Book Description
This Updated 7th edition features a new section, "Genetic Control," at the end of the text. This section complements Cummings' coverage with a series of cases from noted medical ethicist, Dr. Ronald Munson, which investigate the issues surrounding the stem-cell debate, genetic counseling, genetic testing and reproductive decisions, and gene therapy. These cases are reinforced with original readings from other noted geneticists, ethicists, and medical policy makers. The result is a text that will draw students into the most current research in genetics and educate them on the latest challenges facing physicians, researchers, and society. Instructors will find this Seventh Edition of HUMAN HEREDITY current, clear, and complemented by an amazing array of technology for students and instructors. Additional student support includes Human GeneticsNow, a password-protected website integrated with the Seventh Edition that provides students with access to diagnostic Pre-Tests and Post-Tests for each chapter. It automatically generates customized learning plans for students, directing them to text information and ancillaries that help them master specific concepts. Active Figures in the text, indicated by a media icon, have corresponding narrated animations on the Human GeneticsNow site that are included in the customized Learning Plan along with additional animations and media assets. For instructors, a Multimedia Manager provides all of the art and photos from the text in PowerPoint form, and, lectures can be further enhanced by using animations and videos on human heredity topics.
Customer Reviews:
Good Into Book.......2007-07-25
One of the better intro books I've read. Has a lot of info in an easy to read manner.
Great book on genetics.......1999-05-03
This book effectively conveys interesting, detailed material without confusing the reader. It is not the typical staugy textbook that we college students are so use to as this book made me want to read it, it was so enjoyable. I recommend it to all college students or anyone interested in genetics that would like to understand our genetic principles.
An accurate and concice look into Human Genetics........1998-03-17
This is a wonderful book for a college level exploration of Human Genetics. The chapters introduce every topic well, and in such a way that science majors will remain interested while non science majors aren't left behind. It is a great book to begin to explore the wonders of Human Genetics.
Book Description
An Introduction to Human Molecular Genetics
Second Edition
Jack J. Pasternak
The Second Edition of this internationally acclaimed text expands its coverage of the molecular genetics of inherited human diseases with the latest research findings and discoveries. Using a unique, systems-based approach, the text offers readers a thorough explanation of the gene discovery process and how defective genes are linked to inherited disease states in major organ and tissue systems. All the latest developments in functional genomics, proteomics, and microarray technology have been thoroughly incorporated into the text.
The first part of the text introduces readers to the fundamentals of cytogenetics and Mendelian genetics. Next, techniques and strategies for gene manipulation, mapping, and isolation are examined. Readers will particularly appreciate the text's exceptionally thorough and clear explanation of genetic mapping. The final part features unique coverage of the molecular genetics of distinct biological systems, covering muscle, neurological, eye, cancer, and mitochondrial disorders. Throughout the text, helpful figures and diagrams illustrate and clarify complex material.
Readers familiar with the first edition will recognize the text's same lucid and engaging style, and will find a wealth of new and expanded material that brings them fully up to date with a current understanding of the field, including:
* New chapters on complex genetic disorders, genomic imprinting, and human population genetics
* Expanded and fully revised section on clinical genetics, covering diagnostic testing, molecular screening, and various treatments
This text is targeted at upper-level undergraduate students, graduate students, and medical students. It is also an excellent reference for researchers and physicians who need a clinically relevant reference for the molecular genetics of inherited human diseases.
Average customer rating:
- Too many mistakes!
- THE book.
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Analysis Of Human Genetic Linkage
Jurg Ott
Manufacturer: JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY PRESS
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Handbook Of Human Genetic Linkage
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ASIN: 0801861403 |
Book Description
The first and still the only book of its kind, this volume offers a concise introduction to human genetic linkage analysis and gene mapping. Jurg Ott provides mathematical and statistical foundations of linkage analysis for researchers and practitioners, as well as practical comments on available computer programs and websites. Each chapter ends with a set of problems, whose solutions are found at the end of the book.
New to this edition is a chapter on complex traits, such as diabetes, some cancers, and psychiatric conditions. Also new is an overview of nonparametric approaches to linkage and association analysis. A chapter on two-locus inheritance introduces the reader to many of the intricate aspects of complex traits. Although the book's primary audience is in the field of genetics, physicians and others without sophisticated training in genetics can understand and apply the principles and techniques discussed.
Praise for the previous edition:
"Overall the book achieves an excellent compromise between presenting important conclusions and working out the details... Analysis of Human Genetic Linkage is a good book that has been made substantially better. It continues to be the standard reference for every linkage analyst's library and to provide an excellent introduction for the interested beginner with a background in the biological or mathematical sciences."--American Journal of Human Genetics
Customer Reviews:
Too many mistakes!.......2001-12-16
I can not believe that One can make so many mistakes for such a 400 pages book. On page 12, there are 2 major mistakes which will lead anyone who is not an expert in this area to hell.
THE book........2000-04-07
This is THE book on the subject. The bible of the field by a master.
