Book Review: “Seven Deadly Sins” by Dr. Guy Leschziner
Predestination?
I feel that I’ve finally come to a book about which I feel woefully underqualified to write a review. It’s Dr. Guy Leschziner’s Seven Deadly Sins, a look at neurobiology related to gluttony, greed, sloth, pride, envy, lust, and anger. (With a chapter on free will thrown in for the heck of it. More on that in just a second.) It’s a book labeled as “controversial” by its publisher, St. Martin’s Press, because of its shocking declaration that human beings do not have free will because the synapses firing on all cylinders are so rapid that decisions are made in the brain before the thought that we humans may have. If I’m getting this right, that means that the cheeseburger you find yourself craving was decided to be ordered well in advance of you going to the local hamburger joint and plunking down money for some tasty ground beef on a bun. (With cheese!) The book is a little more complicated than that, and it’s a long one — it’ll take you about seven hours to get through it if you read indiscriminately. I think this might be a book that is best meant for academics and clinicians; the only reason I’ve read it is because a free advance copy was provided to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
I can say a few good things about this book. The most appealing aspect is easily the case studies that Dr. Leschziner presents. Culling from his patient records, the good doctor tells stories of people who have suffered brain injuries and have become promiscuous (that’s lust) or are suddenly prone to angry outbursts (that’s, well, anger). The premise itself is also likable: that the seven deadly sins are neurologically based instead of being a moral imperative — that is to say, we are hardwired to do bad things at some cellular level that a slight bump to the head can throw off-kilter. However, I wonder if this book is “controversial” for the wrong reasons. That is, if one is to believe Dr. Leschziner’s findings and hypothesis that sin is more a matter of the mind than of the heart, it can lead one to make the following conclusion: if a gene causes undesired behavior a, b, or c, then it would logically flow from that that that gene or piece of grey matter could be edited out. In other words, eugenics. To the best of my memory, this is very lightly (if at all) touched on in the book — and if that memory is faulty, well, it was a long, dense book packed to the gills with information.
So why do I feel so unqualified to review this book? Well, I am not a brain surgeon but a simple layperson. This book was not for me as it was above my pay grade. However, as a layperson, I found this volume repetitive. It also takes weird curve balls into areas such as Huntington’s Disease, which I suppose goes back to the notion of editing out genes that carry horrific diseases down through the generations of families. In short, if this book has any failing, it might be that the author is a tad little too close to his subject matter. Perhaps he was also desperate to shoehorn the “seven deadly sins” angle into this package — making it more of a marketing ploy than anything else. (To wit, I initially thought this would be a book about religious theology before reading the synopsis from the publisher. However, I still greedily took it from the publisher, so say what you will about me.) How much one enjoys this dry and academic read (except for the case studies, which provide glimpses of illumination and interest for the reader) is based on how much scientific jargon and medical mumbo-jumbo you’re willing to take on.
But I don’t mean to be harsh at all. This book will be held closely and lovingly to the chests of neurosurgeons, geneticists, and potentially even psychiatrists. The audience for a scientific tome such as this may be broad amongst brain and nervous systems specialists. And, I have to admit that I was impressed by the intelligence and insight of the author — a native of London, England. Dr. Leschziner is a brilliant man with a clever mind, even if he’s most straightforward in describing the afflictions of his various patients. So, what can I really say about this book? Aside from the fact that I feel underqualified to write about this work (so you may want to consult a second opinion somewhere else), I must concede that it has appeal. If you like medical non-fiction and are interested in grey matter, you might find something to write about here. It would be a sin to skip over this one. All others can take this or leave it. I’m unsure where I exist on this spectrum, but I found the book mildly fascinating, even in its wanting bits. It’s a curiosity, to be sure.
Dr. Guy Leschziner’s Seven Deadly Sins: The Biology of Being Human will be published by St. Martin’s Press on December 3, 2024.
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