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- What I want To Know
- Not the racist book that racists think it is, or wants it to be
- Tuskegee Airmen -- I just have one question.
- The truth is hard to bear
- General Intelligence Isn't all there is, but it's definately important
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Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life (A Free Press Paperbacks Book)
Richard J. Herrnstein , and
Charles Murray
Manufacturer: Free Press
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The Bell Curve Wars: Race, Intelligence, and the Future of America (A New Republic Book)
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The Mismeasure of Man
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Race, Evolution, and Behavior: A Life History Perspective (3rd Edition)
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Measured Lies: The Bell Curve Examined
ASIN: 0684824299 |
Book Description
The seminal book about IQ and class that ignited one of the most explosive controversies in decades, now updated with a new Afterword by Charles Murray
Breaking new ground and old taboos, Richard J. Herrnstein and Charles Murray tell the story of a society in transformation. At the top, a cognitive elite is forming in which the passkey to the best schools and the best jobs is no longer social background but high intelligence. At the bottom, the common denominator of the underclass is increasingly low intelligence rather than racial or social disadvantage.
The Bell Curve describes the state of scientific knowledge about questions that have been on people's minds for years but have been considered too sensitive to talk about openly -- among them, IQ's relationship to crime, unemployment, welfare, child neglect, poverty, and illegitimacy; ethnic differences in intelligence; trends in fertility among women of different levels of intelligence; and what policy can do -- and cannot do -- to compensate for differences in intelligence. Brilliantly argued and meticulously documented, The Bell Curve is the essential first step in coming to grips with the nation's social problems.
Customer Reviews:
What I want To Know.......2007-09-25
After reading the book the one item that springs to mind is.....
Since the data was published what do real results show?
I see a lot of people either supporting or attacking the methods used in the book. To me this is unecessary if we just look at what the real world shows us. (I will admit I have not)
To me the analysis gives us a good place to start but unless true relevence is found one way or the other its meaningless.
Its like this, I can show you a whole range of things that you can do to (in theory) your car to make it run faster.However if we never measure the cars preformance all we have is me telling you a bunch of stuff. In the meantime we'll have a bunch of other mechanics come on and say, no what he is tellng you is wrong and here is why (debate)
Not the racist book that racists think it is, or wants it to be.......2007-07-07
I read this book after getting into debates with rabid bigots filled with hate, some of whom mentioned this book.
This book is a perfect example of precisely how a book can be misused and misinterpreted. Although I vehemently disagree with the authors (Herrnstein and Murray) regarding the validity of IQ testing, and whether such a test can accurately measure human intelligence, and believe their conclusions are simply in accordance with their presupposed notions, I suppose the book is worth a read.
The vast majority of the racists who quote this book believe that Blacks, and Latinos are *intrinsically* inferior to Europeans and Asians, and that there is nothing we can do about it. However, the authors attribute the closing of scores among Blacks and whites to improvements in school quality, economic condition, enhanced health, and the abolishment of hundreds of years of state-enforced racism. The infamous "15 point gap" that exists in IQ tests will probably close through environmental changes, the authors write, and credit the Flynn Effect to this phenomenon. They also acknowledge that an IQ gap does not make one "smarter", as they note that this generation's grandparents scores 15 points lower, yet one would be absurd to believe that their grandparents are "dumber" than their grandchildren.
As Thomas Sowell (a man I'm not fond of, but nevertheless) noted in his critique of this book, European immigrants tested poorly in the 1930s, as well as Jewish people during World War 1. However, once they assimilated into white society, and identified themselves as "white", and went to the best schools, had better jobs, etc., their IQ testing accelerated. Also, during World War 1, northern Blacks tested better than southern whites in "intelligence tests", which was apparently due to, yes, you guessed it...environmental factors.
As I stated earlier, there are many unsatisfactory elements about The Bell Curve, such as their reverence to Philippe Rushton, a psychologist (NOT a biologist, zoologist, and anthropologist) who claimed that Black men had small brains because they had large genitals. Anyone remotely familiar with Rushton's "work" knows his obsession with Black/African sex, for some reason, and his manufactured correlation between brain power/[...] sizes is absolutely absurd and unscientific. Again, he's not a scientist, yet is venerated in this book. Also, a few years after this book, researchers at Washington University in St. Louis, using the very same longitudinal database that Murray and Herrnstein used for their research, looked at the same data and were able to take what Murray and Herrnstein didn't mention in their book from the data, which was that when African Americans in the US go to college, they raise their IQ four times faster than whites who go to college and in the process close the average IQ gap between whites and blacks in half in just four years. That would not be possible if IQ was fundamentally related to biology and yet it is exactly what the very database that Murray and Herrnstein used, actually demonstrated the average gap, which used to be back in the old studies, fifteen points between whites and blacks.
