Review: The Mismeasure of Man

The Mismeasure of Man by Stephen Jay Gould
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I purchased this book at Alley Cat Books in San Francisco.

I found this book difficult to read, not because of the technical writing, but because I felt so disheartened by the arguments that Gould refutes in this book. Gould picks apart the "data" espousing the superiority of white males in such a way that makes me wonder what kind of illogic and bias are slipping through into the collective "knowledge" of today.

I enjoyed learning about the history of factor analysis and how it came to be. I never really thought about the origin of statistical tests before, and I worked a lot with principal components as a graduate student. I also liked how Gould mentions how factor analysis is most appropriately used at the frontiers of science, when there is little theoretical framework to shape the questions and analysis. It makes so much sense, but I had never really formulated it in my mind in this way.

I know that Gould has his own share of biases that led to some cherry-picking and some biased remeasurements of his own. But Gould is not stating something as universally accepted and backed by positive proof. He is shedding doubt on what has been so stated because these ideas can be and has been dangerously misapplied.

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Review: The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin by Benjamin Franklin
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I read this for free on the Kindle app.

Surprisingly interesting. I was especially intrigued by his description of his ideas for The Art of Virtue. I also enjoyed his musings about how to keep the streets clean by employing watchmen to sweep the dust and rake the mud in the wee hours.

I somewhat glazed over the political portions, and I didn't realize it was unfinished, so I was surprised by the abruptness of the end. But I enjoyed his description of how he changed his manner of speaking to get what he wants - removing words like "certainly" or "undoubtedly," and portraying his own thoughts with a sense of uncertainty. It probably does work, and we could learn from it, especially coming from a man who claims pride as one of his major faults.

I had just spent the weekend in Philadelphia a little over a week ago, so it was interesting to learn about places relevant to Franklin's life. I wish I had read this before that trip, though I wouldn't have had any time to visit any extra places anyway.

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Review: The Federalist Papers

The Federalist Papers by Alexander Hamilton
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I read this through the Kindle app for free.

I am not a history person, but I decided I should try reading this, especially since it was readily available. I don't have the requisite knowledge about the context to really understand this, but I appreciated the different arguments put forth by Hamilton, Madison, and Jay.

I went into this really knowing nothing about when they were written or for what reason. Of course, it is very easy to pick up on quickly. It made me very grateful that such intelligent and thoughtful people were involved with the organization of the young United States. I guess I never gave much thought about how the US government came to be.

It was interesting to me to see the rivalry that some of the founding fathers felt towards Europe showing through--a reference to Jefferson's desire to prove American animals were larger than European.

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Review: Frankenstein's Dog

Frankenstein's Dog by R.L. Stine
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I received this book as a free book through Kellogg's promotion.

I knew that any book I get from these promotions is bound to not be very good, but I like to read anything and everything. I had read some of the complaints that the title and cover are incredibly misleading, and it is very true. I wonder why they made that choice and how much Stine had to do with it?

I didn't grow up reading Goosebumps, so I have no idea how this compares to the classics. I think I've read one other, which was about werewolves because as a kid, I loved wolves. I'm sure there are better kids' books out there, but what can I say? I find it hard to turn down a free book.

This book is labeled as for 4th through 6th graders. It's been a long time since I've read a book targeted at this age group, so I'm not sure how appropriate it is, but the text seemed strangely large.

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