Sloan Harris. This is the third book of mine that Bill has invested with excessive intellect and precious editorial resources. And, remarkably, it is the fifth book Sloan and I have conceived together (we used to talk to each other on dial phones). It is simply impossible to imagine my writing life without him.

I’ve already detailed, in the beginning of the Evidence section, how this book began and who helped inspire it in various ways. To those names, I must add profound thanks to Peter Freed, Patrick Bateson, and Massimo Pigliucci for early encouragement and vital insight.

As the work progressed, my draft readers kept me honest and clear. They are: Josh Banta, Patrick Bateson, Alexandra Beers, Mark Blumberg, Naomi Boak, Joanne Cohen, Sidney Cohen, Stan Cohen, Peter Freed, Rufus Griscom, Colin Harrison, Kurt Hirsch, John Holzman, Andy Hyman, Steven Johnson, Andrew Kimball, Gersh Kuntzman, Adam Mansky, Amani Martin, Massimo Pigliucci, David Plotz, Steve Silberman, Michael Strong, Francesca Thomas, Susie Weiner, and Sarah Williams. Jim Berman and Andy Walter took draft reading to a new level by reading and feeding me relentlessly.

For friendship and support, I am also indebted to Jeremy Benjamin, David Booth Beers, Peggy Beers, Eric Berlow, Carolyn Berman, Greg Berman, Chandler Burr, Bonni Cohen, Eamon Dolan, Bruce Feiler, Richard Gehr, Rob Guth, Andy Hoffman, Rachel Holzman, Steve Hubbell, Jane Jaffin, Roy Kreitner, Virginia McEnerney, Katherine Schulten, Andrew Shapiro, Jon Shenk, Josh Shenk, Richard Shenk(!), Leslie Sillcox, Mark Sillcox, Andras Szanto, and Lea Thau. Special thanks to Anthony Uzzo and the lovely Hotel Beacon.

No agent or editor is an island. Profound thanks to Sloan Harris’s outstanding crew at ICM: Kristyn Keene, Molly Rosenbaum, John DeLaney, and the great Liz Farrell; and to Bill Thomas’s superb team at Doubleday: Maria Carella, Rachel Lapal, Sonia Nash, John Pitts, Nora Reichard, Alison Rich, and Amy Ryan. I am especially grateful for the patience and intelligence of Melissa Ann Danaczko.

Finally, the impossible task: to express in words the gratitude and pride I feel for my life-giving everythings, Alex, Lucy, and Henry. Hopefully, they already know. The genius in all of us is that we each have the capacity to love and inspire one another.

Permissions Acknowledgments

TEXT CREDITS

Grateful acknowledgment is made to the following for permission to reprint previously published material:

Burkhard Bilger: Excerpts from “The Height Gap: Why Europeans Are Getting Taller and Taller—and Americans Aren’t” by Burkhard Bilger (
The New Yorker
, April 5, 2004). Reprinted by permission of Burkhard Bilger.

Malcolm Gladwell: Excerpt from “Kenyan Runners” by Malcolm Gladwell (
www.gladwell.com
, November 16, 2007). Reprinted by permission of Malcolm Gladwell.

Jim Holt: Excerpts from “Measure for Measure: The Strange Science of Francis Galton” by Jim Holt (
The New Yorker
, January 24–31, 2005). Reprinted by permission of Jim Holt.

Jennifer Keirn: “Who’s in Charge? Teach Kids Self-Control” by Jennifer Keirn (
Family Magazine
, July 2007). Reprinted by permission of Jennifer Keirn,
www.jenniferkeirn.com
.

Alexander Makedon: Excerpts from “In Search of Excellence: Historical Roots of Greek Culture” by Alexander Makedon (Chicago State University Web site,
http://webs.csu.edu/∼amakedon/articles/GreekCulture.html
, 1995). Reprinted by permission of Alexander Makedon.

Sports Illustrated
: Excerpts from “No Finish Line” by Alexander Wolff (
Sports Illustrated
, November 5, 2007), copyright © 2007 by Time, Inc. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission of
Sports Illustrated
.

Darold A. Treffert, MD: Excerpts from “Savant Syndrome: Frequently Asked Questions” by Darold A. Treffert, MD (
http://www.wisconsinmedicalsociety.org/savant_syndrome
/). Reprinted by permission of Darold A. Treffert, MD.

Giselle E. Whitwell. Excerpt from “The Importance of Prenatal Sound and Music” by Giselle E. Whitwell (
http://www.birthpsychology.com/lifebefore/sound1.html
). Reprinted by permission of Giselle E. Whitwell.

    
DOUBLEDAY

Copyright © 2010 by David Shenk

All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Doubleday, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto.

www.doubleday.com

DOUBLEDAY
and the DD colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Shenk, David, 1966–
   The genius in all of us : why everything you’ve been told about genetics, talent, and IQ is wrong / by David Shenk.—1st ed.
       p.  cm.
   1. Genes. 2. Ability—Genetic aspects. 3. Intellect—Genetic aspects. 4. Intelligence of animals. I. Title.
QH447.S53 2009
155.2′34—dc22    2009018376

eISBN: 978-0-385-53265-5

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