Dealing with Darwin : How Great Companies Innovate at Every Phase of Their Evolution

Dealing with Darwin : How Great Companies Innovate at Every Phase of Their Evolution
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A cogent survival guide for the evolution of business

A must read for technology companies

Exceeded My Expectations

The big picture

Geared to "broad view" corporate managers

Dealing with Darwin : How Great Companies Innovate at Every Phase of Their Evolution
Geoffrey A. Moore
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: B000FZDKU2

Book Description

Bestselling author Geoffrey Moore shows companies how to rise to the challenge of natural selection—and master their own evolution

Geoffrey Moore is one of the most respected and bestselling names in business books. In his widely quoted Crossing the Chasm, he identified and addressed the greatest challenge facing new ventures. Now he's back with a book for established businesses that need to learn how to adapt—or suffer the slow declines into marginalized performance that have characterized so many Fortune 500 icons in recent years.

Deregulation, globalization, and e-commerce are exerting unprecedented pressures on company profits. In this new economic ecosystem, companies must dramatically differentiate from their direct competitors—or risk declining performance and eventual extinction. But how do companies choose the right innovation strategy? Or overcome internal inertia that resists the kind of radical commitments needed to truly set the company's offers apart?

Illustrating his arguments with more than one hundred examples and a full-length case study based on his unprecedented access to Cisco Systems, Moore shows businesses how to meet today's Darwinian challenges, whether they're producing commodity products or customized services. For companies whose competitive differentiation to the marketplace is still effective, he demonstrates how innovations in execution can help boost productivity, whether a company is competing in a growth market, a mature market, or even a declining market. For companies in danger of succumbing to competitive pressures, he shows how to overcome inertia by engaging the entire corporate community in an unceasing commitment to innovate and evolve.

For any business competing in today's eat-or-be-eaten economic jungle, this groundbreaking guide shows not only how to survive, but also thrive.

Customer Reviews:

A cogent survival guide for the evolution of business.......2006-09-13

In a competitive, capitalist economy, nothing is more prized than the whiz-bang invention, the why-didn't-I-think-of-that product or service that defines a market, delights consumers and gushes profits. Yet for all the ink spilled over innovation, remarkably few businesspeople understand exactly how to mint revolutionary new products. Innovation expert Geoffrey A. Moore delves under the hood of the new economy to create this roadmap to creative thinking. Although the text at times bogs down in jargon and a dizzying degree of detail, he cites plenty of sharp real-world examples, including an inside view of Cisco Systems. We recommend this user's manual to innovation to anyone who thinks that survival is not an end goal, but just a place to get started.

A must read for technology companies .......2006-08-28

I have been an avid consumer of Geoffrey's books for many years and Dealing with Darwin provides a framework to organize an enterprise portfolio planning process. It takes the concepts in the "Discpline of Market Leaders" to a whole new level that can be used in planning and strategy execution. We use Geoff's ideas in many ways in the Stanford University Advanced Project Managment program. He is a gifted writer and thinker!

Exceeded My Expectations.......2006-07-24

This book provides a very useful model for evaluating a portfolio, identifying what's core and recommending strategies for how to balance resources between core and non-core projects and activities. Once you have identified your core projects and activities, the book also provides a framework for determining the best innovation strategy for maximum differentiation. These are extremely useful concepts and frameworks, especially for more established businesses that have diverse portfolios, are facing increased competitive headwinds and are looking for ways to compete more effectively.

The big picture.......2006-07-03

This is a good big picture review of where the marketplace is today. After several decades of new product and new category introductions (especially in the high-tech area) we've reached a point where there aren't a lot of new new things. This is especially true in enterprise software where I make a living (www.beagleresearch.com). So the question begs to be asked, "What's next?" meaning if we aren't introducing new categories, how do we get customers interested in what we have to offer. Moore brilliantly answers the question with an array of innovation strategies which, while not as definitive as disruptive innovation, are nevertheless important. Our understanding of how and why product lines are extended, for example, is improved and with that Moore brings to close a circle that started with "Crossing the Chasm". Definitely worth reading if you are in business and have responsibility for charting what's next or if you are a customer and want to understand the next moves by your favorite vendor.

