Rating: 
Summary: Shockingly Bad...
Review: And appalling that so many people would like to believe this garbage, that they would leave their IQs at home.The same kind of logic gives you statements like, "The cheaper the beer you drink, the more likely you are to get veneral disease." Any idiot can come up with correlations which mean nothing. That's not science, and it doesn't mean a thing. I suggest a good book on statistics and evolutionary analysis instead.
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Summary: It's intelligence,...
Review: The Bell Curve is about how intelligence affects social outcomes in America.Although there are more people of average intelligence than very high or low intellligence,the authors tell us that the tails of the bell curve have a marked influence on such things as wages,unemployment,poverty,and illegitimacy.We learn,for example,that poverty is predicted better by low intelligence than by socioeconomic background:26 percent of the lowest 2 percent by intelligence end up poor,compared to 11 percent of the lowest 2 percent by parental socioeconomic status;a far more significant correlation. Findings like this challenge the view that social inequalities are caused by environmental differences,and nothing else.The authors believe that intelligence is largely hereditary and that "ethnic differences in measured cognitive ability have been found since intelligence tests were invented".Most scholars agree.Indeed,early in the book we are told that a gulf exists between the media and scholars on the nature of intelligence:"The issues that seem most salient in articles in the popular press (Isn't intelligence determined mostly by environment?Aren't the tests useless because they're biased?) are not major topics of debate within the profession.On many of the publicly discussed questions,a scholarly consensus has been reached".Despite this gulf,however,the Bell Curve was a bestseller in 1994. There are a few criticisms that can be made.For one,it isn't an easy read.The authors also have a habit of using both percentages and standard deviations when presenting statistics, which is confusing.They do provide useful chapter summaries, however,so their most important points are easily accessible.In any event,if you're looking for an alternative to egalitarian prescriptions,this is a good place to start.
Rating: 
Summary: An Important Book
Review: ... I honestly believe that The Bell Curve should be read by everybody - especially because most people who haven't read it are unaware of what the book actually says. Herrnstein and Murray offer a broad and extremely moderate view of the issue of intelligence and class structure, bringing up several related issues, such as dysgenesis, maladaptive parenting, or the black/white IQ gap, without letting any of these issues dominate the discussion. In hindsight, I have to say that it was these side issues which proved to be most interesting and informative. How many are aware today that the genetic component to intelligence is declining? How many are aware that different ethnic groups differ in average intelligence? These are facts which have long been known by the academic community but which the common man is seldom taught in school. Before reading The Bell Curve, I myself was unaware of any of this, and it's unfortunate that there are so many others out there who are just as uninformed as I was. Herrnstein and Murray's treatment is scholarly and meticulous enough for the most critical reader, but presented in an enjoyable and easy to read fashion. The Bell Curve offers no simple explanations for the facts it brings to light, nor can the research inside this book be dismissed as "racist" by any honest person (the authors provide a persuasive argument in favor of Affirmative Action, for example). The findings presented inside, while highly controversial and much maligned by fringe extremists, were ultimately verified by the American Psychological Association. Having read other books and articles which I may have liked better than The Bell Curve for one reason or another, I am still forced to conclude that Herrnstein and Murray provide the most thorough and fair-minded discussion on intelligence and class structure that has been provided to date. No one can consider himself a well informed citizen without having read this book.
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Summary: Can you handle the truth?
Review: Good info and backed up with data. May be viewed as "politically incorrect" however as they say -- The truth hurts. A good awakening for the masses.
Rating:
Summary: Malicious and racist
Review: There is simply no way the authors can have believed what they were writing. The 'research' is presented in academic style with copious footnotes. Problem is that the footnotes don't bear any resemblance to what is being said. There are elementary arithmentical mistakes in several of the tables, which curiously always seem to support the authors preconceived notions. If you are a racist goon looking for support for your views you will find much that reinforces your predjudices in this book. However you could save your money and read the output of the 'Institute for Historical Review' for free. If you are looking for an unbiased analysis of IQ testing a better place to start would be Gould's Mismeasure of Man which explains the origins of IQ testing as a means of measuring achievement of the mentally retarded.
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Summary: An Absoloutely Wonderful Book!
