The book failed to address a few issues. While it discusses genetics factors at great length it fails to look at the function of the genes. Wright writes of genes like they are black boxes with their effects being a mere curiosity rather serving any naturally selected function. This viewpoint leads her to ignore many compelling questions.
For example, identical twins should be expected, from a "selfish" gene view, to have much more compassion for each other than fraternal twins. Do they? I still don't know. When Wright talks of twins who "fought" in the womb she doesn't even mention which sort they were. And with her typical lack of criticality, alternative explanations aren't even considered: couldn't the aggressor have been simply learning to control its motor functions in a natural (and well-documented) way? Wright doesn't give us their age (or stage of development) either, which would allow the readers to draw their own conclusions.
Wright also manages to show a lack of understanding of human emotions. She talks of love between partners as being simply a selection of attributes -- for if it were then identical twins would surely fall in love with the same people more often.
However it's still a compelling book in which the author takes the passenger seat in her tour of twins, their behaviour, historical perspectives and happenings.
Critical acclaim for Lawrence Wright's
A Rhone-Poulenc Science Prize Finalist
"This is a book about far more than twins: it is about what twins can tell us about ourselves."?The New York Times
"With plenty of amazing stories about the similarities and differences of twins, Wright respectfully shows, too, how their special circumstance in life challenges our notions of individuality. A truly fascinating but sometimes spooky (Mengele's experiments with twins at Auschwitz figure among Wright's examples) study."?American Library Association
"Like so much of Wright's work, this book is a pleasure to read. Because he writes so well, without pushing a particular point of view, he soon has you pondering questions you have tended to comfortably ignore."?Austin American-Statesman
"Informative and entertaining . . . a provocative subject well considered by a talented journalist."?Kirkus Reviews