Anton Batey
Anton_Batey@yahoo.com
Tuskegee Airmen -- I just have one question........2007-05-29
I just have one question. Why is it that the Tuskegee Airmen all scored an average of 95% to 100% percentile(must I mention,scoring higher then their white counterpart)to be allowed near fighter planes and then accused of having cheated all took the test again to score 100%? How does that the bell curve merde, factor this fact in?
The truth is hard to bear .......2007-04-02
This book has raised enormous controversy. One reason it does is that its findings violate one of the premises of the American democratic creed. i.e. that it is only social discrimination which prevents all individuals from achieving high levels of success in life.. A corollary of this is that through social programs each and every ethnic and religious group can be made equal to others in achievements.
Herrnstein and Murray making detailed studies of Intelligence come up with a different in a sense more painful truth.
There are genetic differences in ability and intelligence between various groups which can be clearly measured , and these have profound influence on the subsequent achievement levels of the individuals who belong to these groups. Moreover in the United States today there is an increasing stratification whereby the more intelligent associate more with, work more with , marry more with the more intelligent. The groups of lower intelligence suffer in many ways including in terms of criminal behavior.
Herrnstein and Murray point to the dangers of a two tier society , but inherent in their data is a sense of its inevitability.
This book is impressively organized, argued and written.
Its conclusions will not make a lot of people happy, but it seems that they are largely correct.
So far as I know no major research has emerged which refutes them.
General Intelligence Isn't all there is, but it's definately important.......2007-03-08
THE BELL CURVE is about the importance of general intelligence, sometimes derided as "book smarts," to real life experience. The idea of a general intelligence factor that is variable, substantially heritable, and likely has a heritable variability between ethnic groups is heresy to both Left and Right.
The Left dislikes the ideas in THE BELL CURVE for obvious reasons--if general intelligence is real and important, and variable between ethnic groups (and its components variable between the sexes), much of the moral element of left-wing and social constructionist ideology gets exposed for what it is: moralistic B.S. Open borders, multiculturalism, radical feminism, and constant, radical increases on health care and education spending go out the window. This is not to say that THE BELL CURVE automatically means closed borders, much less white, Ashkenazi Jewish, or East Asian supremacy, but it does mean that expecting (for example) that the average Mexican peasant (or even the average person of European or East Asian descent) will be able to get a degree at an elite univeristy in the natural sciences, or even become an effective Assistant Manager at Wal-Mart or Target, is ridiculous.
Many people on the Right will also have a big beef with THE BELL CURVE. If general intelligence, and other forms of inherited ability (not discussed in THE BELL CURVE itself, but certainly related and relevant), are major factors in life success, it questions much of "rugged individualist" right-wing ideology. Success isn't necessarily due to "free will," "just working hard" (though working hard certainly helps), or "pulling oneself up by his bootstraps," and it's certainly not related to staying away from the "evils" or sex, drugs, and rock and roll, let alone other religious fundie demons like junk food and violent or war-based video games and "sleazy" TV shows ranging from "The Simpsons" and "King of the Hill" to "South Park."
To sum it up, what psychologists call intelligence or g is real. It is substantially heritable, and it varies between ethnic groups. The sub-components of g (e.g. Math, Verbal, and Spacial Intelligence) vary between the sexes. While "g" is certainly not all there is to life, heritable factors, as well as environmental factors (though not necessarily obvious ones), are very important. To ignore the heritability and importance of general intelligence, or other forms of intelligence that are harder to measure, is to waste your and others' resources.
Amazon.com
If road riding is the arrogant godfather of the cycling world, mountain biking is the fun-loving, black-sheep stepson. The Mountain Bike magazine editors reflect this spirit, tuning their highly accessible guide to both those with dreams of widowmaker descents as well as others just looking for a pleasant Sunday spin on scenic dirt roads. Breaking the sport down into lively yet informative chapters--complete with cartoons and amusing anecdotes--they cover the basics and then some. All technical skills are addressed, including bunny hopping, high-speed cornering, and the terribly elegant nose wheelie. The guide also includes a comprehensive section on cycling fitness and customizing a training program for would-be racers. No one is alienated here, but if you fancy yourself an expert rider, you might want to look elsewhere. This guide is geared more toward the novice whose journey has only just begun. --Ben Tiffany
Book Description
Expert tips on conquering curves, corners, dips, descents, hills, water hazards and other all-terrain challenges.
