Mismeasure of Man
The definitive refutation to the argument of The Bell Curve.\ When published in 1981, The Mismeasure of Man was immediately hailed as a masterwork, the ringing answer to those who would classify people, rank them according to their supposed genetic gifts and limits.\ Yet the idea of biology as destiny dies hard, as witness the attention devoted to The Bell Curve, whose arguments are here so effectively anticipated and thoroughly undermined. In this edition, Stephen Jay Gould has written a...
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The definitive refutation to the argument of The Bell Curve. June Goodfield In ''The Mismeasure of Man,'' his most significant book yet, Mr. Gould grasps the supporting pillars of the temple in a lethal grip of historical scholarship and analysis - and brings the whole edifice crashing down....It takes a master pen to bring history alive, and the chronological unfolding of this tale is told in a somewhat pedestrian manner. Its style stands in obvious contrast to Mr. Gould's earlier writings, though it still shows the flash of humor and the felicitous phrase. But ''The Mismeasure of Man'' demands a great deal from the reader. To understand the conceptual fallacy at the heart of the mathematical technique of factor analysis, which itself is a prerequisite for understanding the history of intelligence testing, requires some very hard work indeed - even though Mr. Gould attempts most valiantly to make his material accessible. -- New York Times
Acknowledgments15Introduction to the Revised and Expanded Edition: Thoughts at Age Fifteen191Introduction512American Polygeny and Craniometry before Darwin: Blacks and Indians as Separate, Inferior Species623Measuring Heads: Paul Broca and the Heyday of Craniology1054Measuring Bodies: Two Case Studies on the Apishness of Undesirables1425The Hereditarian Theory of IQ: An American Invention1766The Real Error of Cyril Burt: Factor Analysis and the Reification of Intelligence2647A Positive Conclusion351Epilogue365Critique of The Bell Curve367Three Centuries' Perspectives on Race and Racism391Bibliography425Index431
\ Saturday ReviewA rare book-at once of great importance and wonderful to read.\ \ \ \ \ June GoodfieldIn ''The Mismeasure of Man,'' his most significant book yet, Mr. Gould grasps the supporting pillars of the temple in a lethal grip of historical scholarship and analysis - and brings the whole edifice crashing down....It takes a master pen to bring history alive, and the chronological unfolding of this tale is told in a somewhat pedestrian manner. Its style stands in obvious contrast to Mr. Gould's earlier writings, though it still shows the flash of humor and the felicitous phrase. But ''The Mismeasure of Man'' demands a great deal from the reader. To understand the conceptual fallacy at the heart of the mathematical technique of factor analysis, which itself is a prerequisite for understanding the history of intelligence testing, requires some very hard work indeed - even though Mr. Gould attempts most valiantly to make his material accessible. -- New York Times\ \ \ From the Publisher"A rare book—-at once of great importance and wonderful to read." —-Saturday Review\ \
