Separate Creation

My favorite part of the book is Hammer (the geneticist who discovered Xq28--the GAY-1 gene, responsible for the gayness of 17% of the gay male population) saying"....you have to be sure first that the trait isn't chosen before you look for its gene." He pauses, incredulous, "Can you imagine any sane, reputable biologist spendijng years of their life and their resourses looking through chromosomes for a gene for something that's CHOSEN? I suppose you could do it, but you'd have to be a complete idiot because it would be the equivilent of staking your entire scientific career and reputation on finding a gene for"--he searches for an example--"being a Methodist." Interesting, exciting, and sometimes really funny, the book is accessable to even those of us who had trouble with first year algebra and geometry...though an occasional chart or set of figures will give such people pause (don't give up! Go on to the next sentence...). As far as being wide-ranging is concerned, I once read a short story in which a guest lecturer in a 10th grade high school science class based his entire lecture, and the following discussion, called "The Genetics of Baseball"(sic) on what he had learnd from this book...

I enjoyed this book enormously and learned a great deal about homosexuality and about genetics. I especially appreciated Chandler Burr's letting the researchers speak for themselves, and got used to his (and their) not crossing all the t's and dotting the i's when discussing not-simple subjects. Some of what the researches say is wide-ranging and quixotic, but all of it is pretty consistently thought-provoking. For example, there's a statement on page 275 by David Botstein ("of Stanford"), having to do with genetic research, violence, IQ, and blacks (and nothing to do with homosexuality.) Chandler Burr writes: ". . .consider the search for the gene (sic) for violence." Botstein picks it up: "I think there's more scientifically to that one, a greater likelihood of finding it, more than IQ. But it's COMPLETELY unacceptable at the moment. You can't even talk about it. Go to any university, research center, no one -- NO ONE -- will talk to you about this. Why? Simple. Because of the fear that there will be a racial correlation. And there could be. . .and I have some sympathy for this fear, mean (sic) that any scientific evidence linking some undesirable trait with black people will be used as an excuse for explicit or implicit genocide. Okay? That fear is not totally irrational. . ." Geneticists everywhere are afraid of finding a gene for violence in "black people" in America? Huh? Well, the only way I could explain researchers fearing that they will find a "black" gene for violence instead of a "non-black" gene for violence is that their research would be based on disregarding the incidence of inter-racial violence in America (presumably, by defining inter-racial violence as a product of a "prejudice" gene, not a "violence" one?). But isn't that explanation absurd? Or despite having read this book, do I still fail to understand how genetic research experiments must be designed? Like I say, thought-provoking. Presumably most geneticists working on DNA are white. And presumably in America a lot of geneticists are infected with the same myth-viruses as the mainstream public at whom corporations direct their advertisements and programming. But good golly, miss molly!! NO university or research center will talk about the gene for violence? I say let the chips fall where they may. Knowledge is knowledge. And as a white I'm not much concerned that blacks will want to impose eugenic solutions on me once research shows it is whites who have violence genes. Such measures would constitute violence, you see, and blacks would lack the genes for it.

This book is wide ranging, covering topics as diverse as handedness (and how to tell if a rat is left handed), bird songs, vision problems in siamese cats, and far, far more than I ever wanted to know about the reproductive tract of hyenas. It all comes together beautifully, scientific explanations simple enough to be understood by the layman but thorough enough to insure understanding. It is also a fascinating look at genetic research at the end of the 20th century, and how technical problem are sometimes easier to solve than political ones.Buy it, read it, loan it to family and friends. Give it to anyone who still thinks that sexuality is a choice. The only thing wrong is that it's gone out of print, but I hope that's because the author is preparing a second edition.

I picked up this book with a few reservations. I was interested enough to order it, but I thought it had the potential to be too narrow, and that it might not be critical enough about the science (a problem, strangely, that many scientists don't have, but most popular science books do). I was pleasantly surprised to find that Burr's explanations were thorough and enjoyable, that he spared no pains in explaining what potential problems with the research were, how the researchers tried to overcome the innate limitiations of their chosen topics, and what various researchers said about each other's work.For me, this in itself made it a treat to read. This is a great book to consider if only as an explanation of how biological sceince really works.Now on to the gay bits. I had one major problem with the way they (the researchers, and hence Burr) tried to categorize men as either 'straight' or 'gay', with very little mucking around in the middle. In my experience there are a lot of other things going on, even with men who identify straight and whose main, only, objects of fantasy and attraction are women. Other than that, I suppose, 'A Separate Creation' didn't really change the way I view gay and being gay. Like the author took great pains to make clear, finding a gay gene, or a structure in the brain that is related to to homosexuality, doesn't change the fact that some men get turned on by other men, and some men get turned on by women. It also has little bearing on the specious 'nature/nurture' or 'choice/biological destiny' debates. None of the researchers debated that some men are born gay, and others aren't. Finding the gene or neural structure wasn't going to change that.So, the book provides lots of cool facts, quite a bit to mull over, and some really fun insights into biological science (and into the way scientists encounter the media). But it doesn't aim to change the way anyone lives their life, which is fine. I wish it had a lot more on evolutionary explanations, and, maybe, a bit on homosexuality in other species, just to put this whole 'gay gene' into a larger context, but, other than that, I enjoyed the book, and recommend it.