Original Sin
On the Genetics of Vice, the Problem of Blame, and the Future of Forgiveness
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Original Sin
Narrated by:
Kristen DiMercurio
Buy Now for $23.91
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Narrated by:
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Kristen DiMercurio
About this listen
“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
Critic Reviews
“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. . . . Thrilling, entertaining, provocative, brilliant.”—Adam Rutherford, author of A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived
“Not a dry, restrained, contained scientific inquiry but a daring, complex, sometimes confounding and ultimately powerful tapestry of a book . . . The last few chapters sing, moving with propulsive momentum and elegant logic from dog-training and child-rearing to corporal punishment, mass incarceration, and ultimately, hope for the future.”—The New York Times Book Review
“An ambitious, compact, and often moving contribution to the literature at the intersection of genetics and ethics. It is magnificent to have an established scientist such as Harden address social, political, religious, and deeply personal issues in the context of scientific work meant for public consumption. The book should serve as a nucleation point for broad, intense, and enlightening discussion.”—Science
“Unique, expansive, and illuminating—a mix of religion and genetics that interweaves intensely personal storytelling with rigidly objective science to explore big questions about the bad things we have the capacity to do.”—John Higgs, author of William Blake vs. the World
“Even if you have no interest in the concept of sin, this is a compelling read. Harden’s bottom line is that we subjective beings are morally responsible for our actions (sorry), despite the fact that we also tick along deterministically. This emotionally startling and intellectually erudite book explains why.”—Mark Solms, neuroscientist, psychoanalyst, and author of The Only Cure
“Original Sin offers an eye-opening perspective on possible genetic links to antisocial behavior. Those who can accept that there is nothing inherently amoral about having an unconventional experience of emotion will see the positive and potentially life-changing impact this understanding can have on stigmatized and marginalized antisocial youth.”—Patric Gagne, author of Sociopath
“A tour de force that invites us to go deep into questions about why people do terrible things and how we should treat them afterward.”—Gwen Adshead, author of The Devil You Know
“A powerful read that stops you dead in your tracks and forces you to think very deeply.”—Sue Black, author of All That Remains
“Not a dry, restrained, contained scientific inquiry but a daring, complex, sometimes confounding and ultimately powerful tapestry of a book . . . The last few chapters sing, moving with propulsive momentum and elegant logic from dog-training and child-rearing to corporal punishment, mass incarceration, and ultimately, hope for the future.”—The New York Times Book Review
“An ambitious, compact, and often moving contribution to the literature at the intersection of genetics and ethics. It is magnificent to have an established scientist such as Harden address social, political, religious, and deeply personal issues in the context of scientific work meant for public consumption. The book should serve as a nucleation point for broad, intense, and enlightening discussion.”—Science
“Unique, expansive, and illuminating—a mix of religion and genetics that interweaves intensely personal storytelling with rigidly objective science to explore big questions about the bad things we have the capacity to do.”—John Higgs, author of William Blake vs. the World
“Even if you have no interest in the concept of sin, this is a compelling read. Harden’s bottom line is that we subjective beings are morally responsible for our actions (sorry), despite the fact that we also tick along deterministically. This emotionally startling and intellectually erudite book explains why.”—Mark Solms, neuroscientist, psychoanalyst, and author of The Only Cure
“Original Sin offers an eye-opening perspective on possible genetic links to antisocial behavior. Those who can accept that there is nothing inherently amoral about having an unconventional experience of emotion will see the positive and potentially life-changing impact this understanding can have on stigmatized and marginalized antisocial youth.”—Patric Gagne, author of Sociopath
“A tour de force that invites us to go deep into questions about why people do terrible things and how we should treat them afterward.”—Gwen Adshead, author of The Devil You Know
“A powerful read that stops you dead in your tracks and forces you to think very deeply.”—Sue Black, author of All That Remains
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