Hit the dirt!
From breaking to bunny hopping, speed jumping to switchbacks-- here are the skills you need to catch big air and experience the best of off-road riding.
* Selecting the right rig for you and your budget.
* Step-by-step drills for clearing obstacles, popping wheelies and more.
* How to hammer it and ride faster than you ever thought possible.
* Seven ways to stay alive by avoiding face plants, biffs and other crash landings.
* All-weather strategies for plowing through mud, rain and snow.
* Pro advice on entering your first off-road race.
* Riding responsibly to save the trails.
* Planning the perfect tour and enjoying a fat-tire vacation.
* Tons more practical info for aspiring and die-hard dirtheads.
You also get skill-building techniques and strategies from world-class mountain bikers, including
* Ned Overend, six-time NORBA national champion
* John Tomac, 1994 NORBA downhill champion
* Juli Furtado, 1995 World Cup champion
* Missy Giove, 1994 world downhill champion
* Tinker Juarez, 1994 NORBA national champion
* Mike King, 1993 world downhill champion
Customer Reviews:
Good for a quick read........2007-01-13
The book is a bit outdated by today's standards but still presents a few good tips aimed squarely at the beginner. An updated version with a greater emphasis on current trends (the plethora of clipless pedals and the proliferation of full-suspension rigs, as well as the concept of cyclocross) would probably help to advance the level of content just enough to entice beginners and those in the first year or two of their riding development.
Boring and dry.......2006-03-24
I wish there was a more helpful review from this website before I purchased the book, the only reason i am looking at the book on amazon right now is to check how much money i wasted. 10 dollars which is alright iwth me. i'll still read it, thru the course of the yeaer maybe.
honestly, this book cant be applied to me. It is written by a road biker gone mountain biking and maybe it will be more suitable for the same type of ppl. He starts off really dry and comparing everything to the feel and how its done in the flip side of road biking.
the book contains this ridiculous 3 month day by day guideline of how you should approach the mountain biking and the sectoin about choosing ur mountain bike and etc is just plain ambiguous and unhelpful.
i dont mean to bag on this book but after reading other books (like lee/lopez's mtb skills) i was blown away at literary style along with EXCELlent application to beginners and pros. and its downright fun to read. makes me not wanna go back to this purple book but i will after i finsih lee's.
i know this wasnt a helpful review either but please consider reading INSIDE the book before purchasing. i learned my lesson.
flat.......2006-01-08
uninspiring, superficial, low level. Better to get Zinn or Nealy.
Book is okay!.......2005-01-01
The book is okay. However, the illustrations could have been a bit better. In addition, the book kinda drags towards the end when the pros give their own tips.
Great Learner Book and Intermediate SKill Honer.......2004-03-11
I initially bought this book for my fiance who says I sound condescending when I try to teach her something and ended up enjoying it myself. I would describe myself as an intermediate(Only because my conditioning sucks) to expert rider. I found the book to be entertaining and it helped point out some things I was doing wrong, such as ride preparation, and some things I want to do better such as long climbs and how to pace them and keeping motivation. I find the book is pointed towards experienced trail riders who might be just a beginner to slightly more extreme conditions such as climbs, descents, drops, corners, logs, etc. or want to learn proper form for traversing said conditions to become more of a finesse rider(Of which I am not).
I find the caption on the cover is a little misleading. It might make one thing the book is specifically aimed at experts, which it is not. Insted of saying "Expert Tips...", I think it should say "Tips From Experts...".
In my opinion this is a book most riders right from beginner to expert should be able to learn something from. They try to keep the tone light and even comedical times. This makes it enjoyable to read. It's broken up as such to keep it interesting and allow you to skip the sections you're not interested in without missing anything that might be important. I can't wait to give it to my fiance to see what she thinks. Highly recommended!!!
Book Description
Classic, well-thought-out examination of the function of the spiral, or helix, in both nature and art. Demonstrates how spiral is fundamental to structure of shells, leaves, horns, human body, drawings of Leonardo, Leaning Tower of Pisa, more. 1914 edition. 426 illustrations.
Customer Reviews:
Very Detailed, But Difficult to Read.......2006-11-12
I bought this book while researching the Logarithmic Spiral. There were only a few references to the Logarithmic Spiral, so it wasn't spot on with what I was looking for. However, I stayed away from this as a source because the text was difficult to read.