Geared to "broad view" corporate managers .......2006-05-30

Because I work with marketing and PR professionals, I was hoping for more insight on these topics. The discussion on "managing innovations in mature markets" has some value for marketers. Otherwise, this book is targeted to executive-level managers who must address company-wide issues and strategies and want ideas from a range of industries.

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Recommended for fans of Rupert Sheldrake's theories
inspiring
A work of monumental importance
From Miller to Ibsen
the opus of the advocate of vitality....

Creative Evolution
Henri Bergson
Manufacturer: Dover Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Matter and Memory
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ASIN: 0486400360

Book Description

The fullest expression of the distinguished French philosopher's ideas about the meaning of life. In propounding his distinctive theory of evolution, Bergson considers nature and intelligence, examines mechanisms of thought and illusion, and presents a criticism of philosophical systems from those of the ancients to those of his 19th-century contemporaries.

Customer Reviews:

Recommended for fans of Rupert Sheldrake's theories.......2007-08-13

Bergson's thesis is that Darwinian and Lamarkian evolution are only half the story and that there is a creative urge inherent in life that defines the direction of evolution. It is distinguished from Creationism in that his system does not posit and eschaton or final perfect form, nor an external agent (God).

It has some similarity with biologist Rupert Sheldrake's theory of morphic fields. In his theory, there is an energy field (as yet undetected by modern physics) that controls the shape of organic molecules, i.e., one protein is shaped one way and the same collection of atoms gets shaped another way under the same pH and temperature.

Aldous Huxley mentions Bergson's theory of consciousness several times in his writings. Bergson thinks that consciousness pervades everything, and that intellect serves as a filter that presents only what is comprehensible to mental categories. This has several implications. One is the possibility for a monistic metaphysic. The other is that it leaves open the possibility of perceiving an alternate reality (what excited Huxley).

Chapter 3 is about his metaphysics, which are not very clearly expressed. There appear to be avenues unexplored by him. What are the consequences of matter being infused with consciousness? Magic? Why is it that intellect and geometrical thinking is what produces objects in perception? What is the mechanism.

What does have value is his theory that chaos is not the absence of repeatability, but is a stochastic process that can be understood as an aggregate of individual "wills." This is used to support his vital theory of evolution. That each organism "wills" its variation in seemingly random fashion, but at a higher order, it produces the regularity of genera.

Chapter 4 is a critique of various philosophic systems after establishing his "cinematographic" theory of perception. His basic point is that matter is in continual flux, yet we are only able to perceive it as a sequence of discrete states, hence the illusion of permanence.

inspiring.......2005-12-23

this book is beautifully written, which is only fitting given the beautiful ideas contained within. philosophy that tries to find meaning in life rather than complicate it.

A work of monumental importance.......2005-12-20

Creative Evolution is not so much a work, but a milestone in print of a new direction of thought. It is a book that is of immense importance to anyone who wants to understand the mystery of humanity.

From Miller to Ibsen.......2001-01-14

I first came across Ibsen's monumental work when reading 'Tropic of Capricorn' by Henry Miller. Despite my complete lack of evolutionary and biological knowledge, I found Ibsen's eschatology mind blowing. Several times I was forced to leave the book for days in order to fully contemplate the philosophical ramifications of his insights. From this great stride forward into the fringes of human understanding Ibsen states: 'A conduct that is truly our own, on the contrary, is that of a will which does not try to counterfeit intellect, and which, remaining itself - that is to say, evolving - ripens gradually into acts which the intellect will be able to resolve indefinitely into intelligible elements without ever reaching its goal. The free act is incommensurable with the idea, and its "rationality" must be defined by this very incommensurability, which admits the discovery of much intelligibility within it as we will. Such is the character of our own evolution; and such also, without doubt, that of the evolution of life." No one, despite their educational backgrounds or lack thereof, should feel intimidated by the possibility of transcending one's very own intellect.

the opus of the advocate of vitality...........2000-05-17

Despite Lord Russell's criticism that "intuition works best in bats, bees, and Bergson," in this work Bergson not only finishes the uprooting of the Western and Platonic disembodied intellect (a deconstruction taken only so far by Kant), he presents us with the spectacle of unbridled life creatively shaping, not only its world, but itself in accord with its own telos: the need for eyesight creating the eye, so to speak. Difficult in places but a treasure, although one could wish he gave more credit to Nietzsche's obviously great impact on him. Jungians would do well to peruse Bergson too.

