Word: goulds
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...skulls, tried to prove that a ranking of races could be established objectively by head size. By measuring the volume, which he assumed was directly correlated to intelligence, he hoped to show that Caucasian naturally should be the brightest of all races. He succeeded in his era; however, as Gould clearly demonstrates, Morton used his preconceived notions about race like any high school lab student, using only the data that fitted his thesis. Morton weighted unfairly the American Indian and African measurements by using many skulls from tribes with unusually small heads and by including women, who have smaller body...
...book reads surprisingly smoothly, despite its heavy technical content. Gould, who won the 1981 American Book Award for Science for his collection of essays called The Panda's Thumb, gracefully mixes statistics, technical terminology and anecdotes to make for an eminently comprehensible volume...
Furthermore, Gould's abstract theorizing--mostly in the introduction and conclusion--detracts from the punch of the book. He writes of the issues of cultural beliefs affecting scientific research and of the simplification of intelligence into a one-dimensional characteristic; he uses intelligence testing, he says, to prove this larger point. However, his scientific jargon and awkward writing style in this part hinder clear presentation of these valid points. The beautiful narrative style evident in the bulk of the book is not evident in his hypothesizing...
Despite these drawbacks, Gould does succeed in communicating that most, if not all, of the man-measuring scientists worked with poor technique and even more distorting preconceptions. The little-known facts--the U.S. army had an average "intelligence" in World War I of a 13.08-year-old--and the previously unpublished material--Louis Agassiz, the great Swiss naturalist and later Harvard professor, was not the only Olympian detachment of his reputation--provide fascinating reading...
...Mismeasure of Man successfully debunks many "scientifically" accurate studies. Yet the public may not become aware of Gould's analysis, because his criticisms do not correspond to what people want to believe--in their own superiority. Students read the Harvard Race Relations report and found nothing new: merely some of the same racist perceptions that have prevailed for centuries. This book, by "truthifying" history, could erode some of these prejudices...