Mismeasure of Man » (Revised and expanded)

With his controversial opinions and larger-than-life personality, Stephen Jay Gould did for evolutionary biology what Carl Sagan did for astronomy. The Harvard paleontologist's ideas lit a spark within the scientific community, but his bestselling works also managed to engage the wider public. Through his readable and provocative works, Gould garnered acclaim as an author who could write intelligently -- and intelligibly -- about some of his field s most arcane issues and questions.

The definitive refutation to the argument of The Bell Curve.

June Goodfield

In ''The Mismeasure of Man,'' his most significant book yet, Mr. Gould grasps the supporting pillars of the temple in a lethal grip of historical scholarship and analysis - and brings the whole edifice crashing down....It takes a master pen to bring history alive, and the chronological unfolding of this tale is told in a somewhat pedestrian manner. Its style stands in obvious contrast to Mr. Gould's earlier writings, though it still shows the flash of humor and the felicitous phrase. But ''The Mismeasure of Man'' demands a great deal from the reader. To understand the conceptual fallacy at the heart of the mathematical technique of factor analysis, which itself is a prerequisite for understanding the history of intelligence testing, requires some very hard work indeed - even though Mr. Gould attempts most valiantly to make his material accessible. -- New York Times