the mismeasure of man by stephen jay gould

I especially appreciated the discussions that advocated nuance in looking for answers that weren't wholly biological or wholly environmental, neither racist nor utopian. The essays, though sometimes repetitive of topics in the main text, we're more interesting to me and helped illuminate some of the fuzzier passages from earlier. At the end of the original book, the author has added an epilogue and a couple essays. For this reason, or my inattention, or my apathy, I didn't not follow the factor analysis discussion and it seemed to drag on. There are visual aids one can access online to help make this section accessible, but I was not in a position to access them during my listening. The second half of the book started with discussion of factor analysis. The first half of the book, for this reason, was, overall, decent. It was interesting to hear how blinded or biased real scientists could become when researching a topic of personal significance. I don't think the concepts of the book were particularly surprising and the author didn't say anything new. I actually felt I had to shut the book off a few times because I was listening in my studio where people could conceviably hear the audio and assume I was listening to skinhead propaganda. I thought the book started strong, then bogged down into a litany of crazy racist things people used to say and then support with wonky science. My opinion of them book shifted during the time I listened. The Origin of Species would make a great option. I notice there are many options on classic and modern literature but not so many in books dealing with natural sciences. Being a humble human being may help open doors to a greater understanding of the past, present and future of our species.īooks on science, anthropology, archaeology, geology are as important as novels and popular literature. We are not more special than any other species. What’s the most interesting tidbit you’ve picked up from this book?Įvolution is everywhere.

It is hard to keep listening for more than an hour. The voice of the reader of The Mismeasure of Man is a little monotonous.

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike? It gives us different perspectives on evolution. What other book might you compare The Mismeasure of Man to and why?

Having an audible version of such a nice book is very convenient and we can listen to it anytime anywhere. Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

The mismeasure of man by stephen jay gould