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Summary: Required reading for scientists
Review: All prospective scientists should be required to read this book. It shows pitfalls in "objective" observation. Excellent - as are all of Gould's books.
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Summary: Always More Than One Way To Interpret Quantified Data
Review: Gould's title plays off the aphorism that "man is the measure of all things," uttered by Protagoras, the sophist who encouraged his students to utilize whichever methods yielded desired results, but who then admonished them to always remember that any "truth" found this way is relative, a product of an artificial and subjective system, and not some natural and objective verity. Gould shows that many unwitting modern disciples of Protagoras' school retained this method but forgot the underlying madness._The Mismeasure of Man_ is an investigation of attempts to reify human "intelligence" in order to determine worthiness (mental and otherwise) by establishing a ranking based on a single derived factor and presenting the resultant scalar reckoning as biological and incontrovertible. Such quantifiable difference has allowed a scientific establishmentarianism that justifies and perpetuates racism, sexism, and classism as inevitable and natural. Gould surveys the last three centuries and exposes the faulty logic of reductive systems for the evaluation of human mind (and spirit): craniometry, craniology, recapitulation, criminal anthropology, and modern I.Q. testing. Gould knows that many readers (and non-readers) will attack him for writing outside his proper domain, and he counters this by insisting that he is not writing a book about psychology per se, but about the general error of reification in the sciences. As young up-and-coming evolutionary biologist, Gould received extensive training in statistics, especially factor analysis. It is with this statistical expertise that he exposes the logical (not mathematical) weaknesses of using factor analysis and other quantitative methods to distill a person's intelligence down to some single quantity. Gould shows how this reification is ultimately an embodiment of a priori assumptions after they have been processed through a circular argument, usually obfuscated (instead of supported) by numbers and mathematics in the name of objective quantification. Gould spent an entire month reworking Paul Broca's impressive craniometric data. Gould found in Broca an unparalleled collector of raw figures, but also uncovered "advocacy masquerading as objectivity." Gould's historical survey of intelligence testing in the twentieth century demonstrates too well how science can become a powerful technological tool (or weapon) of the state. At the beginning of this century, Binet designed his scale to be used as an instrument to help identify those (relatively few) students in need of special education, not to be an absolute measure of intelligence or anything else inherent or irredeemable. Goddard (the American who christened the term "moron") adopted Binet's methods but not his ideology, proffering Binet's I.Q. as an intrinsic and permanent entity by which eugenics could and should (and would) be directed. In this book, Gould uncovers Goddard's manipulative retouching of photographs of research subjects to suggest their stupidity or vileness (these disturbing photos are reprinted in this book). R. M. Yerkes conducted an enormous study of 1.7 million U.S. Army draftees, a boon to the statistical prowess of a fledgling science, but his method and data analysis were patently absurd, as confessed in an 800-page description published by Yerkes. Gould feels sure that those who touted the conclusions of this tome never took the time to read it. Gould includes samples from Yerkes' intelligence tests, as well as the instructions given to the illiterate recruits, which are sometimes hilarious but also disconcerting (Gould also administered the tests to his Harvard undergrads, with illustrative results). Gould thus traces the evolution of an inheritable, fixed, and quantifiable "intelligence" emerging in America, culminating in negative and positive eugenics (Buck v. Bell (1924)), becoming subtler (insidious) after the horrors of the holocaust became known, but always lurking submerged. Gould suggests that Spearman and other reductionists working in a so-called soft science suffered from "physics envy" as they long for universal laws and basic particles (Gould does realize that physicists themselves no longer find such comforts). "With g as a quantified, fundamental particle, psychology [would be able to] take its rightful place among the real sciences." In the most challenging and instructive part of the book, Gould dissects factor analysis, a tool of data sorting that simplifies a complex system and thereby helps in the identification of possible underlying causes of correlation amongst variables. Gould acknowledges the great worth of this tool to all sciences, but warns against a great danger: reification. Researchers and non-professionals alike tend to treat mathematical abstracts as if they are real things, e.g., Spearman's g ("general intelligence") here, or "averages" in Gould's book _Full House_. Gould traces this proclivity back to seminal practices of western philosophy and the thrill of flushing out the Platonic essence hidden within the evidence. Once factor analysis has delivered a value to a researcher, it may not only be accepted as a real thing, but the *most* real thing. Gould illustrates (literally) that while the ordering principal of factor analysis is useful, its starting point is arbitrary, as demonstrated by the different but equally mathematically valid approaches that each yield separate results. Gould argues that each approach to the analysis is dictated by a priori assumptions, and the result, meant to prove these assumptions, actually rests upon them. Such circular reasoning becomes impossible to disprove on its own terms, so Gould exposes the fundamental flaw at its base: the reification of a result begotten from an arbitrary initiation. Even though this book was written more than a decade prior to _The Bell Curve_ (Herrnstein and Murray, 1994), it is considered the definitive answer to that now infamous tome (Gould does include a great new introduction and a specific critique of _The Bell Curve_ in the revised edition of _The Mismeasure of Man_ (1996)). Gould explains that the hereditarian viewpoint expressed therein resurfaces whenever the economic and political climate is favorable, but that the basic biological determinist argument never really changes substantially. Gould's book should serve as a timeless reminder of the limitations not of biology, but of reductionist science. Let us heed Protagoras' words and recognize that whenever man [sic] is the measurer and/or the measured, he is also indeed the measure. Not only will this force us to admit to a more human science, it will also yield a more humane science.
