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Re: [escepticos] Interesante reseñ a...
>De: "EZS" <diotalle en jet.es>
>
>de Lewotin sobre el libro de Gould: "Wonderful Life".
>
>"Fallen Angels" R.C. LEWONTIN June 14, 1990
Mira por donde, aquí hay otra reseña de un libro de Lewontin, Human
Diversity, que además viene a cuento de recientes (y antiguas) discusiones
en la corrala.
JLM
>Sent by: Danny Yee <danny en ANATOMY.USYD.EDU.AU>
>
>An HTML version of this book review can be found at
>
>http://www.anatomy.usyd.edu.au/danny/book-reviews/h/Human_Diversity.html
>
>along with more than 400 other reviews
>
> title: Human Diversity
> by: Richard Lewontin
> publisher: Scientific American Library 1995
> subjects: human biology, popular science, genetics
> other: 179 pages, halftones, index
>
>Differences between people or groups of people, and the biological
>bases of such differences, are common subjects for dinner-party
>debates and mass-media stories, especially when sex, intelligence,
>or race are involved. But popular thinking in this area is beset
>with confusions -- perhaps not surprisingly given that such
>confusions and inaccuracies are all too common amongst scientists and
>scholars, even in fields such as anthropology. A straightforward,
>accessible explanation of the realities of human biological
>diversity, _Human Diversity_ therefore answers a vital need.
>
>In _Human Diversity_ Lewontin sticks to straight science, taking a
>less polemical approach than in _Not in Our Genes_ (co-authored with
>Leon Kamin and Steven Rose). He begins with a broad overview of
>human variety, of social, sexual, and regional differentiation.
>(This and three other chapters are illustrated with short
>photo-essays.) Then in a key chapter "genes, environment, and
>organism" he outlines the relationships between the causal forces
>that shape human beings, explaining the basics of development and the
>importance of norms of reaction.
>
>The interconnection of the biological and the social is a theme that
>runs through _Human Diversity_, but Lewontin is a population
>geneticist rather than an anthropologist and his primary focus is on
>biological, and in particular genetic, diversity. In three chapters
>he explains the basics of genetics and genetic variation, illustrated
>with examples from _Homo sapiens_. The first covers basic
>polymorphisms, in amino-acids, blood-types, and enzymes, and the
>second their genetic basis, in alleles, genes, chromosomes, and DNA.
>The third turns to continuous variation and quantitative genetics,
>introducing some basic statistics and looking at variation (and its
>partition into genetic and environmental components) and heritability
>(and its estimation).
>
>Lewontin then tackles the most controversial topics of all. He
>presents a concise account of the debate over mental traits, focusing
>on the confusions surrounding IQ, its connections with status,
>wealth, and power, and the estimation of its heritability. This
>includes a careful analysis of the methodology of twin and adoption
>case studies. A chapter on genetic diversity among groups cuts to
>the heart of claims about race and class differences, with an
>examination of the relative variation within and between geographical
>populations and the effects of adaptation and migration. This also
>glances at the differences between men and women and the complex
>paths of causation behind gender. And a final chapter considers the
>creation and maintenance of genetic diversity, both generally and
>specifically in the evolution of _Homo sapiens_.
>
>_Human Diversity_ is written for the lay reader but doesn't
>compromise on accuracy (though the lack of a bibliography or full
>references is a failing). The information it presents must, I
>think, be high on any ranking of "essential human knowledge", if only
>because bad science in this area has played a role in some terrible
>deeds. It really should be in every school library.
>
>--
>
>%T Human Diversity
>%A Richard Lewontin
>%I Scientific American Library
>%C New York
>%D 1995
>%O paperback, halftones, index
>%G ISBN 0-7167-6013-4
>%P 179pp
>%K human biology, popular science, genetics
>
>25 December 1998
>
> ---------------------------------------------------
> Copyright (c) 1998 Danny Yee (danny en cs.usyd.edu.au)
> http://www.anatomy.usyd.edu.au/danny/book-reviews/
> ---------------------------------------------------
>