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Twins, by Lawrence Wright, is that rarity among science books—one
distinguished by elegant writing. The author is a staff writer for The New
Yorker magazine and it shows. This is a majestically objective survey of all the
research that has been done on twins to elucidate the familiar puzzle of
identity: a product of the genes or the environment? Wright’s objectivity may
falter a little on contemplating the activities of the infamous researcher Dr
Mengele at Auschwitz, but he is thoroughly in command of his subject from his
first mention of Galton’s investigations up to the present. The section on the
question of free will is a model, the book a triumph. Published by Weidenfeld
& Nicolson/Wiley, £12.99/$22.95, ISBN 0297819763/0471252204.