Race, Evolution, and Behavior: A Life History Perspective (3rd Edition)

Rating:
Summary: Discredited racist pseudo-science
Review: The major function of these kind of theories is to justify the misery and lesser rights and opportunities of those on the bottom.

If you want to know what science has to say on these questions, I recommend the following 3 books (all available from Amazon.com): The Mismeasure of Man by Stephen Jay Gould, Human Biodiversity: Genes, Race, and History (Foundations of Human Behavior) by Jonathan Marks, and The Biological Basis of Human Behavior: A Critical Review (2nd Edition) by Robert W. Sussman.

Rating:
Summary: An eye-opener
Review: Summary: Based on scientific data and statistical analysis, Rushton shows that there are differences between the 3 major race groups in the average brain size, intelligence, maturation rates, personality charactersitics (activity level, aggressiveness, cautionsness, dominance, impulsivity, etc.), social organization, and reproductive effort, with Mongoloids being at one of the spectrum, Caucasoids in the middle, and Negroids at the other. The reason for the differences is the adaptability of the organism via gene modification to different enviornments as a result of migration out of Africa. Archeological, paleontological, genetic and linguistic evidence show that the first homo sapiens arose in Africa around 200,000 years ago, a Caucasoid/Negroid 'split' ~110,000 years ago, and a Caucasoid/Mongoloid split ~41,000 years ago. The basic underpinning of the biological differences is that the warm and unstable tropical enviornment favors humans who have a higher reproductive adaptation, and the colder but more stable enviornment of the higher latitudes favors humans with lower reproductive rates and higher cognitive abilities in order to survive in a harsh enviornment.

Opinion: To the PC liberals who want to abolish this book, and to the right-wing racists who've posted previously I have three points: 1) The differences between the races, brain size being the most prominent, are averages. It doesn't apply to any particular individual. 2) The fact that these differences exist doesn't mean that any one group is better than another. The differences evolved because of adaptation to a specific enviornment. What if you were born of a different race and/or in a another country? I recommend reading "On Human Nature", "Biodiversity" and "The Future of Life" by Edward O. Wilson 3) Higher intelligence does not by itself imply a more complex civilization. See Jared Diamond's new book "Collapse".

One negative comment about the book is the crime rate statistics cited. Rushton doesn't explain the reasons for the differences among the races (although he writes that the cause is uncertain).

Rating:
Summary: Great review
Review: Dr. Rushton has done a great service to psychological science through this comprehnsive reivew. Should be a mandatory read for any serious undergraduate psych. major.

Rating:
Summary: Misguided morons
Review: Unfortunately, many people are going to deride this book, and others like it, based on knowledge that they "have" but don't understand. People will argue (as one such misguided fool does in this review forum) that there is very little genetic difference between the races, only 10-12%, and more individual difference. Let me add another often misunderstood statistic to that one. According to scientific experts, our genetic material differs from apes by only 2-3%. So, if we put two and two together, Asians are more like apes than black people or white people, and vice versa.

However, if you want to rely on knowledge rather then useless statistics, here it is... we have discovered that humans have things called "master genes" that single handedly affect thousands of genes. Some master genes control other master genes. Thus, you can see if a few genes are changed, the change can multiply exponentially. This explains why we can be somewhat physically similar (people generally all look like "people," you can recognize another person), while being so different mentally, culturally, socially, etc. An EXTREMELY complicated organ like a brain requires thousands of genes to create, and as we've seen with master genes, "small" genetic changes in a "small percentage" of genes can make an enormous differences.

The point? Don't listen to self-important anarchists who are essentially scientific agnostics; they say there are too many contradictions, so we can't know the truth. Then they try to convince you that you can't either. Or they make large claims based on small evidence. Forget race differences... how about we create groups based on who wants Western civilization to survive and even flourish, and who wants to use it for economic gain or plunge us back into barbarism, as the barbarian hordes invade and pillage our communities with little to no public outcry due to media support? You decide... don't let idiots quoting statistic they don't understand scare you off the trail.

"A little learning is a dangerous thing; Drink deep or taste not the Pierian spring: where shallow drafts intoxicate the brain, and drinking largely sobers us again."

Rating:
Summary: Truth shall set you FREE. Do not be Afraid of the TRUTH.
Review: Truth shall set you FREE. Do not be Afraid of the TRUTH.

Professor Rushton has been in the public spotlight since the late 1980s after giving a lecture on differences in IQ among the races. As for Nobel-Prize winner William Shockley, Berkeley professor Arthur Jensen, (author of The g Factor) and now Philippe Rushton, all critics have sought to go after them on a personal level, but never to attack their scientific ideas directly.

This is "killing the messenger for their message". All scientific and academic claims has be publicly published, peer-reviewed and rigorously examined by the scientific community.

Professor Arthur Jensen has over 600 articles published in scientific journals. Philippe Rushton has likewise published his research in scientific journals. The claims Professor Rushton makes are science - academic based arguments from the evidence itself.

IQ tests are tests like any other tests, if they are designed correctly, IQ tests measure IQ, just like an algebra or Spanish tests measures your knowledge of algebra or Spanish. An IQ test will measure your IQ.

Native African IQ is 70. East Asian IQ is 105. This is a gap of 35 points. This is an incredible claim.

"Incredible claims require incredible evidence." If anyone disagrees, they can provide evidence to the contrary.

Witness, Japan compared to Africa. What is "made in Africa" nothing as we can tell. What is "made in Japan", computers, LCD, Honda, Toyota, semiconductors. etc. etc. etc.

In the 21th century, we should not be Afraid of the Truth. Truth should never be a taboo. The reason we have free speech, free association, as guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution is so that we can search for the truth.

Rushton's book is raw material in search of the truth. All readers should buy this book, judge for themselves the evidence available debate the facts in an honest debate based on the public, scientific evidence.


Rating:
Summary: Widely Discredited Junk Science
Review: Anybody considering reading anything by Rushton should first read the following article that appeared in the New York times four years ago: (...)

Rushton's ideas have been widely discredited by the entire scientific field looking at human variation and human origins. Among many other points in the article refuting Rushton's ideas:

* Researchers have found that, on average, 88-90% of human genetic variation occurs within populations, while the remaining 10-12% is between populations.

* The genetic traits that show the most variation between groups (including skin pigmentation and other physical appearance features, and susceptibility to sickle-cell disease and tay-sachs disease) are governed by a very small number of genes.

* By contrast, traits such as intelligence, social skills, and artistic talent are governed by thousands of genes, and are therefore not going to show significant variation between groups.