This is one of the books in Oxford University Press' Very Short Introductions series; this time on intelligence.
The book basically sets out to provide an accessible overview of what we (the scientific community) know about intelligence as a result of more than a century of research on the subject.
The book opens with a methodological discussion (an excellent primer on basic statistics) followed by a first proper chapter on the definition of intelligence (or intelligences according to some accounts).
Quite a bit of the about 120 pages is devoted to the "nature vs. nurture" discussion, i.e. whether genes or the environment matter more for a person's intelligence. There seems to be no definite conclusion yet, but I got the impression that they are roughly speaking equally important.
Was it good?
The book is very accessible, starting from the opening discussion on basic (psychology research) statistics. Throughout the book, the discussion is very down-to-earth even though the contents are drawn from academic research, and in many cases in large scale meta analyses covering decades of scientific research.
The style of the book is notably calm - fitting to a book by an academic publisher - even to the degree that it is quite difficult to draw any memorable punchlines or main messages from the text.
The style of the book is notably calm - fitting to a book by an academic publisher - even to the degree that it is quite difficult to draw any memorable punchlines or main messages from the text.
The main take-away for me?
I was most intrigued by the discussion about how intelligence - or mental abilities in general - develop and persist over time (mainly chapter 2). It turns out - again based on rigorous empirical scientific research - that most mental capabilities don't deteriorate (absent any detrimental medical condition) from the 20s to 30s until somewhere in the 70s or later. Those which do deteriorate mainly have to do with the absolute swiftness of information processing.
Thus, in general terms, people don't become less intelligent even very late in their life.
Who should read the book?
I would recommend the book for anyone who is interested in intelligence - what it is, how it develops and how we can study it. However, this interest should be somewhat 'serious' because the book does not deliver catchy one-liners but rather syntheses of academic findings.
I would recommend the book for anyone who is interested in intelligence - what it is, how it develops and how we can study it. However, this interest should be somewhat 'serious' because the book does not deliver catchy one-liners but rather syntheses of academic findings.
The book on Amazon.com: Intelligence - A very short introduction
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