Spirals in nature and in art.......2006-04-15
This book (originally published in 1914) is a comprehensive and extraordinary description of spiral formations. It's definitive--a must for anyone interested in art and in the way nature operates.
Average customer rating:
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Ahead of the Curve: Cases of Innovation in Environmental Management (Eco-Efficiency in Industry and Science)
Manufacturer: Springer
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ASIN: 0792368045 |
Book Description
While it is generally true that the actions firms take to make them more environmentally friendly are driven by the pressure of government regulation, there are some companies that have been driven by `vision' or expectations to stay ahead of regulatory pressure. The book described how some organisations are going, or have tried to go, beyond current requirements to arrive at more solid environmental achievements. The cases described will thus provide other firms, organisations and policy makers with ideas for innovative environmental responses that lie outside the slowly rising trend of improvements the we currently observe - firms and ideas that are `ahead of the curve'.
The editors and many of the contributors are members of the Greening of Industry network.
Book Description
Most biologists use nonlinear regression more than any other statistical technique, but there are very few places to learn about curve-fitting. This book, by the author of the very successful Intuitive Biostatistics, addresses this relatively focused need of an extraordinarily broad range of scientists.
Customer Reviews:
Found the book I needed!.......2005-05-12
I've been looking for a book like this for 5 years to help me understand better nonlinear regression. The only choices before this were the same old basic stats books, or the other extreme of stats books for mathematicians. As an engineer, I needed a book that does APPLIED, not THEORETICAL, nonlinear regression. This book gives examples and speaks normal English, unlike Seber and Wild's book, which is virtually devoid of examples and drowns one with matrix math instead. Seber and Wild's book is more like a dictionary of stats equations. For Motulsky's book, here are 3 examples of things you won't find in most other statistics books: 1) the difference between confidence bands and prediction bands for Y(p. 32), showing that the former doesn't include a majority of the points, while the latter does; 2) How to compute egg- and elliptical-shaped joint confidence regions for 2 parameters (p. 114-121); 3) Good explanation of 3 different ways to compute parameter conf. regions (asymptotic, Monte Carlo, model comparison). Just one of these 3 makes it worth the price of the book for me.
Motulsky has so many different helpful topics in here, that he obviously has run into many of the problems that nonlinear regression people will see. The book is helpful regardless of the software you use, because I do a lot of coding in Matlab. I may make this book a standard text for a new engineering statistics class I am preparing.
The main shortcoming of the book for me (remember that I'm an engineer) is lack of the exact equations 1) for confidence bands and prediction bands for Y (p.32), 2) for asymptotic conf. interval for parameter (p. 98), and 3) for standard error vs. standard deviation. For the first 2, the author could reference eqn. numbers in Seber and Wild or Bates so his text flow would not be interrupted. For those of us who publish, we need to know what's going on in the black box. The standard error/standard dev. formulas would make the explanation given easier to follow.
In summary, this is the book that will help walk you through many of the problems and concerns in nonlinear regression. I'm glad someone who understands my situation finally wrote it!
Book Description
Examine the impact of disclosure on sons whose fathers are gay!
In this book, Andrew Gottlieb, author of Out of the Twilight: Fathers of Gay Men Speak, explores yet another side of the impact of homosexuality on families. He now looks at how sons react to learning that their fathers are gay, allowing us to see, over time, how this has changed their family relationships and their own lives. Simply and elegantly written, this psychoanalytically oriented qualitative research study is accessible to both the beginner and the more advanced researcher and practitioner. It draws from a wide range of literary, popular, and psychological sources and includes an interview guide, a reference section, and an index.
"When someone discloses as gay, lesbian, or bisexual, it is not just an individual event. It is a family event. Based on estimates of married gay, lesbian, and bisexual persons, a spouse's coming out affects up to 2,000,000 couples. Yet, its impact has been largely ignored. Children's voices are the least often heard. . . . Little has been written about sons of fathers who came out during or after marriage. Data for studies that do exist most often draw from the fathers' point of view. . . . The significance of this study lies in its comprehensive, detailed picture of sons and gay fathers as they develop their separate self-images as well as the images of their son-father relationships over time. Painful, sensitive, often triumphant, the stories and [the author's] analysis of their thoughts, perceptions, and feelings afford a multidimensional, longitudinal viewing. Step by step, we follow the complicated dance of these sons and fathers as they develop and define their connection."
