Here’s the introduction to Jenny’s new book, which is all about the pure nature/nurture distinction, “pure” in the sense of being uncontaminated by the scientific perspective of modern biology. In that sense it reminds me of The Passions and the Interests: Political Arguments for Capitallism before Its Triumph, by the great Albert Hirschman.

Reading this intro reminds me that authors often say that nobody reads the introduction, but in my experience a lot of people do. One way I can tell is that reviews sometimes pick up on items mentioned in the intro, another way is that people pick up on personal info in the acknowledgments.

I was also reminded that the first time Jenny told me about her book-in-progress, I thought she said the title was “Braiding” (it was her mid-Atlantic accent), which oddly enough wouldn’t be a bad title for the book.

It’s funny how often such malapropisms are possible; for example, I had a friend who once said she just wanted to bleed into the woodwork. Another time she said she wanted to get on the right tract. In the case of Braiding the malapropism came from the listener not the speaker, but I think the principles are the same.