Review: THE BELL CURVE has drawn an extreme amount of criticism because of the facts revealed within. I would not say that these are revealed, but most people already know deep down that they are true. BELL CURVE merely verbalizes them and puts them up to statistical analysis. One of the authors, Murray, says in his Afterword that BELL CURVE was authored in a moderate tone. This is completely true. In fact as I have read a commentator write that this book "bends over backward" to avoid what many would consider "incendiary" statemants. What makes this book so controversial? Why do its detractors call it "Neo-Nazi Propaganda," a term which is used to denigrate anything that seems out of line with any group's stated beliefs and idealogy? 1. Intellegence Quotient (IQ) is much more important in determining one's socio-economic status, academic performance, illegitimacy, and likelyhood of criminal behavior than one's environment. 2. IQ is genetic. It is likely more hereditary than caused by environment. IQ is estimated at being between 40-80% inherited from one's parents. The authors estimate it from their data at being around 60% hereditary. 3. IQ scores differ substantially along racial and ethnic lines. 4. The average white IQ is around 100. The average black and Hispanic IQ is at an 85. This places the average black or Hispanic at the 16th percentile of the white IQ range. This means that the average black or Hispanic is a standard deviation (a lot in layman's terms) lower in IQ than the average white. 5. East Asians (specifically Japanese, Chinese and Korean) score slightly higher than whites, but the extent of this difference is not well known. Asians have better visual-spatial scores while whites have better verbal scores than Asians. Those above five points I summarized after studying the evidence from this book. I was very intrigued to find that Ashkenazi (Eastern European) Jews are identified as the highest achievers of any ethnicity on IQ tests, having the best scores in verbal intellegence, and being placed a standard deviation above the white mean of 100. This book is a goldmine of statistical data on the difference between people with different levels of intelligence. In fact, only about fifty of this book's five-hundred seventy pages deal with difference between races. The authors are very careful to avoid discussing racial issues and are able to treat the subject with extreme detachment. The fact is, it is not "racism" if it is true. It is simply objective fact. The book was written so that it should appeal to leftists, that everyone should be given a fair chance based on individual ability, not being given undue "affirmative action" simply based on one's racial backround. Read THE BELL CURVE, and enjoy.
Rating: 
Summary: Questionable!
Review: When I first read "The Bell Curve", I found it hard to question the logic of it. Now, after reading several commentaries, including an essay by Thomas Sowell in the book "The Race Wars", it is easier to second guess at least parts of the book. I reccomend it with some reservation. Still, the book is unfairly slammed by exagerated reviews. First, if you are new to the book, you may think the book is about race. It is not. Only chapters 13 and 14 touch on race (and my gues, the authors put these chapters in to make contreversy). One could easily read the book without those chapters and come away with a clear, cogent argument as the two chapters are superfluous. The book is about IQ (and, yes, that is still a contreversial idea.) Anyhow, even if the authors are right about the 18% gap between the average black and white scores, that still leaves an 82% overlay between the two sets of scores. Discrimination based on an 18% chance of being correct is irrational!! Second, if you've read the negative reviews, you will not only think that race is the agenda of the book, but that the agenda is a "eugenic" conservative one. Any good history book will show you that the biggest proponents of eugenics, like Harold Laski, Theodore Roosevelt, Beatrice Webb, Emma Goldman and Aldous Huxley were left wingers, and sometimes socialists. Even the 'nazi' ideology that this book is sometimes compared to ignores the fact that the nazis started as a big trade union - decidedly, a left wing idea. To be sure, the authors are libertarian so in a sense, that makes them conservatives - but only in a sense. There's still a wide gap between libertarians and conservatives. Third and lastly, there have been great arguments made against this book. I strongly suggest that before, during or after this book, one read "The Race Wars" consisting of essays written about and generally against The Bell Curve. The most engaging and factual was by Thoms Sowell. Sowell argues that we can not be sure that intellegence determines class is possible, but it is just as possible the other way round. Poverty grows up without an abundance of books, quality schooling, 'intellectual' conversation and stimulation that middle-class and rich do have. Couldn't THAT just as easily be the explanation? As said earlier, I do reccomend reading this book. It is thorough, thought-garnering, and eye-opening (in a neutral sense). I would reccomend "The Race Wars" as a post-script though. "The Mismeasure of Man" is almost surely the wrong book, as it argues against eugenics which, as we know, is NOT "The Bell Curve".
