Original Sin

On the Genetics of Vice, the Problem of Blame, and the Future of Forgiveness

De: Kathryn Paige Harden

Narrado por: Kristen DiMercurio

A daring and intimate exploration of how genetics complicates our ideas about blame, punishment, and moral responsibility, from acclaimed psychologist and author of The Genetic Lottery Kathryn Paige Harden.

“An extraordinary book, the very best of science writing, because it is about not just science—it is memoir, history, bleeding-edge genetics, and a completely original take on original sin.”—Adam Rutherford, author of A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived

As one of the world’s leading scientists examining how our DNA shapes differences in temperament, temptation, and behavior, Kathryn Paige Harden has seen firsthand how we continue to struggle—in public and in our most private relationships—with the ancient tensions between nature and nurture, freedom and constraint, the desire to punish and the longing to forgive.

In Original Sin, she weaves together insights from her own experience as a daughter, mother, wife, and scientist with cutting-edge research in genetics and psychology to grapple with some of the most important questions in modern life: How do we take responsibility for the people we become, knowing how we are shaped by both biology and experience? How should we respond when people hurt each other—or themselves? And has science made guilt obsolete?

Navigating the psychological and biological terrain of addiction, antisocial behavior, and violence, Harden confronts the disorienting ways science unsettles our understanding of wrongdoing and choice. In doing so, she asks us not to absolve but to reckon differently with notions of fairness and blame. A revelatory inquiry into the uneasy space where human behavior meets inherited biology, Original Sin challenges us to imagine a more humane vision of accountability—for ourselves and for one another.

Cover art © 2026 Banco de México Diego Rivera Frida Kahlo Museums Trust, Mexico, CDMX / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Instantly my new favorite book

I devoured it in a weekend, and can’t wait to start it again from the beginning, slower this time. There’s a lot to chew on. It’s certainly a science book, and a work of art.

A must read!

Eye opening and insightful 👌 I highly recommend this book, It took me a while to finish but I'm glad I did.

Solid, informative

Well done. Delightfully transparent, which drives home her point, the science. Recommended reading. Deserves much contemplation

screumprious discussion of a difficult topic

I highly recommend this book to anyone who wishes to engage both their mind and their heart in the difficult topic of human nature, when it's not at its best. Paige is daring, thoughtful, engaging, challenging, but also soft and caring. there is only one aspect I was left dissatisfied with: paige dismisses the validity of punishment without contending with the massive literature demonstrating the power of negativity as being much greater than positivity. I remained skeptical and unimpressed with her off hand arguments.

A wonderful book on evolutionary psychology and so much more

The author is a proven thinker about the growing field of evolutionary psychology, but the book also thoughtfully covers criminal justice, childhood trauma, psychopathy, Christianity and other related topics. She includes parts of her own childhood and young adult life. It is a terrific follow up to the books of Steven Pinker and Robert Sapolsky