The Mismeasure of Man

Book Description

Critics

• When Gould meets Galton

  Modern evolutionary biology seems prone to idle argument and useless controversy, as if it had an urge to experience once again the exciting atmosphere of the Darwinists v. the Creationists, or the Mendelians v. the Biometricians; or perhaps a longin ... (read full critics)

  lrb published on Mon, 6 Sep 2010

• The Inferiority Complex

  The first meeting of Oliver Twist and young Jack Dawkins, the Artful Dodger, on the road to London was a confrontation between two stereotypes of nineteenth-century literature. The Dodger was a “snub-nosed, flat-browed, common-faced boy…with rather b ... (read full critics)

  nybooks published on Fri, 27 Aug 2010

1 Review

• 

  Human Worth Reduced to a Number

  Our world is a poorer place without the insight of the late Stephen Jay Gould.

  This book is a concise history and reaction to how past and present societies have attempted to measure the intellect of the individual.

  Early scientists believed that the size of the brain was the key to inte ... (continue)

  Our world is a poorer place without the insight of the late Stephen Jay Gould.

  This book is a concise history and reaction to how past and present societies have attempted to measure the intellect of the individual.

  Early scientists believed that the size of the brain was the key to intelligence and measured the cranial cavities of skulls from across the continents. Grape seed (!) was poured into the brain cavity and counted. The findings devastated the prejudiced Anglo scientists who found that the African skulls were much larger. But they soon "proved" the intellectual superiority of the white man by being more selective of the skulls they used in their study.

  Today, society continues to try to place a numerical value on each human being to determine if he/she will succeed in a particular school or at a particular job. We've replaced the number of the grape seed with the scores of pencil and paper tests.

  Gould explains that the human personality is much too complex to be measured by a few clever tests and warns us of the jeopardy we invite upon ourselves if we continue down this narrow path.

  Is this helpful?

  BobGoodwin said on Apr 6, 2009 | Add your feedback

Book Details

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• English Books
• Paperback 444 Pages
• Edition: Rev Exp
• ISBN-10: 0393314251
• ISBN-13: 9780393314250
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Pub date: Jun 01, 1996
• Dimensions: 1355 mm x 903 mm x 129 mm Just how big is that?
• Also available as: Hardcover, Audio Cassette and School & Library Binding
• In other languages: other languages Libros en Español

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