Customer Reviews:
What the "Bell Curve" won't tell you!.......1997-11-21
This book discusses what the book "The Bell Curve" won't tell you because it ruins their hypothesis. Dr. Diamond is a world famous neuroanatomist who pioneered the impact of an enriched environment on the brain at all stages of life. The book is fairly technical but the message is clear.
Book Description
Using evidence from psychology, anthropology, sociology and other scientific disciplines, this book shows that there are at least three biological races (subspecies) of man Orientals (i.e., Mongoloids or Asians), Blacks (i.e., Negroids or Africans), and Whites (i.e., Caucasoids or Europeans). There are recognizable profiles for the three major racial groups on brain size, intelligence, personality and temperament, sexual behavior, and rates of fertility, maturation and longevity. The profiles reveal that, ON AVERAGE, Orientals and their descendants around the world fall at one end of the continuum, Blacks and their descendants around the world fall at the other end of the continuum, Europeans regularly fall in between. This worldwide pattern implies evolutionary and genetic, rather than purely social, political, economic, or cultural causes.
Customer Reviews:
Created unequal?.......2007-08-21
What if we've been misled and humans really are unequal from birth, in ways that may not be solved by social policies? In this interesting, but flawed book, Rushton finds, from extensive research, that this is precisely the case. He concludes that there are certain attributes (starting with intelligence, but including sexual activities, extraversion and self-control) that are largely inheritable, and that the three main races in the world (negroid, caucasoid and mongoloid) are not equally blessed: negroids are less intelligent, more impulsive and therefore more promiscuous and criminal than caucasoids, who in turn are also less intelligent and more impulsive than mongoloids. This is not very suprising, we've all seen this sort of data before and it is consistent with stereotypes and everyday experiences. What is interesting is that the author attempts to show that these differences are genetic in origin, and that they correspond with various reproductive strategies which in turn were dictated by various environmental stimuli as mediated by genes. All reproductive strategies may be placed within the r-K continuum. "r"-selected species go for big numbers when they attempt to reproduce. They don't provide much support for their spawn, but this is compensated by the number of these. "K"-selected species go for low numbers of children, but they invest significant effort to make sure these will survive. "r"-selected species compared to the "K"-selected sort will normally achieve reproductive capability at an earlier age, will be more promiscuous, more competitive and less cooperative. They will also die earlier.
Rushton postulates that although humans originated in Africa (thus supporting the "Out-of-Africa" thesis), the divergent strands (those remaining in Africa v. those that move into Eurasia) are really subspecies of humanity that evolved in different ways concerning reproductive strategies. Those that stayed in Africa continued to be more "r" selected, whereas those that moved into Eurasia were subject to "K" selection to a greater degree. This would have been due to divergent climatic situations: in Africa the weather is predictable (there are mostly no seasons), there is much plant food, but there abound all sorts of viruses and parasites and droughts often annihilate large portions of the population. In Eurasia (where until 10.000 years ago there was still the Ice Age) the weather is predictable (there are seasons), there are not so many diseases but it is difficult to survive the winter months, and hunting of large prey is required. Hence, humans became more "K" selected. They developed larger brains (which are essential for higher intelligence) and they opted for stronger coupling and higher investment in a lower number of descendants (less number of sexual partners, but better selection thereof). These factors were even stronger in Asia than in Europe, because most mongoloids developed in the northern part of the continent, where it was even colder. Rushton shows much data that supports his analysis, and some evidence in favor of his r-K reproductive differentiation strategies as the source of the various outcomes.
The contentiousness of this analysis may not be overstated. Rushton believes that the average IQ in Africa is about 2 standard deviations below that in the US, which would mean that more than 3/4 of Africans are less intelligent than the average American, and about half the population of the black continent is feeble-minded. He believes that American blacks are smarter than African ones because they have mixed themselves with Europeans and Asians. If this were true, then many of the greatest issues of our time become suddendly clearer (but not more manageable). The main reason why sub-Saharan Africa is now poorer than it was under European rule would not be racism, or negative terms of trade, or the poisoned inheritance of colonialism but rather a population that is dumber, less self-controled and more risk-taking than others. As access to education and health becomes generalized and the labor markets more transparent, a greater part of social differentiation (at least in developed countries) will be due to differential individual abilities (mostly related to IQ) rather than unfair social systems. If the differential abilities are really not invidual, but racial, then divergence between races will not narrow, but widen, the fairer the system is: only through restrictions on invidual actions will equality be viable. So liberty and fairness really turn out to be incompatible.
The implications of this worldview are extreme, and would affect many fields of legislation, including policies toward less developed countries in matters from free trade to Aids, as well as criminal laws, educational curricula and immigration laws. It is not an exageration to state that if Rushton is right, many changes in policies, such as the elimination of the "separate but equal doctrine" in US education in the famous Brown v. Board of Education ruling, decolonization and even Apartheid would have to be rethought.
