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Summary: It's Not What the Media has lead you to believe
Review: Well thought out and thoroughly documented treatise on the role of intelligence in explaining social problems. The book focuses on the stratification of people based on IQ. The black/white issue that gets all the media attention is only a minor part of the overall thesis: stratification by IQ has negative consequences for society.
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Summary: Pragmatic and clear
Review: The Bell Curve is a must read book for anyone who is vexed by the decline of civilization in the United States. The authors delineate the factors that are tyically associated with "success" and peel away the common falsehoods. What is left after this thorough examination is the pinpoint accurate assessment that intelligence is the personal attribute most commonly associated with "success", and even survival, in the modern United States environment. If one questions this conclusion, all he must do is look around at the people who seem to lack the raw intelligence to even learn to operate a dumbed-down McDonald's cash register. Think about the social programs that are designed to make us all feel equal, though, in reality, we are all of differing strengths and skills. The perpetuation of the myth that we are all "equal" in a biological sense is most harmful to those whom it is most meant to raise. I am a man of slight stature, but I do not contend that I can bench press the same weight as Mr. Olympia. Why then is it unreasonable to state (especially after thorough study and proof) that all men are not intellectually equal? Why do we act as if people who clearly lack the mental talent to control their own lives are capable of raising families well? If you want to truly understand the driving force for class structure, read The Bell Curve. The phenomena of entrepreneurship, success, failure, and underclass will all be explained to the reader. This book is an excellent work for both the expert and the novice sociologist.
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Summary: An unbiased review of intelligence in human populations
Review: This book is perhaps the best popularized review of intelligence in human populations. The sad fact is that anyone thinks that this book is controversial, whereas it should be a basic part of Biology 101. Intelligence, like height, is a matter of multifactoral genetic inheritance. Yet, while no one rational could possibly deny that height is a spectrum and that this spectrum differs in different human populations, it is not "politically correct" to say the same is true of intelligence. All people are not physically equal, and intelligence differs even more widely. This book simply reviews some of these differences within human population. Of course, the fact that people differ in intelligence is one many people do not want to accept. It is so much easier, when one sees someone more successful, to cry out that they only "made it" because they cheated or because that had a lucky break. While some people are obviously better atheletes than others and are hailed by the teeming masses, people do not want to admit that some people are simply more intelligent than others. If anything, such people, instead of being honored, are vilified as "nerds". In conclusion, this book simply reiterates self-evident truths but will continue to be vilified by those who put "political correctness" ahead of truth.
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Summary: A must-read for those seriously interested in race issues.
Review: I picked up "The Bell Curve" three years ago, and resolved to read it cover to cover, which I did. Quite a lot to absorb, but ultimately worth the time investment. I wouldn't suggest it for those who have less than a passing interest in race issues, since the authors took a measured and scientific approach to an otherwise emotional topic. This makes for a thoughtful but demanding read, which I believe is a far superior approach to the topic than a "jazzed up", rhetoric filled, pulp novel, written for popular consumption. However, this means that the book is slow and requires careful reading in order to fully get at what the authors are saying. Most importantly, contrary to popular belief, the book is not all about race. Rather, the majority of the book envolves analysis of race neutral studies. Approximately 20% of the book is actually dedicated to racial analysis, and it is my honest opinion, having read the book, that the authors took a good-faith approach to a controversial topic. I do not know if their analysis was correct, but I do know that the controversy was undeserved. The hype that surrounded this book was less about the authors work and more about our society's inability to come to grips with the issue of race. In the final analysis, all the book proved was that the issue of race is far more complex than the popular media would have you believe. If you really care about this topic, read this book. Really read it, and then think about it. Then, whether you are outraged or inspired, atleast you will have a leg to stand on when you quote/criticise the work.
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Summary: A triumph of logic and valor
Review: This book is as much about logic as it is about race. It was written by an Ashkenasic Semite and a European Caucasoid for those whose rationality is strong enough to override their emotions and the propaganda of the media-educational brainwash complex. Those who feel it is not racist to blame Whites for Black failure without any evidence but who never miss an opportunity to accuse Whites of racism even if they dare to acknowledge the intellectual superiority of North East Asians will not understand it. They lack the IQ to participate in a productive economy or in sound debate, so they are in academia.
