A Dual Inheritance

It took me awhile to get into this book.  I almost stopped several times but I decided to persevere.  I guess the reason I kept on going was because this was my book club selection.  I always do my best to read the book.  It makes the discussion so much better.

The author opens the novel with a definition of the Dual Inheritance theory (DIT) which was developed in the late 1970's through the early 1980's. The basis of the theory is that human behavior is a product of two different and interacting evolutionary processes: genetic evolution and cultural evolution. In DIT, culture is defined as information and behavior acquired through social learning.

Hugh and Ed meet at Harvard in the 1960's. They come from two different worlds.  Ed is a scholarship student who studies hard and knows that someday he will succeed.  His father is an ex fighter who lives in tenement scraping together a living .  They are not close. On the other hand, Hugh is from an old venerable family.  There is enough money for Hugh to live off his trust fund which by many standards is not a large fund but Hugh does not need much. Ironically enough, Hugh does not like his father or the world he grew up in which is what I think draws these two men to each other.

After they graduate Hugh goes to Africa and ends up involved in humanitarian work while Ed starts an investment fund on Wall Street that becomes very successful.  How much of each of their success is from genetic evolution and how much is from cultural evolution or the combination.

Overall I think the author did a great job portraying the characters although the book was a little too long for me.