This makes it easy to see why proponents of equality of races would disagree with Rushton: if he is right, then there would be no reason for respecting self-determination in countries where the majority of the population are borderline morons, nor would there be any reason for lavishing significant funds for education of a local minority that is really incapable of much improvement. Since social deviance is easy to predict from IQ tests, it probably would make sense to subject those of low intelligence (and large portions of these would come from the negroid race) to repressive police action even in absence of actual crimes. And it wouldn't be desirable to allow continued immigration by peoples who will surely drag down a country's average IQ, commit more crimes than others and generally make a nuisance of themselves by becoming dependent on the state. Rushton doesn't enunciate these conclusions, of course, but they may be easily inferred from his analysis. People have been expelled from universities just for wearing t-shirts that hint that they might hold this type of view.
I agree with the author that one shouldn't fear the truth, and that poorly constructed bromides are no substitutes for real understanding. We need less "feel-good" opinions and more realistic explanations of reality. So I would have expected Rushton to construct his arguments in a more thoughtful fashion than he has. Very clearly there is a genetic element in intelligence measured as IQ (the so-called "Spearman's g"), and it is surely true that IQ is an excellent predictor of success for both workers and executives, and of sexual behavior or law-abidingness for everyone. While it is nonsensical to assume these factors away and just attribute all differential results to environmental circumstances (as many do), it is also incoherent to state, as Rushton does, that in these factors there are both genetic and environmental influences, while at the same time saying virtually nothing about their respective weights, and empahisizing the former much more than the latter. Rushton clearly believes that most of the differential performance of various groups is genetic in origin. One guesses this not just from this book but from many of the reviews he has published on Amazon. This does not seem to be, for him, a scientific argument of theoretic interest, but a personal conviction with some emotional involvement. Normally, that doesn't make for good science. For example, even though he goes as far enough as to estimate that negroids are dumber because they have less brain tissue than caucasoids or mongoloids, he doesn't really give any reason why such comparatively small differences in brain weight generate such enormous variations in intelligence as he finds. The assumption that beyond a certain minimal weight required to run the body's processes, a small percentage of brain tissue has a disproportionate impact on total IQ may be correct, but it demands some factual support. If it doesn't exist, Rushton should have called this a working hypothesis and left it at that.
There are other, interesting, questions that he doesn't answer. While I agree with him that Jared Diamond's explanation of Eurasian success and African and Native American and Australian failure by way of geography is not satisfactory (because it doesn't even consider the possibility that genetics might be involved), I can see that Rushton doesn't attempt to explain the enviromental impact on inferior performances by the various races, or even quantify it. He then leaves himself open to accusations that he is just tidying up, in the language of sociobiology, very traditional racist beliefs. While he concedes that there are some anomalies implicit in his worldview (i.e., as the most "K"-selected race, mongoloids should be bigger than Causasians, who in turn should be bigger than Africans, whereas the reverse is the case), there are many he doesn't even consider, and obvious ones at that. If a harsh but predictable enviroment is a condition for "K"-selection, then Eskimos (or Inuit) should be most "K"-selected and therefore the most intelligent. Is this the case? And surely Mongolians are even more "K"-selected than Han Chinese (because they live further north). Then, why didn't the Chinese empire center in Mongolia, or Manchuria, rather than further south, as was the case? Also, wouldn't it make sense to suppose that North American Natives would be more "K"-selected than Central and South American ones? Yet the great pre-Columbian civilizations where in Central America (Aztecs and Mayas) and South America (Incas) rather than in North America, where the natives never evolved beyond the hunter-gatherer phase. This is not to refer to the obvious point, that the earliest developments of civilization did not take place in Northern European woods, but in the Middle East and the Mediterranean basin (not to mention China). By the time the Greeks were arguing about the nature of things and creating epic poetry, theater, classical sculpture and architecture, and the Olympics, German tribesmen were still adoring trees, and even in the Carolingian era the Saxons were gross barbarians that didn't even have proper cities. And let's not even mention the Russians, who in some ways haven't even reached the XX century. So either evolution happened quite recently to propel Northern Europe into the foreground or there were powerful environment elements that haven't been properly considered. I think it must be latter.
While perhaps these questions are well beyond what the author wanted to cover, he surely could have alluded to them and left them for future researchers to answer.
Also, he is sometimes inconsistent. While in parts of his book he implies that Native Americans (as descendants of mongoloids who migrated through the Bering strait) are in some ways smarter than caucasians, in others he concludes that in fact the two populations (mongoloids who remained in Asia and native Americans) diverged far in the past so that they in fact became two different races, one smarter than the other. So what is his real opinion about this?
I think that when a researcher is working in such a politically contentious field as this he should be extra careful in order not to weaken his case by facile arguments that might be misused by interested parties. I don't think Rushton has kept this rule. He (apparently approvingly) quotes Gobineau's dictum that great civilizations decay through mixture with "ethnic taxa that have never initiated a civilization", so that "Degeneration sets it". This is just reckless: quoting Gobineau associates Rushton's arguments with eugenicist perspectives from seventy years algo and thus tarnishes them in a needless way. From here to rassenschande (the Nazi term that criminalized miscegenation) there is not a very long way to go.