Strong Imagination: Madness, Creativity and Human Nature

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Strong Imagination, Madness, and Creativity.
Bring your brain
grasping at non-existent justifications...

Strong Imagination: Madness, Creativity and Human Nature
Daniel Nettle
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
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Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0198507062

Book Description

Madness is the central mystery of the human psyche. Our minds evolved to give us a faithful understanding of reality, to allow us to integrate into our communities, and to help us adapt our behaviour to our environment. Yet in serious mental illness, the mind does exactly the opposite of these things. The sufferer builds castles of imaginative delusion, fails to adapt, and becomes a stranger among his own people. Yet mental illness is no marginal phenomenon: it is found in all societies and all historical epochs, and the genes that underlie it are quite common. Furthermore, the traits that identify the madman are found in attenuated form in normal thinking and feeling. The persistence of madness, then, is a terrible puzzle from both an evolutionary and a human point of view. In A Midsummer Night's Dream, Shakespeare suggested a link between madness and artistic creativity: 'The lunatic, the lover, and the poet', he wrote, 'Are of imagination all compact'. Recent studies have shown that there is indeed a connection. Rates of mental illness are hugely elevated in the families of poets, writers and artists, suggesting that the same genes, the same temperaments, and the same imaginative capacities are at work in insanity and in creative ability. Thus the reason madness continues to exist is that the traits behind it have psychological benefits as well as psychological costs. In Strong Imagination, Daniel Nettle explores the nature of mental illness, the biological mechanisms that underlie it, and its link to creative genius. He goes on to consider the place of both madness and creative imagination in the evolution of our species.

Customer Reviews:

Strong Imagination, Madness, and Creativity........2006-10-05

The lunatic, the lover, and the poet
Are of imagination all compact.
- _A Midsummer Night's Dream_, William Shakespeare.

_Strong Imagination: Madness, Creativity, and Human Nature_ by anthropologist Daniel Nettle is a fascinating account of the intertwining relationship between madness (mental illness), creativity, and human nature all linked together through the notion of "strong imagination". As the author points out, "strong imagination" was recognized by William Shakespeare who noted three things about it: that it is an inherent aspect of human nature, that it is highly developed in madness and creativity, and that it may be associated with love or sexual attraction. The author also states later in the book that what he means by madness is really "psychosis", "the state where the sufferer passes beyond the bounds of reality, intelligibility, and rationality as defined by the bulk of society". Psychosis is mostly seen in the more extreme forms of depression, manic depression, and schizophrenia (formerly known as "dementia praecox"). The author also brings up a fourth category: the "schizoaffective" (shading between depression and/or mania and schizophrenia), although the usefulness of these categories remains a matter of some debate. Of course the very notion of mental illness and psychosis remains extremely controversial, and the author must spend a great deal of the earlier parts of this book defining exactly what he means, answering possible objections, and ultimately defending his viewpoint that mental illness is a brain disorder and results from either a chemical imbalance in the brain, an "organic" disturbance, or an atrophy in certain parts of the brain. The author also contends that medication that works on neurotransmitters in the brain (in particular antidepressants such as Prozac for minor and major depression, lithium for manic depression, and anti-psychotics for schizophrenia) dampens the effects of mood swings and may be useful for alleviating thought disorder, psychosis, or the so-called positive symptoms of schizophrenia. Furthermore, the author contends that tendencies towards psychosis (or affective disorder) are hereditary. All of this of course remains extremely controversial.

