First, a disclaimer: The author “believes deeply in the fundamental equality of all human peoples.” He also thinks that this shouldn’t prevent an intellectual discussion on the evolution of races. This is the subject of A Troublesome Inheritance: Genes, Race and Human History (Penguin Press, $28) by Nicholas Wade, who will be talking about the book on Tuesday, May 13, 7:30 p.m. at the Hill Center.

A Troublesome Inheritance contests the notion that human evolution “ended in prehistory.” Over the past few thousand years, Wade writes, certain populations have developed characteristics like lactose intolerance or easier survival at high altitudes. Since these populations developed so far apart from one another, there may also be a genetic basis for “human social habits.”

Wade is well aware that expanding this idea to race is contentious. Many geneticists, paleontologists, and the American Anthropological Association have said that “race is a recent human invention” about “culture, not biology.” Wade sees this as a politically correct view that does not agree with the science. He says that as we adapted to different regional challenges, genes, and our brains, evolved in many ways. This could have affected things like literacy, numeracy, trust in central government, tribalism, and what Wade calls “middle class traits.”

But genes only “predispose,” and not “determine,” certain behaviors, he writes. The “study of the genetics of race will inevitably reveal some differences, some of which will show … some slight edge over another in a specified trait.” Still, “the notion that any race has the right to dominate others or is superior can be firmly rejected as a matter of principle and … is unassailable by science.”

The book cautiously seeks to start a conversation in order to improve our approaches toward fellow humans. According to Wade, “better to explore and understand [race’s] bearing on human nature and history than to pretend for reasons of political convenience that it has no evolutionary basis.” If you think Wade is harboring a prejudicial agenda, rest assured that everyone gets a moment in the spotlight in A Troublesome Inheritance.

Wade is a science writer for The New York Times. A Troublesome Inheritance is said to be a culmination of many of his research and articles over his 37-year career. It is also his third book; Before the Dawn traces the last 50,000 years of human evolution, and The Faith Instinct focuses on the survival advantage of religion. Wade was born in England and studied natural sciences at King’s College, Cambridge.

The event is free to the public.