While many of Rushton's opponents are tiresomely politically correct (some don't even to appear to think that reality exists, but that it's all about opinions, good or bad ones), Rushton seems to go out of his way to offend. This weakens some pretty powerful arguments in the book and needlessly associates the author with unsavory elements. That's a pity because he is a mostly readable writer, on very important topics.
INFORMATIVE.......2007-05-17
I rated this book a 4 since I am not a scientist. It was written very well, with all facts shown from scientific research, but not the easiest of reads for lay-persons. Some people would consider the book to be racist, but I would classify those persons as ignorant. Unlike an ostrich sticking it's head in the sand, we cannot escape the truth around us.
Morphological confirmation of racial disparity in intelligence.......2007-02-13
The racial disparity in intelligence was well established and documented by Murray and Hernstein in "The Bell Curve" and by Arthur Jensen in "The g Factor. In "Race, Evolution and Behavior" Rushton reinforces this disparity through the use of the comparative morphology and comparative capacity of the human brain between the three races of man. He shows that there is a direct correlation between the average brain size of the three races of man and the average intelligence of those races. To account for these differences the author relies on the out of Africa theory of human evolution in which man's primogenitor originated in Africa and then moved to the northern climates populating Europe and then Asia. In so doing man had to overcome a harsher environment than existed in Eden (Sub - Sahara Africa) and the human brain evolved in the Caucasian Race and then subsequently in the Mongoloid Race to better cope with the harsher environment. Rushton goes on to provide support for the inheritability of intelligence and to attribute racial differences in cultural attainment, susceptibility to certain sexually transmitted diseases, poverty rates, criminal tendencies, and other behavioral traits to the difference in the average intelligence between the three Races. His use of the r-K model, which heretofore has been used to categorize interspecies characteristics and which he uses to characterize and tabulate the differences between the human races was particularly enlightening and serves to further delineate the differences between the human races. In a sense the successful use of the r-K model makes the argument that the human races border on each being different a species with the Negroid furthest from the Caucasian and Mongoloid races and therefore the least like the other two. The author also successfully responds to the challenges that others have mounted to his work, devoting an entire chapter to this.
The only criticism that I have of the work is that it failed to explain why the Caucasian Race, in particular the white male, dominates the world in intellectual terms when in fact the Mongoloid Race is on the average more intelligent. A closer look at the distribution of intelligence within the races and between the sexes may provide the answer to this question. While the average intelligence for the Mongoloid is higher the distribution or standard deviation is smaller, therefore the Mongoloid Race tends to produce fewer geniuses and fewer retarded, similarly the average intelligence of the Negroid Race also has a smaller standard deviation and so the number of Negroid that have high IQs is few and far between. The average intelligence of the Caucasian Race on the other hand has a relatively large standard deviation and that race tends to produce a large number of geniuses as well as a large number of retarded. One can say that Nature has a way of balancing itself out. The work also failed to address the problem of the mixing of the races. This problem has been given scant attention but needs to be addressed. While the mixing of the Races, in particular the mixing of the Negroid and Caucasian Races tends to increase the average intelligence of the Negroid at the expense of the Caucasian, the problem is that there is a significant reduction of the standard deviation in the intelligence of the mixed race. This means that any culture comprised of mixed race people will have a much reduced capacity for generating geniuses and therefore a much reduced chance for survival.
Addressing the issue of racial admixture and the distribution of intelligence within a race and between sexes would have made a very worthwhile book even more valuable, and one that I nevertheless highly recommend to any serious reader on this subject.
Worst book ever.......2007-01-27
I gave this book a reading not too long ago. Nothing about this book is "controversial". It's the same manipulation of information that neo-nazis and the kkk use to put shame to folks of other races. Books like these have always existed, and their purpose is to make money from readers who think the message is "ground-breaking" or revealing of some deep knowledge that has always been hidden from the public. If you plan on picking up this book, be sure to pick up a confederate flag and a few skrewdriver albums to go with it, this book is equally brainless.
You know he's right.......2007-01-14
How amusing we find the seventeenth-century minds which persecuted Galileo for saying that the Earth revolves around the Sun. But we have living in our midst a man who is so brave he has stated a truth even more obvious than Galileo's. Of course the races aren't equal. Everyone knows it but we don't want to admit it.
Even most scientists are so scared that they would rather pretend that natural selection leaves intelligence unaffected. The official story is that it doesn't matter whether your race evolved in a jungle or a desert, the average brain will be totally unchanged by evolution. Everything else will change - height, colour, blood, hair, bones, teeth, eyes - but the brain must by some undiscovered law of nature stay the same.
Read this book for proof of what you, in your heart of hearts, already know.