—from the Foreword by Amity Pierce Buxton, Author of The Other Side of the Closet: The Coming-Out Crisis for Straight Spouses and Families
Sons Talk About Their Gay Fathers: Life Curves is a storybook—an extended narrative moved along, but not overshadowed, by psychoanalytic theory. The Introduction briefly reviews more recent writings of the fathering experience as told by gay men themselves, setting the stage for:
"Father to Child"—a look at the father as seen through the ever-shifting eyes of his son at different phases of the life cycle
"The Quest for the Real Father"—an examination of sons' responses to their fathers' homosexuality as captured in film, fiction, nonfiction, television, and the psychological literature
"Methodology"—the story of the research process, including sampling, the search for subjects, trustworthiness, the interview, bias, and data collection
"The Stories"—an anthology of narratives the author constructed from the interview material, painting an intimate portrait of each individual son
"Findings"—a categorical analysis
"Discussion"—a summary of all the preceding material cast in a developmental framework, highlighting implications for future research and clinical practice
Customer Reviews:
Gushy and Shallow.......2007-08-08
The title and the cover are deceptive. One may think this book is an anthology of sons writing about their gay fathers. It is not; it's one writer analyzing information that he compiled. The cover shows a young man. However, most of the interviews came from sons well into their adulthood.
Something that could have been a really good chapter in an anthology was stretched out into a poor full-length book. It makes sense that the first anecdote would concern Oscar Wilde, a gay man and a father of sons. However, there is a whole chapter that speaks of sons and has nothing to do with sexual identity matters. The conclusions could have been quickly summarized in a few pages, rather than being two substantial chapters.
The author admits that those sons willing to be interviewed were either gay-friendly or at least tolerant of their fathers. Talk shows and other media works provide countless examples of sons who abandon their fathers once the fathers come out. This book does not help you to step into those males' shoes. I applaud the non-prejudiced interviewees here. However, this book provides only the positive slice of a large pie. This makes the book fill gushy and incomplete.
Perhaps, future authors can improve upon the important work that this author began.
Book Description
Compelling and evocative, Of Passionate Curves and Desirable Cadences reveals the vital cultural interconnections at the heart of a rain-forest Amerindian society. The Waiwai, who live in the remote interior of Guyana and in neighboring Brazil, follow a customary subsistence lifestyle built around swidden agriculture and hunting.
How do the Waiwai experience and think about themselves and their place in the so-called modern world around them? The anthropologist George Mentore draws on years of living with the Waiwai, a compelling theoretical perspective grounded in ethnographic subjectivity, and his own Guyanese heritage to depict the social and cultural world of the Waiwai. Mentore describes the relationship between the Waiwai cultural construction of the body, settlement, houses, fields, wildlife, power, knowledge, and gift giving in a variety of contexts and roles. This web of relationships, as well as the various spaces discovered and illuminated between Mentore's social being and theirs, point to a complex organization of culture that is distinctively Waiwai. When considering the Waiwai people’s “plaited” design of passion and intimacy in the way it relates to humans, plants, and animals, Mentore promises the reader that through his text you will encounter a community of truth that tames logic and desire, where well being, beauty, morality, and care encircle the transcendent self.
Book Description
When in 1911 Phillies pitcher Grover Cleveland Alexander set the National League record for wins by a rookie (28), it was a sign of things to come. Alexander went on to win 373 games over his 20-year career, the third highest total in major league history, and he would lead the league in ERA four times, shutouts seven times, complete games six times, and wins six times. But he also became a deeply troubled man. After the Shell-Shocked pitcher returned from World War I, he would battle alcoholism, epilepsy, and personal demons that damaged his reputation and proved disastrous for his life outside of baseball.
This biography sheds new light on the pitcher and the man, focusing on Alexander's personal life, especially his complex relationship with his wife, Aimee, as well as their marriages and divorces. His Hall of Fame career, wartime service, and long decline are also documented.
Customer Reviews:
The story behind the star.......2007-03-05
"Wicked Curve" is the tragic story of an all-time baseball great who would have been held -- then and now -- in greater acclaim if not for his battles with the bottle. There is no telling what Grover Cleveland Alexander could have achieved if not for a minor-league beaning, injuries and hearing loss suffered in World War I and his lifelong association with "John Barleycorn." Biographer John Skipper does a steady and straightforward job of presenting the story behind the star's glories and his descent into poverty and alcoholism. In "Wicked Curve," the reader comes to appreciate the remarkable abilities and achievements of Alexander the Athlete despite the human weaknesses of Alexander the Man. This is a good book for anyone interested in early 20th century baseball.