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Summary: Gould continues his pioneering work of humanizing science
Review: 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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Summary: Politically Correct but Psychologically Incorrect
Review: It is amazing that an expert in a particular domain of science feels expert outside of their domain. Psychologists have been refining IQ and intelligence for many years now....the current theories are reliable and valid and allow highly accurate prediction....a good test of a theory. But this is not the domain of paleontology. For a good current review of intelligence...get Hans Eysenck's "Intelligence:A New Look"
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Summary: Exciting & Important Reading
Review: A riveting account of how racism works its way into science -not only via conscious fraud, but also through the ability of race & class prejudice to structure our thinking so deeply that it persists even when we believe ourselves to be anti-racists proceeding objectively. One of the most important books of the twentieth century.
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Summary: A foundation text on the misuse of stats in social research
Review: Biological determinism is a set of politically based beliefs that race determines intelligence. Gould's books helps expose the hidden agenda that surround the use of intelligence tests as a magic bullet answer for social problems. While most reputable scientists have quietly moved on from assumptions that race effects intelligence (as opposed to wealth, schooling, and prenatal care) books such "The Bell Curve" have served as a warning that research with a political agenda is still going strong. "The Mismeasure of Man" is an important text for any quantitative scholar as it shows how a priori knowledge can create slanted numerical studies. Assumptions such as the existence of a magical g score that is the sum of all intelligence, and it use as political ammo for racist agendas, are an important concept to understand.
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Summary: An Utterly Convincing Demolition of Racist Pseudo-Science
Review: This is the book to read for a concise, straightforward and completely convincing refutation of claims of racial superiority. Gould starts with a review of the history of attempts to prove white supremacy through the misuse of science, pointing out the scientific flaws in such endeavors as cranial measurement that are today obvious but in the past were accepted as empirical truth. Gould moves forward in time to deal with today's equally dubious attempts to measure innate intelligence through standardized tests. While this edition includes a section debunking The Bell Curve, most of the statistical fallacies that form the core of that book were already identified and debunked in Gould's first edition, written years earlier. You may never see a more brilliant example of good science driving out bad.
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Summary: Dangerous rubbish!
Review: This book is dangerous because it pretends to be science while it is really not. It confuses the history of racism with scientific investigations into different peoples. It is just the sort of thing that gave political correctness a bad name.
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Summary: Makes Claims Greater than What it Actually Shows
Review: Yes, this is good history of bigotry justifying itself with "science". However, if you've ever had an older brother, and he's justified himself in not trusting you by throwing up to you something that you did many years ago- say, you're twenty-five, and you want to borrow your brother's Corvette, and he tells you, "No; after all, I recall perfectly well how you broke Mama's favorite vase when you were five, you careless lout!", then you'll understand my objections to Stephen Jay Gould's book. He knows not the rules of real logic and fair play. Modern psychometric science has little to do with earlier bigotry. Do we refuse to fly modern airlines because of airplane crashes in 1915? No! This book is unfair!
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Summary: Disturbing, enlightening, entertaining, and shocking.
Review: This book is a must-read for anyone. Stephen Jay Gould blows the door open on the way we perceive and evaluate intelligence. He is able to dispense with biological determinism in one graceful stroke. Though written first, this book is very much a refutation of the controversial The Bell Curve. Gould shows how poor science and prejudice has resulted in assessing inteligence in ways that benefit middle and upper-class whites. He chronicles how skull measurements in the 19th century "proved" that men were smarter than women and western Europeans smarter than everyone else. Out of this grew other methodologies to assess inborn intelligence that has done everything to influence immigration policy and the way we teach our children. Gould looks at the modern form of intelligence assessment, the IQ test, and makes the reader question whether such a thing should exist at all. Gould writes very clearly and this book is a model in its comprehensiveness. This! book can be tackled by nearly anyone. It will very likely blow your mind.
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