Louis Menand's review of Pinker's BLANK SLATE is excellent -- as far as I can tell, since I haven't read Pinker's book. It fits with the "evolutionary psychology" books that I _have_ read (e.g., Baron-Cohen's book on autism). I will probably never read Pinker's book, since it seems quite weak.
As for more useful books on biology and "human nature," I recommend The Madness of Adam and Eve: How Schizophrenia Shaped Humanity, by David Horrobin. It's about how strange types (such as those that inhabit pen-l) made humankind what it is today, for better or for worse.
Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] & http://bellarmine.lmu.edu/~jdevine
