Nigel Wilis
The Madness of Adam and Eve: How Schizophrenia Shaped Humanity by David Horrobin (Bantam)
David Horrobin’s central thesis is that the very genes which in combination predispose their holder to schzophrenia are responsible for the creativity of humankind.
I must admit to a certain bias: the author is a friend of mine and a person for whom I have very considerable admiration. Nevertheless, this former Oxford don in medicine, co-founder of the medical school in Nairobi, founder of two biotechnology companies, and a first-class honours medical graduate at Balliol College, Oxford, has an objective claim to a certain brilliance. I am convinced that part of the explanation for his phenomenal success in business lies in his ability to explain complicated scientific concepts in a manner intelligible to the ordinary person.
He emphasises that it is not environmental stress that drives evolution. Rather, genes mutate randomly and spontaneously and it is those that enable their holder better to cope in a particular environment or to penetrate new environments that are reproduced. Conversely, genetic mutations that are unsuccessful will soon die out. This seems logical enough to me but apparently is resisted by evolutionary biologists.
Horrobin has been an adviser to Britain’s Schizophrenic Association for more than 30 years. His research and experience show that not only were many of the great names in history either schizophrenic or schizoid but, rather more significantly, talented people very often have close relations who are schizophrenic.
It is not a single gene that is responsible but a combination. The mutations which gave rise to it occurred perhaps as recently as 60 000 years ago. Human beings were, for a very long time, a rather boring lot, making glacial progress. Suddenly, and without any obvious explanation, there was an explosion of creativity, which has grown exponentially. Horrobin argues brilliantly that it is the schizophrenia-inducing genes which are responsible.
He convincingly demonstrates that human personality is shaped by both genetic endowment and environment and magisterially debunks the cruel thesis that parents are always to blame for the behaviour of their errant children. His research shows convincingly that increasing a schizophrenic person’s intake of fatty acids, particularly those derived from fish, can have a dramatic effect on behaviour and this provides clues to a cure. He is confident it will soon be found.
Some of the marvels of the human brain are beautifully described and, curiously, buttocks, breasts and brains have more in common than one might have imagined!
Racists get short shrift in this book: the distribution of schizophrenia and the potential for great talent are distributed almost evenly throughout all races and across all parts of the earth. Moreover, our common ancestors, and more particularly, our common male ancestor, lived not so very long ago. We are all related.
It is clear that human beings have a capacity for brilliance that far exceeds the requirements for their survival. At the end of the book, one wonders whether our existence is mere genetic fluke or if there is a higher hand. Do we reflect the imago Dei? Proof of the existence or otherwise of God remains as elusive as ever.
@new science books
CONSCIOUSNESS: HOW MATTER BECOMES IMAGINATION by Geald M Edelman and Giulio Tononi (Penguin) A study of how we are beginning to understand the role of “core consciousness” in perception, language, memory and self-awareness.
LEONARDO: THE FIRST SCIENTIST by Michael White (Abacus) A very readable new biography of the great artist and inventor, focusing particularly on his scientific innovations and experimental methods.
MENDELEYEV’S DREAM: THE QUEST FOR THE ELEMENTS by Paul Strathern (Penguin) Tale of the eccentric Russian scientist’s Dmitri Mendeleyev’s search for a way to order the fledgling science of chemistry in the 1860s and 1870s and his significant dream.
Time travel in Einstein’s universe by Richard Gott (Weidenfeld & Nicholson) A study of the viability of time travel, taking the reader from the fictional speculations of HG Wells to present-day research into astrophysics and quantum teleportation.