Genetics in the Madhouse, Theodore M. Porter
Genetics in the Madhouse, Theodore M. Porter
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Genetics in the Madhouse
The Unknown History of Human Heredity

Author: Theodore M. Porter

Narrator: Mike Chamberlain

Unabridged: 14 hr 1 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 06/05/2018


Synopsis

In the early 1800s, a century before there was any concept of the gene, physicians in insane asylums began to record causes of madness in their admission books. Almost from the beginning, they pointed to heredity as the most important of these causes. As doctors and state officials steadily lost faith in the capacity of asylum care to stem the terrible increase of insanity, they began emphasizing the need to curb the reproduction of the insane. They became obsessed with identifying weak or tainted families and anticipating the outcomes of their marriages.

In this compelling book, Theodore Porter draws on untapped archival evidence from across Europe and North America to bring to light the hidden history behind modern genetics. He looks at the institutional use of pedigree charts, censuses of mental illness, medical-social surveys, and other data techniques—innovative quantitative practices that were worked out in the madhouse long before the manipulation of DNA became possible in the lab. Porter argues that asylum doctors developed many of the ideologies and methods of what would come to be known as eugenics, and deepens our appreciation of the moral issues at stake in data work conducted on the border of subjectivity and science.

About Theodore M. Porter

Theodore M. Porter is Distinguished Professor of History at the University of California, Los Angeles. His books include Karl Pearson: The Scientific Life in a Statistical Age, Trust in Numbers: The Pursuit of Objectivity in Science and Public Life, and The Rise of Statistical Thinking, 1820-1900.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Jeremy on December 27, 2018

Dense with information and decidedly academic in tone, the history is nevertheless fascinating and the author has a way with language that I appreciated. Too often, the history of science is presented as a series of critical experiments and theoretical Eureka moments. This history follows the scienc......more

Goodreads review by The Inquisitive Biologist on July 23, 2020

Genetics in the Madhouse delves deep into the asylum archives and tells how this little-known chapter of history was important to the study of human heredity. See my full review at [URL not allowed]......more

Goodreads review by Monica on March 29, 2019

I was fairly disappointed after reading this book. The title and description made it seem as if it would be written for both professionals and members of the general public. Instead, it is written in a very dry, formal, cold manner with a great deal of foreign language references, footnotes, and oth......more

Goodreads review by Briana on July 20, 2019

Fascinating. Porter gets a little in the weeds and loses focus when he discusses the different statisticians and doctors involved. The ending was dissatisfying and focuses only on the buildup to the Nazis' eugenics program. I wonder if his publisher made him tack that on to make it more interesting......more

Goodreads review by Robin on October 15, 2018

I had a lot of trouble staying engaged with this book.......more