Amazon.com
In the 19th century, when the idea of eugenics (selective breeding to generate superior members of a species) was invited off the farm and into the parlor, it was a far-fetched notion with little possibility of success driven by clearly racist motivations. But at the end of the 20th century, biotechnological techniques and other agendas are making forms of human eugenics plausible. Rich in anecdote, narrative, and fact. An important book.
Book Description
Daniel Kevles traces the study and practice of eugenics--the science of "improving" the human species by exploiting theories of heredity--from its inception in the late nineteenth century to its most recent manifestation within the field of genetic engineering. It is rich in narrative, anecdote, attention to human detail, and stories of competition among scientists who have dominated the field.
Customer Reviews:
Interested in U.S. eugenics movement, must have this book!.......2001-07-16
...This was one of the most widely recommended and referenced books by those who disagree or agree with the eugenics movement in the United States. Those who lambasted the scientific idiots running the eugenics movement as being prejudiced and biased in their science, lauded this book as one of the most complete of all recent books written on this topic. Those who support the motives behind eugenics, fixed upon this particular book and author as the one they needed to tear apart. That gives readers an idea of how accurately Kelves pushed the buttons of those who would practice eugenics, euthanasia, doctor-assisted suicide, and other such controversial practices. Kelves research job is outstanding, and even though the reader can tell the opinion of Kevles from the way he writes, he certainly more than backed up his writing with pertinent references and cross-references.
In fact, I enjoyed reading his references and bibliography, because it was just loaded with information that he chose not to use in the text of his book. I also tend to go searching through his index and references for extra information because of all of the books I've read on eugenics here in the U.S. his is the most valid and inclusive of everything I've seen so far. This is a topic which is very difficult to read, let alone write about, without developing very strong opinions not only of the movement itself, but of the people involved one way or another in this particular stain on American history. See...I cannot even keep my own mouth shut for writing a short review on a book on the topic...I cannot imagine researching it for a period of years and being expected to remain distant and objective about it. Kevles does a relatively good job presenting the facts and not becoming too strident about the questionable scientific practices which flourished in order to 'prove' preconceived ideas and beliefs. The book is extremely readable (especially compared to most textbooks for sociology or ethics), and I can understand why professors would recommend this book to their students rather than reading a dry textbook. I certainly have no plans to get rid of my copy, and I will be lending it out and recommending it to those I teach concerning the disabled and bioethics. ...
Excellent history of Eugenics.......2001-04-28
Kevles is a very clear and thorough writer. I have read other articles by him as well as this book, and he presents the history of eugenics and its modern possiblities with a readablility that will be clear to anyone, even w/o a sciene background. The book does cover a lot of information, but is enjoyable. If you have an interest in the possibilities regarding the use of genetic knowledge, this book is worth your time.
I had to read it for school........2000-05-11
I had to read it for school... I am a college freshman...in my Sociology class we had to choose a book off of a reading list to report on.
Remembering the mention of Eugenics in High School Biology, and remembering my odd fascination with genetics and hereditiy, I thought I'd give this book a try. I was fully ready to embark on a difficult and heavy book that discussed scientific matter that went over my head (being a film student, eugenics doesn't come up very often.) Much to my surprise I found the book very readable, and I became obsessed with reading it. Everything about the whole eugenics scene was so complex and intereting.
I think I could keep up with it all because of the way the author presented the subject. It was laid out so that a person (like me) who knew next to nothing about eugenics, could pick up the book and get a history of the people and the practices of genetics and the uses of human heredity. I recommend it to anyone who is somewhat interested in eugenics, but does not have the background or time to devote life study to it. It satisfied my curiosities and my book report! :)
A Comprehensive Study of Eugenics.......2000-02-25
Daniel Kevles's In the Name of Eugenics is a thoughtful, well-written look at the eugenics movement of the early twentieth century. In an extremely readable manner, Kevles has produced a most accessible and informative study of eugenics that will be of interest to people with various amounts of knowledge of the field. Kevles meticulously examines the lives of the eugenicists as well as the many implications of eugenics in American society. This book is invaluable to anyone studying eugenics and is a great resource.
Biased view of an important subject.......1999-11-03
The book attempts to point to some of the abuses of eugenics in the past in an attempt to discredit modern scientific views of the inheritance of traits in particular the inheritance of intelligence. The inheritance of intellectual ability was irrefutably demonstrated by Hernstein and Murray in their seminal work "The Bell Curve". Ever since the publication of this work there has been a steady stream of the most banal and unscientific writings attempting to refute its authority and conclusions. Although the "History of Eugenics" was written before "The Bell Curve" was published it nevertheless enjoys the attention of such notable leftists as Jay Gould who have taken it upon themselves to mount a relentless campaign to discredit Hernstein and Murray's work.
The words of praise of Kevle's book by Jay Gould which appear on its back cover is particularly disingenuous since the author praises Mr. Gould in the book. But praising those that agree with him and criticizing and demonizing those that don't is the author's as well as Mr. Gould's style. So there is nothing new here.