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Summary: Disturbing, but please at least read it!
Review: Contrary to what some reviewers might say, The Bell Curve is not a book about racial differences in intelligence. It is a book about the rise of what the authors call a "cognitive elite" in America and the world, and it's growing power, influence and wealth, as well as the effect that intelligence has on the probability of various life outcomes for everyone. The authors explain assortive association and assortive mating, and point out that increasingly the smartest people have little contact with those who are lower on the intelligence scale. In 1900, for example, the smartest men went to medical school and returned home to marry a hometown girl who no doubt was smart, but short of genius. Today, the smartest men attend elite schools where they meet equally smart women. If one accepts that intelligence is highly heritable, then today's cognitive elite mating pattern is producing a far more static group than in the past, and the ultra-elite may even continue to rise ever higher over the rest of the population. While a small cognitive elite gains ever more power due to changes in society, the rest of society is also becoming increasing stratified by intelligence. The authors point out that having a low intelligence makes one much more likely to make poor life choices, from going to jail to parenting children out of wedlock. Of course, motivation, work ethic and values matter, but those with higher intelligence are more likely to see the benefit of these positive character traits. Finally, having a low I.Q. score does not "consign" one to a terrible life; and having a high I.Q. doesn't mean that smart people will be successful. But when analyzing large groups and group differences, I.Q. explains much of the differences in life outcomes. This bears repeating: Those with low I.Q. can beat the odds and do well in life if they have good values and a good personality while those with high I.Q. can do just awful in life if they have lousy values or an unpleasing personality. In part three of the book the authors do discuss racial differences in I.Q. The book might be more valuable if this section had simply been left out. For those finding this section objectionable, I suggest just ripping it out and burning it. The rest of the book, however, it too important to ignore. When it comes to public policy recommendations, the authors tend to have a conservative slant, but there is no reason one can't accept most of the premises of the book and draw exactly opposite conclusions as to the proper public policies that should be adopted. This book is disturbing at times, so disturbing that many have lashed out against it without even bothering to read it. In fact, the authors would agree with many of the so-called criticisms that have appeared in print, since they have stated the exact thing in their book. So at least read the book before you criticize it.
Rating:
Summary: Sorry folks...
Review: ...Murray and Herrnstein were never qualified to write a book on genetics and IQ; they spent their entire careers studying other things. In many of their studies, the Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT), a knowledge based test, was used to test for IQ. In all the reviews of the book I have ever read, of all the people I have ever discussed this book with, not one person has ever had anything to say about the fact that many of the studies in this book were funded by a neo-nazi organization. Its very likely none of you out there will have anything to say about this either. BTW, statistics can be manipulated to show almost any conclusion; anybody who doesn't know or realize this isn't too bright. Staticians also have studied the data and found numerous errors and manipulations...Oh yeah, my name is Robert Bracco.
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Summary: What EVERYONE should know about The Bell Curve...
Review: 1. Charles Murray is a POLITICAL scientist, whose specialty lies in welfare and affirmative action issues. Richard Herrnstein (who died shortly before publication) was indeed a psychologist, but he spent his career studying pigeons and rats, not genetics and IQ. These facts are not in dispute.
2. Herrnstein never published anything in peer-reviewed journals about genetics and IQ during his entire 36-year career. (He did publish a few articles in popular magazines.) This fact is not in dispute. 3. The authors of "The Bell Curve" completely bypassed the process of peer review, a vital step in the publication of ANY scientific work. Yes, they would have faced a lot of opposition from "liberal academia," but if their research was valid, then all the criticism in the world wouldn't have hurt it.
4. Most of the "IQ" scores the authors used and studied were not from IQ tests at all. The authors mistook an armed forces qualifying test that measures vocabulary and verbal reasoning for IQ tests. This is not in dispute.
5. (I found the following hard to believe, but I did my fact checking.) Most of the studies used in "The Bell Curve" were funded by the Pioneer Fund, a neo-nazi organization whose founder advocated sending all blacks back to Africa.
Finally,
6. If you read the above and still find "The Bell Curve" to be a good book, a top level work of science, etc, you are of inferior intelligence, on the low end of the bell curve, and racist too. This is not an opinion... this is an indisputable fact. Sorry!
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