An Excellent Story by a Great Author!.......2007-01-15
I must confess that John C. Skipper is my favorite baseball author and one of my favorite authors of any genre, so expected to enjoy this book. I anticipated a fact filled story that detailed with great skill the life of a legend, but I didn't expect to be moved to tears by the tragedy and humanness of the life of Grover Cleveland Alexander. John did an amazing job of helping the reader not only understand the life of Alexander, but also feel it. 5 Stars are not enough. I wish I could give Wicked Curve 10.
A compeling story of a man and his life........2007-01-10
"Ol Pete" or Grover Cleveland Alexander lived two lives. He lived a grand life of baseball and then a depraved life of longing for baseball and drink. Some might call it sad in it's totality. Some might feel sorry for the man who at one point in America's baseball history was a "LEGEND". I see simply a man who had to deal with many of life's difficulties. Sometimes he succeeded and did so with magnificence. Sometimes he failed and did so also with devistating squalor.
"Wicked Curve" delves into Alex's greatness as well as his demons. Though this book by John C. Skipper one gets to know one of the greatest pitchers in one of the greatest games just a little bit better.
A Good Book On A Baseball Legend.......2006-11-10
I recently read John Skipper's book on Grover Cleveland Alexander. I enjoy books on early baseball legends, and I felt this book did a nice job reviewing the career of Alexander and his life after baseball. Those of us who love baseball and enjoy the history of the game have always been aware of his troubled life, but this book brought forward new and accurate information of him. I would recommend this book to all baseball fans. My only complaint is that I thought the price was a little high for what is basically an oversized paperback book. If you can get it at your local library and a reduced price copy it would be to your advantage.
Average customer rating:
- Truth: the ultimate Goal of All Science is the Truth
- A good Book but not for the casual readers
- "race doesn't exist", ha! the emperor's naked!
- A second reading and a second review.
- A great book diclosing fallacy of race comparison
|
Intelligence, Genes, and Success: Scientists Respond to The Bell Curve
Manufacturer: Springer
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Binding: Paperback
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Similar Items:
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Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life (A Free Press Paperbacks Book)
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Measured Lies: The Bell Curve Examined
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The Bell Curve Wars: Race, Intelligence, and the Future of America (A New Republic Book)
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Introduction to Statistics Through Resampling Methods and R/S-PLUS
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The Mismeasure of Man
ASIN: 0387949860 |
Book Description
This is author-approved bcc. If it is too long, delete the last sentence in each of the biographies. THE BELL CURVE by Richard Herrnstein and Charles Murray, a best selling book published in 1994, set off a hailstorm of controversy about the relationships among IQ, genetics, and various social outcomes, including welfare dependency, crime, and earnings. Much of the public reaction to the book was polemical and did not focus on the details of the science and in particular on the validity of the statistical arguments that underlie the books's conclusions. A detailed understanding of the arguments in THE BELL CURVE requires knowledge about (i) statistical models for genetic heritability, (ii) factor analysis, especially as it has been applied to the analysis of IQ tests, (iii) logistic regression and multiple regression analyses,and (iv) causal modelling and alternative statistical frameworks for making inference from longitudinal data. In this volume a group of statisticians and social scientists have assembled a scientific response to THE BELL CURVE. The sixteen chapters begin by presenting an overview of the scientific and statistical issues and summarize the material in Herrnstein and Murray's book. Then separate chapters by various experts deal with more focused issues, including reanalyses of data relied upon by the authors of THE BELL CURVE. The final chapters consider some of the implications of the work described in the book for American public policy and scientific research. BERNIE DEVLIN is Program Director of the Computational Genetics Program at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. He serves on
Customer Reviews:
Truth: the ultimate Goal of All Science is the Truth.......2006-08-07
We are all taught as little children to make a distinction between two fundamental issues.
#1. What IS the world like.
#2. What SHOULD the world be like.
What IS? What Should be? They are essentially totally two different questions.
The USA has about two (2) million people in prison.
In an ideal world, the USA should have no one in prison.
Wal-Mart pays low wages. Wal-Mart should pay wages of $50-$100 per hour.
All peoples should have equal IQ. False.
The reality is that IQ in distributed in a "natural distribution" in the form of a bell curve.
All races should have equal IQ. False.
Whites are centered at 100 (one hundred) on IQ test. Jews and East Asians have generally tested higher than 100.
Blacks and Hispanics have tested around 85 (IQ eighty-five). Sub-saharan Africans have tested around 70 (IQ seventy). That is just the results of decades of IQ testing. In an ideal world, all races would test equally at IQ 100. The truth is that different groups test at differently. True. We could wish the truth to be different, but the facts are the facts.