The author begins by showing what he means by "strong imagination" and its interaction with madness, especially in his comparisons of Shakespeare's plays and the bizarre delusions of an apparently schizophrenic man, Mr. Matthews, in Eighteenth century London who believed that a "gang of seven" was plotting against him and devised all sorts of explanations for their nefarious schemes. The author next explains what he means by psychosis. Important distinctions arise at this point, first between the outdated categories of neurosis (minor mental complaint) and psychosis, and secondly between two forms of psychosis (organic and functional). The distinction between organic and functional psychosis highlights two different methods of understanding mental illness (one rooted in dualism between mind and body and the other rooted in biological materialism). The author highlights some of the earlier means of treating mental illness that were rooted in this dualistic understanding, including psychotherapy and mentioning in particular Freud. The alternative approach was to treat mental illness as a form of brain disorder (and this is the dominant approach today), and thus a search for appropriate medications began. Other more radical thinkers such as Thomas Szasz have argued that mental illness does not exist at all, and that the mentally ill merely have different or unpopular beliefs, comparing schizophrenics to conscientious objectors and separatists. While there is some truth in Szasz's arguments, they ultimately rest on a misunderstanding of the concept of disease and the resulting social implications that we should not attempt to treat schizophrenics or the severely depressed are horrendous and cruel. A second distinction arises between "nature and nurture". The nature position having its roots in Galton for example, contended that mental illness was a hereditary disease and biological in nature. The nurture position which was defended by Freud, but also in a particularly extreme form by R. D. Laing, contended that mental illness arose as a result of family difficulties (or was the only rational response to the inherent contradictions of modern capitalist society) and particularly blamed the mother for them. The author will contend that the nature position has largely been vindicated and provides much evidence to show this. The author next turns his attention to manic depression and schizophrenia, attempting to show how these disorders arise and the biological basis for them. The author contends that it is useful to think of manic depression and schizophrenia as two separate entities (though the separation is fuzzy and this remains a controversial point). The author also contends that manic depressive moods (in particular the high moods of hypomania) are particularly inducive to creative work. The author also contends that schizophrenic thinking (the thought disorder of psychosis) is also inducive to creative thinking. The author proposes two distinct personality dimensions (thymotypy and schizotypy) to indicate individuals who are prone to psychosis but who may also be particularly creative. The author shows how many creative geniuses of eminence (particularly in the creative arts, though I suspect also in mathematics and philosophy) had these traits. The author also shows how these traits might have been selected for evolutionarily. Here he discusses not only their role in modern societies, but also their role in "primitive" cultures, emphasizing for example the role of shaman and bard. The author contends that the creative process may have been selected for in a similar manner to the way the peacock's beautiful tail was selected for, as part of sexual selection. The author also considers the possibility that mental illness is increasing in modern civilization. Finally, the author explains the need for creative individuals to "keep sane" and not seek out psychosis, because though thymotypy and schizotypy may be indicative of creative tendencies, outright psychosis largely interferes with creative work.

This book offers a fascinating study of the relationship between madness and creative thinking as part of "strong imagination". The author's theories are certainly interesting and backed up with much evidence to support them. As someone who has experienced both mental illness (manic depression including some psychosis) and highly creative states, I found this book to be particularly insightful.

Bring your brain.......2004-12-08

I'm a writer with manic depression who is bothered by the way mental illness is romanticized within the writing community. So many people I know believe that writers with manic depression should not take medication because it will "kill" their creativity. I find this attitude really offensive -- not just because it is false -- but also because it puts manic-depressive writers and artists in danger. I have found very few resources that adequately address this issue, very few books that explain why allowing full blown psychosis to developed is a bad idea, not just for the health of the person in question, but for his or her creativity as well. Daniel Nettle really hit this one it on the head as far as I'm concerned.

I was particularly drawn into the parts of the book that dealt with the "nature vs. nuture" argument, and the history behind each way of thinking. This information is complex but assessable. I read the book in just a few sittings.

Don't get me wrong -- this is no dumbed down self-help book. This is a heady and academic work, full of carefully thought out arguments. Bring your brain and a lot of sticky arrows to mark your favorite passages. My book is now full of them.

grasping at non-existent justifications..........2002-12-09

I respect the author's intentions to provide a form of consolation for troubled individuals like myself. However, the attempt falls short in the too-real context of inevitable aging and death. Assuming that personal efficacy in ordinary matters is self-evidently a cure simply loses sight of the fact that concentrating on mundane matters must be conducted without any form of external justification.

