The Mismeasure of Man

The Mismeasure of Man is a truly magnificent and detailed work in the history of science. Gould chronicles the influence of hereditarian and heirarchial ideology on scientific research and public policy, tracing the pernicious ideas that distinct groups of people or races could be ranked from primitive to civilized and that a single innate factor of intelligence determined personal success in life. In a reanalysis of the original working papers of scientists like Broca, Morton, and Yerkes, Gould finds circular arguments (these people are advanced therefore they must be intelligent, these people are intelligent therefore they are most advanced), as well as a multitude of sins in changing data, ignoring contradictory interpretations, and justifying prejudice and eugenics. Some of the later part of the book, about factor analysis and the like, is a little inside baseball, but the complete demolition of the Army Alpha IQ test and the stunning “fact” that WW1 soldiers had an average mental age of 13 are the best parts of the book.