IQ is highly critical in all areas of success in life be it on the job, school, crime, income, ability to reason, think, plan and experiment.
IQ is constant throughout an individual's life. Inidividuals tested at age 10 will attain same results at age 70.
Researcher have found IQ is highly inherited at about 80%. It about 80% inherited and 20% cultural.
The facts in the book are not new. IQ test and IQ results have existed for over a hundred years. The gap in IQ scores among whites-blacks have been known for over a hundred years. Anyone who has taken a basic psychology class know about the basic facts of the Bell Curve.
What's the reason for writing or having such a book. It all about the Truth, the whole truth and nothing but the Truth. As adults we must accept the world for what IT IS. We must learn to live in reality.
Many do not like the facts or findings of the Bell Curve, but facts are facts, the Truth is just the Truth. We should not fear the Truth, hide aways from the Truth and search the Truth as the ultimate goal of all science.
A good Book but not for the casual readers.......2005-08-10
This book is heavy stuff. It was written in a style similar to articles published in scientific journals. The opinions and views are drawn based on science and prior studies with thorough references. This book is not for the casual reader who is interested in the topic, but only wants to spend a few hours on it and hopes to walk away with a clearly understanding of the facts or the views of the experts.
"race doesn't exist", ha! the emperor's naked!.......2003-01-26
if this book makes the claim that race doesn't exist, I hope that everybody can see right through that (although at least one fellow reviewer seems to accept everything he's told, as long as it fits with the egalitarian myth). Here's a little example that everyone ought to understand.
My aunt and uncle have a mixed-breed dog: a chihuahua crossed with a dachshund. This dog has a dachshund-like body and a chihuahua-like face, and is very nervous and skittish like a chihuahua. Does the fact that this dog is a mixed breed, keep us from concluding that there does in fact exist the breed "chihuahua" and the breed "dachshund", each of which has its own distinctive shape, coloring, and personality traits?
This is what people are claiming: that because there are lots of mixed-race people in America, then race doesn't exist. This has got to be the dumbest argument I've ever heard. And "no biological basis for race" -- so, I guess that melanin all comes from one's environment? These arguments are so dumb, it's no wonder that regular people never question them. It's a case of the Emperor's New Clothes.
A second reading and a second review........2001-01-20
This book was written as a response to the 1994 book "The Bell Curve" by Herrnstein and Murray. But unlike several other books that condemned TBC without any empirical data, this book actually does expand the issue of racial differences intelligence and is well worth reading by any one interested in this ongoing debate. At least in this book, while still motivated by an egalitarian goal to deny racial differences in intelligence, the authors do give TBC credit for being essentially a very sound book empirically, while picking away at some of the issues at its periphery. But as they do this, they also make many fundamental errors and omissions. This is to be expected however because TBC is very hard to refute on empirical grounds alone.
As an example, the authors take TBC to task for using heritability in the broad sense rather in the narrow sense like breeders do, which reduces the heritability between races supposedly by about 20% or so. The problem is, as shown by Jensen in "The g Factor", heritability in the broad sense should be used in comparing group averages, while heritability in the narrow sense should be used in predicting the expected intelligence of one's children. TBC was not a book on how to have smart kids or breeding cows for higher butter fat production. So the argument was a feeble attempt at obfuscation.
Later in the book they admit that Blacks almost make as much money as Whites when wages are adjusted for the average difference in intelligence between the two groups. But they go on to say that "almost" is not good enough. The error here of course, as even they argue in this book, is that earnings are not just a matter of intelligence. It is the most important trait with regards to wages, but other traits are also important. Research has shown that conscientiousness is the second most important behavioral trait after intelligence in occupational success, and one would have to assume that conscientiousness would vary among racial groups as easily as intelligence due to evolutionary forces on selection under different ecological conditions. And Rushton has shown that many behavioral differences exist between Whites and Blacks on average, including conscientiousness.
So this book is a mixed bag on not denying that there are differences in the average intelligence between Blacks and Whites while trying at the same time to ameliorate the damage that recent research has produced showing that the differences are in fact real and persistent. But the funding for this book was such that the authors had no choice but to use some very fancy footwork to dance around the primary issue and try to diffuse its impact with regards to education and equality. Politics always comes into play, depending on who is paying the piper.