Apart from the author's small contribution towards work on the history of eugenics there is really very little to recommend this book to anyone interested in an objective treatment of this important subject.
Book Description
Philosopher David Stove concludes in his hilarious and razor-sharp inquiry that Darwin's theory of evolution is a ridiculous slander on human beings. But wait! Stove is no creationist nor a proponent of so-called intelligent design. He is a theological skeptic who admits Darwin's great genius and acknowledges that the theory of natural selection is the most successful biological theory in history. But Stove also thinks that it is also one of the most overblown and gives a penetrating inventory of what he regards as the unbelievable claims of Darwinism. Darwinian Fairytales is a must-read book for people who want to really understand the issues behind the most hotly debated scientific controversy of our time.
Customer Reviews:
A skeptical, analytical philosopher takes on Darwin, Dawkins.......2007-10-02
"[Stove] is particularly good at exposing the `amazingly arrogant habit of Darwinians' of `blaming the fact, instead of blaming their theory' when they encounter contrary biological facts. Doctrinaire Darwinists have an answer for everything, always a bad sign in science, since it means that mere facts can never prove them wrong." - from Roger Kimball's Introduction
It is not at all the case that Stove objects to Darwinism on religious grounds, in fact he believes that present life has by some means evolved from earlier forms; however he is quite certain that "Darwin's explanation of evolution, even though it is . . . still the best one available, is not true." Stove would object, and strongly so, to having his essays cast as being sympathetic to `creationism' or `intelligent design', as he defines himself as a man "of no religion." His knowledge and scholarship of Darwinian theory is self-evidently vast; he suggests that he has "wasted" his time reading hundreds of Darwinism's books and `Darwinian Fairytales' makes it quite evident that he has indeed studied every prominent Darwinian "from 1859 to the present hour."
I had just begun reading Richard Dawkins' `The Blind Watchmaker' when I noticed that David Stove's `Darwinian Fairytales' had been reprinted. While reading them both it quickly seemed imperative that I read Dawkins' `The Selfish Gene' before proceeding with either TBW or DF. So that is what I did. Reading the three books in close conjunction was quite a fascinating experience, and, as I have indicated elsewhere (my review of TSG), Dawkins didn't fare to well.
Stove, the late Australian philosopher of science, effectively skewers Dawkins (especially TSG, but, to a lesser extent, TBW as well), Stove nails E.O. Wilson too, in fact he takes a troupe of Darwinian champions to the woodshed -- T.H. Huxley, R.D. Alexander, R. Trivers, R.A. Fisher, among many others. A skeptic in Hume's mold, Stove has acerbically critiqued various iconic founts of Western thought, some more effectively than others, so Darwinians need not feel singled out (but of course they probably will). This book was his last, completed not long before his death in 1994.
Although he presents a few other criticisms, Stove relentlessly targets (1) Darwinism's ideological death-struggle with "altruism" -- that it must deny is actually altruism, and (2) Darwinism's non-falsifiable teleological doctrine: the immutable Lordship of "the selfish gene" -- a doggedly fideistic article of simple faith. Darwinism's teachings on altruism are easily sacked, both by clear logic and by mere empirical evidence; its supposedly anti-teleological teleology of itself qualifies Darwinism as being a religion.
If there is something to be faulted in Stove's book (a collection of 11 essays), it is the repetitiveness (not surprising as this is usually a problem in works of argumentation). Long after he has defeated the teleological and "altruism" defamations of Dawkins, Wilson, and the like, he is still throwing the badly bloodied doctrines to the ground. Because of this, and because each of the essays can more or less stand on its own, I recommend reading the first essay (Darwin's Dilemma), the second and the last (eleventh) before heading into the others. If the essay (#4) treating the influence of Malthus' population dynamics on Darwin's thought becomes dry or uninteresting, then skip it, perhaps moving to essays #9 (A New Religion) or 10 (Paley's Revenge, or Purpose Regained).
This is not what I expected.......2007-05-13
I barely read into the book when I realized that the author is still a true believer of the Darwin fairy tale. It was painful for me to do, but I threw the book in the trash today. Next time I'll be more careful.
The H.L. Mencken of sociobiology.......2007-04-04
David Stove is one of the great underappreciated writers of the late 20th century. He's also dead, which doesn't generally do much for one's ability to slay dragons. It is fortunate the good people at the New Criterion have more or less sponsored his revival; he deserves to be much more widely known. Stove was an Australian academic philosopher who became embroiled in a university in-fight against what I like to call, the "know nothing academics" who came to prominence in the 1960s. Know nothings essentially make their livings making rasberry sounds at Western civilization. Stove was outraged such people could be taken seriously by anyone, and so he devoted a large amount of his considerable remaining wit and energy making such people miserable. This book represents one of his efforts in that direction. Contrary to what many people are saying in the reviews, Stove explicitly believes in Darwinian evolution, "more or less." I.e. he states that he believes in the broad strokes of evolutionary theory. He is, as others have stated, an atheist (as am I, if that matters to anyone).
