- School & Library Binding: 444 pages
- Publisher: Econo-Clad Books, Div. of American Cos., Inc.; New title edition (Oct 1999)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0613181301
- ISBN-13: 978-0613181303
- Product Dimensions: 20.6 x 14.7 x 2.5 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 2,777,446 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Description
Review
A rare book-at once of great importance and wonderful to read.
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
Product Description
Can human intelligence be measured? From 19th-century craniometry (literally, the measurement of skulls) to today's vastly sophisticated methods of IQ testing, the author traces the history of scientists' attempts to assess human intelligence. Along the way he tackles the fundamental problems - the very idea of measurement seems reductive, suggesting that biology is destiny - morever as he vividly demonstrates, scientists' theories have too often been dangerous reflections of their own personal motives and racial/class/sexual prejudices. This book examines the fatal flaws in intelligence testing and reaffirms the richness and variety of human potential. This book won the National Book Critics' Circle Award for 1982.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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First Sentence
CITIZENS OF THE REPUBLIC, Socrates advised, should be educated and assigned by merit to three classes: rulers, auxiliaries, and craftsmen. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
CITIZENS OF THE REPUBLIC, Socrates advised, should be educated and assigned by merit to three classes: rulers, auxiliaries, and craftsmen. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
15 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A good, timely and necessary book.,
By Brian Flange "qflestrin" (Penge.) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Mismeasure of Man (Penguin science) (Paperback)
Gould has entered hot and disputatious waters with this particular book, now substantially revised and expanded to keep it abreast of recent developments in the ongoing debate about how to measure and quantify intelligence. Before criticising this book (or, too often, a caricature version thereof) it's worthwhile keeping a very close eye on Gould's own mission-statement: this book is not (repeat, NOT) a politically-motivated attack on I.Q. testing per se, nor yet a plea for "anything goes" obscurantism about the scientific investigation of the mind - rather, Gould offers a sustained and notably well-informed attack on a narrowly-focused but potentially highly dangerous doctrine, namely that view of intelligence which reduces all mental fitness or excellence to a single, inheritable, directly quantifiable factor which is essentially immune from change by environment or social factors. This is Gould's target and this specificity of aim should never be forgotten when this book is reviewed or discussed. As Gould demonstrates at great length, statistical reasoning is like any other branch of enquiry, in that if it applies a correct method to flawed, partial or self-serving premisses it will go as badly awry as the most illogical thinking. Gould is emphatically not attacking statistical analysis as a tool of scientific investigation, but rather attacking the way in which highly questionable assumptions about racial or intellectual "inferiority" have been smuggled into scientific investigation as "unbiased" first principles. Far too many of Gould's critics have served up an utterly distorted caricature both of the man and his methods - presumably because engaging with a cardboard Gould is so much less time-consuming than troubling to engage with the issues themselves. Not the least of Gould's virtues as a contributor to the intelligence testing debate is that he lays out his stall with complete clarity and sincerity from the outset - he makes absolutely no effort to disguise or distort his own views, and never claims an unbiased stance - a piece of notable intellectual honesty which this reviewer at least found greatly to Gould's credit. Gould's book is timely, well-researched and compellingly written. Alas, if only there was no need for Gould's sterling efforts.
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Misrepresentation of Science,
By
This review is from: The Mismeasure of Man (Hardcover)
Gould fraudulently misrepresented Morton's work. Recent research has re-examined Gould's and Morton's work and found that Gould fudged his own numbers, suggested bias where there wasn't any, and basically made stuff up. He tarnished Morton's reputation and has misled thousands of readers. This book is not worth reading except as a historical document. Gould's conclusions simply are not true. Refer to Lewis et al. (2011) "The Mismeasure of Science: Stephen Jay Gould versus Samuel George Morton on Skulls and Bias" in PLoS Biology (freely available online at the time of this comment) as the most recent exposition of Gould's nonsense.
10 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Gould continues his pioneering work of humanizing science,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Mismeasure of Man (Hardcover)
Most reviews of this book will focus on the question of Gould's treatment of biological determinism as one of this century's greatest follies. My own opinion is that those focusing on this issue are missing the point. While I do think that the eugenics movement is certainly one of the sadder chapters in our history, I found this particular issue, while beautifully developed and addressed, to be but an example of a larger, more fundamental question. What I see as the main thesis of this book is this: Scientists are people, human. They are prone to the same passions, desires, hopes, dreams, motivations, fears, ambitions, mistakes and biases as the rest of us. That is what makes the mistakes made 80-100 years ago (indeed 50 years ago, last year, yesterday) so relevant. The scientists of the last century were as brilliant as those today, but they viewed the world much differently. Biological determinism was a certainty, a constant. They simply assumed it was so and interpreted all data in this light. Given this premise, of course they would reach the conclusions that seem so horribly biased today. The real message of this book, (to me at least) is this wonderful (and frightening) idea that even today, all scientific "truths" need to be examined and re-examined and re-examined. We can never be sure of what we are seeing as we view all data through a societal lens. To a layman such as myself, often frustrated by the pretentiousness and aloofness of scientists (as well as the jargon-filled literature) this knowledge is one of great liberation. It makes science much less certain, but so much more enjoyable! It brings the scientist down from the priest's alter to the congregation. This is Gould's great gift he gives to readers in all his books, but most of all in this one. This book is simply one of the greatest books written about scientific thought. For anyone who wishes to understand how "great mistakes" are made in science, this is a must read!
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