...recommended as a useful reference on comparative Asian-American studies.
—American Scientist
Professor James R. Flynn is well qualified to address these topics....Because Flynn is so careful, this is a very important book: not only for the light he throws on the historical background of intelligence measures as they pertain to achievement among Asian Americans, but also because he sets a high standard for scientific writing, technically and conceptually, on the topic of intellectual abilities. Moreover, his discussion extends beyond the simple relationship of intelligence to occupational and income measures. There are few who can match him on the consequences of potent historical and environmental factors affecting the development and capitalization of human abilities.... Asian Americans: Achievement Beyond IQ is a very readable book and provides a very solid background and framework for evaluating the empirical data and talk pieces on a subject of continuing social interest and importance.
—Journal of the History of Medicine
Flynn's scholarship provides a monograph chock full of interesting hypotheses for and against which he has amassed diverse and substantial data. His use of language is circumspect, his analyses cogent, and his lines of argument challenging. Flynn gives readers much to think about by describing a framework of hypotheses and raising excellent questions, thereby appropriately indicating where further data are needed and what issues require more careful thought by many from varied fields.
—Perceptual and Motor Skills
Professor Flynn's lucid and well-argued book throws a refreshing new light upon the important and controversial issues that surround the relationship between intelligence and achievement in different ethnic groups. He will draw upon himself the wrath bothof the politically correct stormtroopers, for whom the only explanation of anything is `racial discrimination,' and of those academic scholars who have thrown their own weight behind genetic influences as the explanation of everything. Nobody who wishes to understand these issues, let alone take part in the debate, will be able to ignore Professor Flynn's important work.
—J.A. Gray
Institute of Psychiatry
...an extraordinarily impressive book...a triumphant demonstration of the value of scholarship over rhetoric.
—N.J. Mackintosh
University of Cambridge
This study shows scholarship at its finest -- analytically, empirically, and even morally, in the sense of seeking truth instead of point-scoring, clarity rather than buzzwords, and careful refutation of opposing views rather than denigration of their authors. Its contribution to our understanding of IQ and race goeswell beyond its modest title, for it calls into question fundamental assumptions and conclusions, with major implications for scholars and policy-makers alike.
—Thomas Sowell
Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace
Product Description
This authoritative book shows how the gap between a group's mean IQ and achievement can be precisely measured, and then partitioned between two factors -- an important methodology with potential application for all ethnic groups. In this case, the author shows that Chinese Americans' occupational achievements are generally far beyond their IQ -- as if they had a mean IQ 21 points higher than they actually do. This unique approach to explaining group achievement emphasizes non-IQ factors such as historical origins, family, work ethic, educational tradition, personality traits, and social institutions.