I recommend readers interested in this subject turn to different techniques of being resigned to the purposelessness and meaninglessness that scientific investigations continually reveal. In particular, I recommend the scientifically grounded "cosmic spirituality" as described by Milton Munitz in books such as The Question of Reality; Cosmic Understanding and Does Life Have A Meaning?. Owen Flanagan also provides comfort in his discussions, including The Problem of the Soul.

Having to face reality is always a difficult task. And Daniel Nettle courageously takes up this task with all good intention to alert troubled individuals to NOT indulge in nihilistic self-destruction for the sake of "art" or other means to attention and notoriety. This is sound advice. As is Nettle's advice to pursue robust health. These are all necessary but ultimately insufficient steps on the way to a comfortable avoidance of insanity. For a self-sufficient presence, one still must face one's personal orientation to the totality of reality.

Book Description

Siler's provocative and highly accessible work is designed to help readers gain a fuller understanding of this artist/visionary's latest tome, casting a fresh light on the unrealized symmetry of the mind and the universe. Illustrations.

Customer Reviews:

VERY DEEP and worth the voyage.......1999-07-28

This is one of the best books I've read on how the mind works! It's not an easy read, but is extremely rich and thought provoking. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to know more about the nature of the human mind and the mind's physical, emotional and spiritual relationship with the universe as a whole.

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Creative Evolution
Henri Bergson
Manufacturer: Modern Library/Random House NY 1947
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000GQSW6W

Creative Dissent: Psychoanalysis in Evolution

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Creative Dissent: Psychoanalysis in Evolution

Manufacturer: Praeger Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0275980618

Book Description

Views dissenting from the status quo in psychoanalysis are presented in four areas: Psychoanalysis and Early Dissidents, The Psychoanalytic Process, Psychoanalysis and Culture, and Psychoanalysis and Religion. Authors introduce ideas on the analyst's freedom and imagination, the use of humor and play, and the importance of small talk, as well as new perspectives on understanding and working with trauma. The section on psychoanalysis and culture addresses an area rarely considered in psychoanalysis today, regardless of theoretical model. As the global culture becomes more salient, clinicians can ignore the issues of culture with a diversity of patients only to their detriment. The volume's final attention to psychoanalysis and religion frames a new paradigm for understanding mysticism and the relationship to psychopathology to spiritual disciplines and experiences.

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The Origins of Creativity

Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Creativity & Genius | Psychology & Counseling | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

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Fostering Creativity in Children, K-8: Theory and Practice
Creativity Is Forever
A WHACK ON THE SIDE OF THE HEAD: How You Can Be More Creative
When Gifted Kids Don't Have All the Answers: How to Meet Their Social and Emotional Needs
Guiding the Gifted Child: A Practical Source for Parents and Teachers

ASIN: 0198507151

Book Description

After Newton died in 1727, a monument was erected in the Scientist's Corner of Westminster Abbey. It was decorated with a pile of four books and adorned with cherubs holding a prism, a telescope and newly minted coins. The implication is clear. Newton's towering intellect and god-given gift for creative thinking was the origin of his inspiration. Not far away, at the front of the monument to Newton, is the tomb of Charles Darwin, who published On the Origin of Species, which first discussed the evolution of man. The proximity of the monuments is telling. If we are to define the single, most unique human attribute evolution has produced, it must be our ability to think creatively. Thinking is the ultimate human resource. Breaking through the barriers posed by dogma, and reaching beyond the limits of established patterns of thinking to discover what is new and useful is the engine that drives society. This book, which had its genesis in a conference organized by Karl Pfenninger, and held at Aspen, Colorado, entitled 'Higher brain function, art and science: an interdisciplinary examination of the creative process', brings together articles by thirteen contributors from the fields of science, art and music. Two of the contributors have been awarded Nobel prizes, and all are distinguished representatives of their fields. The Origins of Creativity is organized around four central themes of creativity: the creative experience in art and science; the biological basis of imagination, emotion and reason; creative powers and the environment; and the mind's perception of patterns. The views of artists, who couch their ideas in more metaphorical language, mingle with the analytical thoughts of scientists who strive to understand how the brain generates images and ideas. The voices of creators - artist, scientist, mathematician - and of those who study creative activity - neuroscientist, psychologist, philosopher - generate a broad spectrum of views on creativity whose integration offers new insights and becomes a creative act in itself. This book offers insights into the origins of human creativity to scientists, artists, and general readers. Its inter-disciplinary authorship presents a uniquely broad perspective on current research, and the style throughout is accessible and engaging.

