Perspective

The author, Stephen Gould, is a scientist, a paleontologist. He is trained in research and statistical techniques so he is well qualified to tackle a subject like measures of intelligence and the use of biological determinism. He has written many books and conducted many research studies during the course of his career.

Gould's purpose in writing the book was to examine the early techniques of measures of intelligence and to expose what was wrong with them. This is what he does by duplicating the work of some of the early studies. He disputes the fact that there is one single number that can be used to rank all of human intelligence. In addition, craniometry and intelligence measuring allow different groups to be ranked on a continuum. It is not all biology, according to Gould, and this is what he brings into the discussion of the various studies. The...