The Bell Curve

I spent too much of one day last week reading this article and everything it links to. Charles Murray, one of the authors of The Bell Curve, also has a piece in the August 2005 issue of Statistical Science called “How to Accuse the Other Guy of Lying with Statistics” (part of a special section “celebrating” the 50th anniversary of “How to Lie with Statistics”–it’s a fun issue).

I haven’t read The Bell Curve myself, so I better stop now.

3 thoughts on “The Bell Curve

  1. Why stop now?

    Consider Murray on Herrnstein.

    About four years ago, shortly after Dick and I had begun to collaborate on a new book about intelligence and social policy, we were talking over a late-evening Scotch at his home in Belmont, Mass. We had been musing about the warning shots the prospective book had already drawn and the heavy fire that was sure to come. The conversation began to depress me, and I said, "Why the hell are we doing this, anyway?"

    Dick recalled the day when, as a young man, he had been awarded tenure. It was his dream fulfilled — a place in the university he so loved, the chance to follow his research wherever it took him, economic security. For Dick, being a tenured professor at Harvard was not just the perfect job, but the perfect way to live his life. It was too good to be true; there had to be a catch. What's my part of the bargain? he had asked himself. "And I figured it out," he said, looking at me with that benign, gentle half-smile of his. "You have to tell the truth." There was no self-congratulation in his voice, just an answer to my question.

    So, having read some on the topic, what do you think, Professor Gelman? Do the critics of the Bell Curve make reasonable points? Just tell us the truth. That is all we ask of you.

    To the extent that you don't want to comment on the debate about the Bell Curve without having read the book (a reasonable position), you could try this more recent article by Murray.

  2. Whoops! My mistake. My advice to Sam would be to not comment on The Bell Curve or related disputes until tenured. Some topics are too risky for junior academics to address.

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