Black Brain, White Brain

By far the most important book yet written to systematically debunk society's lingering attachments to race science and its pet topics of intelligence, genetics and civilization.' – Jonathan Jansen, University of Free State Racist thinking – that intelligence is influenced by racial origin – was part of mainstream science a century ago and, surprisingly, is still endorsed by maverick scientists at some of the world's most respectable institutions. The myths being perpetuated on genetics, race, IQ and general intelligence are what Black Brain, White Brain challenges – precisely, systematically and in painstaking detail. In this immensely readable book Gavin Evans tackles highly complex subjects, from the origin of humans and the genesis of intelligence to athletic performance and genes, IQ and cleverness, in a fluent and engaging style that makes science accessible and the facts absorbing. Carefully balancing claims, testing dodgy propositions and presenting fairly the theories of modern scientists and evolutionary psychologists, Evans shows just how uniform we are, genetically, as a species and that it's mainly the environment we grow up and live in that's the determining factor.