He very specifically doesn't believe in nonsense views of evolution; in particular, the "hard man" view of Herbert Spencer or its intellectual descendant, the "selfish gene" view of Dawkins and company. Stove ruthlessly mocks the preposterous premises of these ideas (which even a 'good' Popperian would instantly recognize as non-falsifiable piffle), simply by examining them for what they really are. He also points out numerous giant conceptual lacunae, counterfactuals and the examples of flat out nonsense that make up the evidence for sociobiological "theory." Why does Stove do this? Apparently, he was ahead of his time. People like Dawkins have become pervasive pests; insisting that everyone think as he does, or risk being labeled, "unbright." Sociobiological 'theoretical' deconstructings of literature have become all the rage. Dawkins and his unseemly ilk need to be put in their place, along with other pseudo-scientific charlatans like Lysenko or the Phrenologists. Sociobiology is a shabby set of shaggy dog stories; Stove shows us how funny and absurd they really are. I rather wish Stove was a statistician as well; that would be the final cherry on top of the sociobiological humble pie, but I suppose one must leave work for future thinkers.
Stop misunderstanding texts!.......2007-04-02
This text does not attempt to show that Darwinism is false, at best it succeeds in showing that certain applications of the theory are incorrect.
Evolution is not a "religion for adults" - it is a complex theory that should not be debated by those who do not know it. Simply because there exist statements about the theory (or statements made by the proponents of the theory) that are perhaps false, does not mean the entire theory is.
Has anyone heard of Richard Dawkins? He clearly showed how evolution can and has created cooperative systems.
Everyone - please educate yourselves from a well-balanced mix of texts, understand what the author's points are, and more importantly, reason about what is said - there are authors that care more for the money made from publishing a book, than the honest science and research that should go into it.
enjoy the ride.......2007-02-07
Modern "scientists" have elevated evolution to a cult. Enter intelligent design (ID) critics, whacked on by their roots with creationists (their own pre-Socratics), and you have one helluva fight. With these ideologues migrating to extremism and away from reason as understood by both scientific method and Aristotelian logic you are bound to have very murky waters indeed. The debate becomes unrecognizable to the classically educated.
Enter the reasonable atheist apologist for no side with whom people of faith (like myself) and no faith (like my friends) can wholeheartedly cheer on by anchoring the conversation in reason once again. The late David Stove does just that, with precision, wit, logic, clarity, and joy. Reading this book is like a breath of fresh air, and restores faith in human reason and the ability of thinkers to expose unsupportable extremes cloaked in unearned authority, whether it is "science" or "religion." A marvellous book which will have ideologues steaming and truth lovers and sideline quarterbacks enjoying the game.
Book Description
In the late nineteenth and the early twentieth century, it was widely assumed that society ought to foster the breeding of those who possessed favorable traits and discourage the breeding of those who did not. Controlled human breeding, "eugenics" as it was labeled by Francis Galton, seemed only good common sense.
How did eugenics come to exert such powerful and broad appeal? What events shaped its direction? Whose interests did it finally serve? Why did it fall into disrepute? Has it survived in other guises? These are some of the questions that Diane Paul sets out to answer - questions that have acquired a new urgency in light of developments in genetic medicine.
The eugenics movement appeared to be dead - associated with race and class prejudice, in particular the crimes of the Third Reich - or was it just sleeping? Has eugenics returned in the guise of medical genetics?
In the last decade, historians have come to understand that support for eugenics was diverse and tenacious, with most geneticists remaining enthusiasts through at least the 1930s. This new historiography emphasizes eugenics' broad and persistent appeal and its close association with genetics.
In CONTROLLING HUMAN HEREDITY, Professor Paul aims to bridge the gap between expert and lay understandings of the history of eugenics and thereby enrich the debate on the perplexing contemporary choices in genetics medicine.
Customer Reviews:
Great Introductory Survey of the History of Eugenics.......1997-12-30
Diane Paul has produced a readable and brief introduction to the history of eugenic thought. After an excellent overview chapter, Paul proceeds chronologically from Francis Galton and social Darwinism through twentieth century campaigns for sterilization and immigration restriction in the name of eugenic reform. Paul convincingly argues that eugenics has been used by proponents of a variety of causes and political persuasions, left and right. With announcements every week of the discovery of the gene for some ailment, Paul's book is both timely and important. As the debates over cloning, genetic screening, or gene therapy continue, this book will provide a much needed historical context that can only help as we reflect on today's eugenics.
20 pages of information in a 120 page book........1997-07-24
It is interesting (strange actually) that theauthor chose to present an inherently historicaltopic in a non-chronological format. The book is instead organized as a series of (IMHO arbitrary) topics, and the subject is analyzed in turn from the perspective of each. In fact, there is a great deal of redundency from "topic" to "topic", so much so in fact that reading any 20 pages of the book are as good as reading the whole. Still, those 20 pages would constitute a good introduction to the subject.