A great book diclosing fallacy of race comparison.......2000-07-30
This book is fantastic for the layperson that was swayed by the misuse of psychometrics in science. These authors evince clearly that there is no biological concept of race. Any effort to compare races is simply false beacause even anthropolgists and biologists cannot decide the cutoff point in races.So why do psychologists put people in categories that do not even exist? Ideology.The authors of the Bell Curve have no way to define the boundaries of race- even so there is no such thing as racial purity. In America 20% of whites have black ancestry. Unless psychologists can clearly delineate where races end and begin, books like the Bell Curve have no scientific legitimacy.
Book Description
Shane Crotty's biography of David Baltimore details the life and work of one of the most brilliant, powerful, and controversial scientists of our time. Although only in his early sixties, Baltimore has made major discoveries in molecular biology, established the prestigious Whitehead Institute at MIT, been president of Rockefeller University, won the Nobel Prize, and been vilified by detractors in one of the most scandalous and protracted investigations of scientific fraud ever. He is now president of Caltech and a leader in the search for an AIDS vaccine. Crotty not only tells the compelling story of this larger-than-life figure, he also treats the reader to a lucid account of the amazing revolution that has occurred in biology during the past forty years.
Basing his narrative on many personal interviews, Crotty recounts the milestones of Baltimore's career: completing his Ph.D. at Rockefeller University in eighteen months, participating in the anti--Vietnam War movement, winning a Nobel Prize at age thirty-seven for the codiscovery of reverse transcriptase, and co-organizing the recombinant DNA/genetic engineering moratorium. Along the way, readers learn what viruses are and what they do, what cancer is and how it happens, the complexities of the AIDS problem, how genetic engineering works, and why making a vaccine is a complicated process. And, as Crotty considers Baltimore's public life, he retells the famous scientific fraud saga and Baltimore's vindication after a decade of character assassination.
Crotty possesses the alchemical skill of converting technical scientific history into entertaining prose as he conveys Baltimore's huge ambitions, intensity, scientific genius, attitude toward science and politics, and Baltimore's own view about what happened in the "Baltimore Affair." Ahead of the Curve shows why with his complex personality, keen involvement in public issues, and wide-ranging interests David Baltimore has not only shaped the face of American science as we know it today, but has also become a presence in our culture.
Customer Reviews:
A must read for all budding biomedical scientists!.......2006-04-01
I knew of Baltimore's greatness before reading this book, but this book is more than just a biography. Yes, Crotty does give us a glimpse into the life of one of biology's greatest heroes, but complementarily, Crotty's sanctity is so radiant in this work that you can't help but be inspired. In addition to delivering intellectual nourishment and inspiration, more importantly, the book is written so well that biomedical scientists (like myself)and non-biomedical scientists (like my mother) alike can appreciate the important messages in this work. The story of Baltimore's life is unparalleled, but almost as great is Crotty's presentation of it. This book is a must read for all budding biomedical scientists!
When Baltimore speaks, everyone listens........2003-10-05
I truly enjoyed reading this book on the impressive scientific accomplishments of David Baltimore. I remember being in a relatively informal seminar at MIT when he gave a short introduction to the science that was to be presented that evening. His presence commanded awe and respect---almost always expected from someone with outstanding credentials.
The book is good not just for examining Baltimore's exponential rise to scientific stardom but also for getting a seminal idea on the development of the fields of virology, molecular biology, and immunology. Through his work, Baltimore became a unifying force between these seemingly disparate sciences. The author also writes clearly about the political baggage that comes with having such a high profile in biology.
A Must Read!.......2001-05-11
The author weaves a wonderful overview of the early history of molecular biology with the achievements of David Baltimore's life. We are given a great deal of insight not only about his groundbreaking research and accomplishments but also personal qualities and passion for life outside of science.
This is a great book for both biologists and those with simply an interest in biology. The scientific information is easy to comprehend without being oversimplified.
Some works of non-fiction can take a long time to read, but I finished this book in 2 days as the story flowed very smoothly. I am definitely looking forward to Shane Crotty's future publications.
Excellent read!.......2001-04-10
This is a great book! I really enjoyed the story of Baltimore's life, and I feel that I learned a lot of science along the way. I definitely feel more qualified to comment on conversations about biology now! I actually picked up this book because I really enjoy biographies, but it has gotten me interested in other science books for amateurs. I hope Crotty writes more soon!
Books:
- Biochemistry & Molecular Biology of Plants
- Bioinformatics For Dummies (For Dummies (Math & Science))
- Biological Science (2nd Edition)
- Biology
- Biology: Life on Earth (7th Edition)
- Biology of Cancer
- Biology of Humans: Concepts, Applications, and Issues (The Human Biology Place Series)
- Biology, Sixth Edition
- Biology, Sixth Edition
- Birds of Washington State
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