Choice 评论

Rising intelligence test scores and narrowing differences in scores between blacks and whites are undeniable facts supported in current scholarly literature. These facts and other phenomena challenge the position that heredity is the primary determinant of intelligence. Neisser, the father of cognitive psychology, provides a fascinating collection of research papers exploring and explaining these issues. In readable and convincing essays, authors such as James R. Flynn, Carmi Schooler, David W. Grissmer, Richard Lynn, and Samuel Preston offer alternative explanations for racial differences on standardized tests. The contributors take on such subjects as the nature and existence of a general or "g" factor of intelligence; nutritional and cultural factors in intellectual development; and the controversial "dysgenic trend." However, the collection does not take itself too seriously, and the contributors spend much time offering critiques of and suggestions to each other. With its refreshing environmental perspective on intelligence, The Rising Curve should sit on the student's or scholar's shelf next to Richard Herrnstein and Charles Murray's The Bell Curve (CH, May'95). Upper-division undergraduates through professionals. J. D. Cupp; Tennessee Technological University