The g Factor: The Science of Mental Ability (Human Evolution, Behavior, and Intelligence)

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4 for the Science. 0 for Readability.
Fence Straddler
Fantastic Intellectual Masterpiece
Best book in differential psychology in the 1990s
It will make a man out of you

The g Factor: The Science of Mental Ability (Human Evolution, Behavior, and Intelligence)
Arthur R. Jensen
Manufacturer: Praeger Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0275961036

Book Description

Jensen provides a comprehensive treatment of one of the major constructs of behavioral science--general mental ability--labeled the g factor by its discoverer, Charles Spearman. The g factor is about individual differences in mental abilities. In factor analyses of any and every large and diverse collection of measures of mental abilities, however varied the content of knowledge and skills they call upon, g emerges as the largest, most general source of differences between individuals and between certain subpopulations. Jensen fully and clearly explains the psychometric, statistical, genetic, and physiological basis of g, as well as the major theoretical challenges to the concept. For decades a key construct in differential psychology, the g factor's significance for scholars and researchers in the brain sciences as well as education, sociology, anthropology, evolutionary psychology, economics, and public policy is clearly evident in this, the most comprehensive treatment of g ever published.

Customer Reviews:

4 for the Science. 0 for Readability........2007-02-28

After reading "The Bell Curve" by Hernstein and Murray (H & M) I read this book to further study this issue. With 20/20 hindsight this was an error. Jensen is a first class scientist but a last class author. "The g Factor" is essentially a 600 page scientific paper catered to scientists. But, scientific papers usually run 30 pages not 600. Such a length will exhaust and bore most readers outside of psychometricians.

The two interesting chapters are the first and last. In the first one, Jensen provides an excellent history of psychometrics. This includes vivid biographies of early pioneers: Francis Galton, Charles Spearman, and Karl Pearson. These were brilliant polymaths who made huge contribution to psychology and statistics. In the last one, Jensen finally touches upon the social implications of differences in g. But, H & M covered this topic a lot better in "The Bell Curve." In between those two chapters, "The g Factor" sinks into an unending Byzantine confirmation of the validity of the g factor. Unless you are a psychometrician you will not get much out of this.

"The Bell Curve" has a much broader vision on the implication of our society's stratification along an IQ continuum. "The g Factor" is more like one scientist obsession to confirm over and over that g is a statistically relevant dominant factor of cognitive abilities within a factor analysis framework (the g factor captures the majority of the variance of all the variables; typically these consists of different components of cognitive or response time tests).

The one quality of "The g Factor" is that it does confirm that everything within "The Bell Curve" is scientifically accurate. Both books overlap a lot. And, "The g Factor" never contradicts "The Bell Curve." That something I anticipated since 52 leading psychometricians signed a paper on the consensus findings of their science which backed "The Bell Curve."

H & M relied principally on logistic regression. Thus, H&M could represent their findings persuasively with very user friendly graphs. Their graphs using IQ levels on the x axis and specific social outcomes (unemployment rate, or crime, etc...) as the y axis were very telling. It rendered evident that the lower one's IQ the higher the probability that bad things will happen to that person or that person will do bad things. Those graphs were worth a thousand data points. There is no equivalent in Jensen's book. This is because he used principally factor analysis that does not cater to such graphical explanations. Instead, Jensen provides countless tables regarding the g loading of various metrics. The latter tells little that is interesting outside the field of psychometrics.

