The G Factor: General Intelligence and Its Implications [Paperback]

Christopher Brand (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0471960705 | ISBN-13: 978-0471960706 | Publication Date: December 1996

Is human intelligence mainly a matter of IQ - the general "g" factor? What basically is g - a relatively simple psychological reality or a complex construction? The debate on intelligence and its social relevance is a topic that continues to spark much argument and discussion. This study addresses the main questions and controversies surrounding IQ. The author moves from the historical background of IQ studies to a discussion of current arguments and the implications of recent research studies.

Product Details

• Paperback: 175 pages
• Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Inc (December 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471960705
• ISBN-13: 978-0471960706
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,129,261 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent overview of debate, February 28, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The G Factor: General Intelligence and Its Implications (Paperback)

This is simply an excellent book. It is well written, the general interest is high, and the prose sparkles like champagne. As a book on the subject of psychometrics, it is superb writing, and Brand manages to capture the crux of the debate in clear, crisp informative style.

An interesting point of the book is his tackling of the more dispirate issues of intelligence, like the types of heritablility, the evidence marshalled indicating differences in group IQ, and discussions of the evidence given regarding the arguments against IQ as it is now bing studied.

This book is a different format than the Bell Curve, as it uses less correlative data for social impact of IQ, but it hits on the overall issues in much more depth than the Bell Curve gave, and it is not a policy reccomendation book.

Overall, a very good book. Buy it to anger the folks who would see it banned and because of its merits.

21 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Four comments on THE g FACTOR (Chris Brand, 1996), April 23, 2001

By 

Christopher R. Brand (Edinburgh, Midlothian, United Kingdom) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The G Factor: General Intelligence and Its Implications (Paperback)

This book was withdrawn by the publisher, Wiley (UK & USA), which wanted to dissociate itself from 'racism.'

(1) The g Factor was reviewed in Nature (2 May 1996, p.33) by N. J. Mackintosh, Professor of Psychology, University of Cambridge, as a "radical libertarian" contribution to debates on education providing "spirited attacks on....Stephen Jay Gould and Steven Rose [and] the massed battalions of the politically correct...." Mackintosh said "[Brand] develops a strong argument for individual freedom of choice in education." The book said that children are not largely the creatures (let alone the victims) of their environments, except in so far as adults deny them serious choice; and that parents, after receiving advice about IQ, should be able to help children choose how fast they progress through school {cf. 'fast track learning', advocated by Mr Tony Blair in February, 1996}. Mackintosh condemned Wiley's "singularly cack-handed attempt at censorship" which, he said, raised doubts about the firm's "good sense, competence and integrity."

(2) An Edinburgh Psychology Honours student wrote a Brief Summary / review of The g Factor for Student [Edinburgh University's student newspaper]. An extract: "Brand thinks that once we are all comfortable and realistic about the notion of intelligence we can accept systems of education geared to our intelligence levels. He goes beyond the ideas of streaming and suggests that, given the choice, children would naturally select classes pitched at their own IQ levels: "Clever children would no longer be let down by a state educational system providing a cross between a child-minding service and a reformatory.""

(3) New Scientist wrote in an editorial (May 1996): "It is....a great pity that the book will not now be speedily published, for it is probably the best argued treatise from the general intelligence camp. For the many that will disagree violently with every step of its argument, this is the book to stimulate a true scientific debate."

(4) A substantial summary and review was published by economics professor Ed Miller (University of New Orleans) in the Journal of Social, Political and Economic Studies, 1996. Miller finds it surprising that such a 'mainstream' book which advocates more scholastic choice for parents and children (in line with children's abilities) should have caused such controversy.

...

11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars fight censorship and read this book, February 21, 2002

By 

brian wallace (passage west, co.cork Ireland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The G Factor: General Intelligence and Its Implications (Hardcover)

Everyone who values science and civilisation should read this book .
I'm sure it would have sold millions if wiley had published it as planed.
Civilisation itself is in danger when books like this do not get
to the public.