Book Description
Situated on London’s Foster Lane, there is a quintessentially Georgian, redbrick house with a green door bearing the sign trencoms, 1662. It’s the home of the Trencom family’s cheese store, a generational establishment begun by Humphrey Trencom that now, 303 years later, is run by Edward Trencom. Quaint though it may seem, it bears witness to a strange occurrence of “accidents” that seem to befall every generation of the curd-loving family.…
Edward Trencom has bumbled through life, relying on his trusty nose to turn the family cheese shop into the most celebrated fromagerie in England. This was no ordinary nose, but one long, aquiline, and furnishing the trademark circular bump over the bridge---the very same nose bestowed on all the Trencom men. It was extraordinary, able to discern the composition, maturity, and quality of cheese---and the Trencom noses had sniffed, whiffed, and judged the very best cheeses of the world.
But on an ordinary day, Edward’s world is turned upside down when he stumbles across a crate of family papers. To his horror, he discovers that nine previous generations of his family have come to sticky ends because of their noses. When he investigates---despite his grandfather’s caveat never to look into the origin of his nose---Edward finds himself caught up in a Byzantine riddle to which there is no obvious answer. And like his ill-fated ancestors, he is hunted down by rival forces whose identity and purpose remain a total mystery.
Trapped between the mad, the bad, and a cheese to die for, Edward Trencom’s nose must make a choice---and for the last nine generations it has made the catastrophically wrong decision.
Giles Milton’s deliciously comic debut novel is a mouthwatering blend of Tom Sharpe and P. G. Wodehouse. From the noble Roquefort to the piquant Èpoisses, every page is permeated by the pungent odor of cheese.
Praise for Giles Milton
“He has a rare ability---a talent for sifting fine pearls from faraway sands and for transmuting the merely arcane into little literary gems.”
---Simon Winchester, The Boston Globe
“Milton spins a fascinating tale. . . . Exuberantly eccentric characters stride the pages.”---Time magazine on Nathaniel’s Nutmeg
“In an exceptionally pungent, amusing, and accessible historical account, Giles Milton brings readers right into the midst of these colonists and their daunting American adventure.”--- Janet Maslin, The New York Times, on Big Chief Elizabeth
Customer Reviews:
Disappointing.......2007-07-12
This book's pacing was much slower and weaker than the glowing newspaper reviews I read. The jumping back and forth in time did not seem intriguing or suspenseful, because the main characters were too dull to care about, and the same colorlessness can be said about all the other Trencom ancestors.
Morton's previous title, Nathaniel's Nutmeg, was a much better read about real historical adventurers.
The author should return to writing history books.......2007-06-16
This was the author's first foray into the non-fiction realm - and though at times this initial effort showed promise, the book never quite grabs the reader's attention. This reviewer agrees with the previous write up - the reader does not learn much about cheese, just the names of a wide variety of them. The storyline was interesting and the author does a good job setting the scene, but overall AND IN COMPARISON to Milton's previous (non-fiction)works, the book was weak. Also, the ending was somewhat of a letdown. Giles Milton should return to doing what he does best - researching a little known story in History and writing it's story in his narrative and prose - and should stay away from writing novels. (I highly recommend Milton's Samurai William)
A Great Sleeping Pill!.......2007-06-13
Not exactly a boring book, but I kept waiting for something interesting to happen. The author throws in some sex perhaps to liven up the story but for the most part it's pretty dull. I like cheese as much as the next guy but this didn't do much to improve my knowledge of it.
A cheesy romp.......2007-04-28
This mild and amusing tale doesn't fit neatly in any particular genre. It's almost a mystery, but not quite. It's almost a comedy of manners, but not quite. But it is a very English tale featuring lots of delectable cheese, an extraordinary nose and a cadre of mysterious Greeks. Does the world contain cheese shops like Trencoms? I don't know, but after finishing this book, my mouth is watering, and I want cheese, cheese, cheese.
It was a pleasant read, and if you're looking for something light and not very involving, give it a try, if possible over a glass of white wine, some mild havarti and a slice of Greek bread.
Average customer rating:
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The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex
Charles Darwin
Manufacturer: Rand, McNally
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Binding: Unknown Binding
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ASIN: B00085HHEO |
Books:
- Hungry Hollow: THE STORY OF A NATURAL PLACE
- In the Wilderness: The Doctrine of Defilement in the Book of Numbers (Journal for the Study of the Old Testament. Supplement Series, 158)
- India (Living Wisdom Series)
- Jack Dykinga's Arizona
- Life Under Ice
- Living with the New Jersey Shore (Living with the Shore)
- Magic Tree House Boxed Set of 4, Books 9-12: Dolphins at Daybreak, Ghost Town at Sundown, Lions at Lunchtime, and Polar Bears Past Bedtime
- Mammal Tracks & Sign: A Guide to North American Species
- Messages from Frank's Landing: A Story of Salmon, Treaties, and the Indian Way
- Molecular Systematics Of Plants Ii: DNA Sequencing
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