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Summary: Take other ethnic groups and see how wrong H&M are.
Review: It is a well-known fact that the children of Russian immigrants who were born in Russia and completed middle school in Russian schools show consistently FAR better scores than American children. If we take Murray and Herrnstein's logic, this means that Americans are genetically inferior to Russians. I would happily take this for granted if not the fact that those Russian children who return back with their families have admission problems with Russian colleges because of very poor education that they receive in US public schools. It is quite obvious that the Education is the major factor that affects IQ. Education improvement explains the Flynn effect (average IQ scores growing over decades). As for implications about differences between ethnic groups, this is explained by cultural differences. White people have DRIVE TO SUCCESS built-in into the entire life paradigm, which may not be true for other ethnic groups. Simple - they are not stupid, they simply may have other goals. Take other nations and you will see that Bell Curve is nothing but racist outbreak. It is very convenient for right-wing politicians and none the less convenient for lazy students and/or their lazy parents.
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Summary: Important For Those Who Can Accept the Truth
Review: I have read this book, but these comments are really intended to be a rebuttal of some of the nonesensical reviews I have read here. One of the critical reviews stated that "race" is not a valid concept and there really is no such thing as "black" and "white". That should give you some idea of where the review is coming from. Several of the reviews leave me with the impression that the reviewers did not read the book. For example, many reviewers take the authors to task for ignoring environmental influences. However, in the book the authors conclude that genetics influences IQ 40 to 60%, implying that environmental influences are also about 40 to 60%. Another critical reviewer recommended Stephen Jay Gould's book "The Mismeasure of Man" as authoritative. They evidently did not know that Gould's revisionist work has since been shown to be innacurate and his conclusions false. I read Gould's book and his essential conclusion is that "there is no such thing as IQ". If you believe that all people are exactly equal in their mental abilities then no doubt you will agree. Of course, this ignores the fact that it has been mainstream psychology for more than 100 years to accept that such a thing as IQ exists and can be studied. The "big lie" of the critical reviewers (and the mainstream media) is that Hernstein and Murray's compendium is not mainstream science. The entire point of the book is that mainstream science dramatically contradicts the popular misconception that IQ is entirely environmental. For those who are interested in further reading, I recommend the book "Race, Evolution, and Behavior" by J. Phillipe Rushton.
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Summary: A compelling "must read" book.
Review: This book turned my head around as much as any book I've read since Atlas Shrugged. To me, one of the surprises is how easy this book is to read; the math is simple and clearly presented and the writing is smooth and linear. The book is shocking and makes me wish things were different, but, as the authors eloquently point out, wishing something was true does not make it so. We are far better off being honest with ourselves and applying public policy in a way that helps with the real problems we face. Absolutely, this book must be read, argued, and thought about because, love it or hate it, the future depends on us making rational decisions and developing public policy that improves our society instead of allowing society to tear itself apart at the seams. Buy it, read it, think about it.
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Summary: Pseudo-Science Rides Again
Review: The Bell Curve has been pretty thoroughly debunked since it came out -- Charles Lane, writing in The New York Review of Books, called attention to the author's use of Nazi source material, stuff from the Pioneer Fund and other racial-eugenicist groups. Other scientists -- from geneticists and biologists to educational psychologists and other social scientists have dismantled its premises: For example, there are no such biological entities as "races," they are social constructs (thus, there are no such things as "whites" with a single shared gene pool distinct from that of "blacks."). And IQ rises and falls in groups and individuals all the time -- kids who take summer vacation lose IQ points temporarily (brains get out of practice taking tests?), over the course of the century, IQ has been rising--how could that happen if it's genetic?. the Bell Curve ignores bad diet, poverty, stress, poor teaching, untreated sickness -- all the things we KNOW poor kids and especially poor black kids get lots more of than middle-class kids, let alone the elite kids at some posh private school. It's truly shameful that so many people seem to want what Murray and Herrnstein have to sell.
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Summary: Someone with the courage to say something about statistics.
Review: I urge everyone to read this book. Finally some people with the courage to speak out about the direction our country is headed. People who lay the blame on the PEOPLE instead of the SYSTEM.
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