"The g Factor" does convey incremental information beyond the "The Bell Curve." But, that information is trivial for the most part. So, IQ is related with head size, brain size, myopia, and height. It is also related to various metrics of reaction and decision time (that's Jensen lifelong obsession). And, the genders are equal in intelligence but different in their subcomponents. Males have superior spatial capabilities and females superior verbal ones. Also, the standard deviation of males' quantitative capabilities is larger than females. In summary, the incremental information provided by Jensen is often boring because he did not elaborate much on meaningful implications of his findings (unlike H & M in `The Bell Curve').

Fence Straddler.......2007-02-15

It is very difficult to read the book G Factor without laughing out loud.
Arthur Jensen sounds so convincing and his tone so professional, that I had to pull out his 60 page report, written years ago to see if it was the same man. Yep, it was Jensen, writing an article about the ability of inner-city children to boost their IQ scores by A WHOPPING 14 POINTS!
I will now quote Mr. Jensen. "Can a child's language level be changed by the age of entering nursery school or kindergarten? A study by Dawe(1942) suggests that it can be. Orphanage children ranging in age from 3 yrs. 7 mos. to 6 yrs. 10 mos., were given special speech and language training...Compared with a well-matched control group, the experimental group showed a gain of 14 IQ points (their initial IQ was about 80). The language training did not consist of mere test coaching; the transfer of training was quite general and showed up in a variety of assessment procedures." So there you have it folks! How ironic is it that the most devastating evidence against the G Factor comes from its own author!!! Jensen sounds a lot like his critics!
I give this book a one star rating, for its obvious hypocrisy and specious reasoning. Well, Mr. Jensen? Which side of the fence is it?
(For those wondering which article Mr. Jensen wrote, it became part of a book, called Social Class, Race, and Psychological Development).

Fantastic Intellectual Masterpiece.......2006-05-05

The Bell Curve was a book that was well written and researched. Much of the theory was based on the work of Arthur Jenson. Arthur Jenson has longed argued and backed up with research that IQ is something real that can be measured and is important to human success. It is also largely inherited. Most of our IQ is measured by the 'g' factor, which put (very) simply is a measure for intellectual horsepower.

Don't be mistaken, this book is not light reading. It is very long and demands a lot of attention from the reader. You might say that while this book is easily followed by an intelligent reader, it makes the Bell Curve look like a simple magazine article in comparison. Jenson backs up everything he says with statistics and facts. He is a genious.

Of course the book is very senitive on political terms and falls
far short of being politically correct. While Jenson does not go out of his way to offend or be insensitive he also does not avoid controversy. May biggest problem is the price of the book. I would like to see it available in a much cheaper paperback version....or maybe even an abridged version. But the book looks and reads like a masterpeice. Unless you are looking for left-wing fluff you won't be dissapointed.

Best book in differential psychology in the 1990s.......2004-12-12

Currently, it stands as the most comprehensive tome on g ever written. More than that though, it is a masterwork in the field of intelligence and individual differences. If Jensen's place as one of the premier scientists in the field of psychology wasn't already firmly entrenched, this work definitely put him there.

It will make a man out of you.......2004-11-17

George Bernard Shaw said that reading Das Capital by Karl Marx, "would make a man out of you." Actually, Marx's pie-in-the-sky egalitarianism is more the stuff of teenagers than of men. Jensen's G Factor, on the other hand, is about as sophisticated as social science gets, and he pulls no punches. So be ready to venture out from PC's reassuring bosom into the cold world of reality...and bring your statistics textbook with you for help.

3rd Millennium: The Challenge and the Vision: The Club of Budapest Report on Creative Paths of Human Evolution (Classic Series)

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3rd Millennium: The Challenge and the Vision: The Club of Budapest Report on Creative Paths of Human Evolution (Classic Series)
Ervin Laszlo
Manufacturer: Gaia Books
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Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 185675068X

Cosmology, Evolution, and Resurrection Hope: Theology and Science in Creative Mutual Interaction

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Cosmology, Evolution, and Resurrection Hope: Theology and Science in Creative Mutual Interaction
Robert John Russell
Manufacturer: Pandora Pr
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