Problems have always existed for the scientific understanding of life, in particular with unusual behaviors. One such area is prodigious intellectual abilities. Explanations there are expected to be largely based on a person's DNA. More broadly, that logic is fundamental to the fields of behavioral genetics as well as personal genomics. Very surprisingly after much searching through relevant DNA, though, a number of the presumed DNA origins have not been identified.

This book considers this quietly unfolding heritability mystery along with some amazing behavioral challenges to the...