Gould was the author of The Mismeasure of Man (1981), a history and inquiry of psychometrics and intelligence testing, generating perhaps the greatest controversy of all his books and receiving both widespread praiseIn 1981 The Mismeasure of Man won the National Book Critics Circle Award for non-fiction. It was voted as the 17th-greatest science book of all time by Discover magazine vol. 27 (December 8, 2006); 9th-best skeptic book by The Skeptics Society (Frank Diller, "Scientists' Nightstand" American Scientist); and ranked 24th place for the best non-fiction book by the Modern Library. and extensive criticism.Blinkhorn, Steve (1982). "What Skulduggery?" Nature 296 (April 8): 506. Gould investigated the methods of nineteenth century craniometry, as well as the history of psychological testing. Gould wrote that both theories developed from an unfounded belief in biological determinism, the view that "social and economic differences between human groups—primarily races, classes, and sexes—arise from inherited, inborn distinctions and that society, in this sense, is an accurate reflection of biology."Gould, S. J. (1981). The Mismeasure of Man. New York: W.W. Norton & Co. p. 20. The book was reprinted in 1996 with the addition of a new foreword and a critical review of The Bell Curve.
Gould was the author of The Mismeasure of Man (1981), a history and inquiry of psychometrics and intelligence testing, generating perhaps the greatest controversy of all his books and receiving both widespread praiseIn 1981 The Mismeasure of Man won the National Book Critics Circle Award for non-fiction It was voted as the 17th-greatest science book of all time by Discover magazine vol 27 (December 8, 2006); 9th-best skeptic book by The Skeptics Society (Frank Diller, "Scientists' Nightstand" American Scientist); and ranked 24th place for the best non-fiction book by the Modern Library. and extensive criticism.Blinkhorn, Steve (1982). "What Skulduggery?" Nature 296 (April 8): 506. Gould investigated the methods of nineteenth century craniometry, as well as the history of psychological testing. Gould wrote that both theories developed from an unfounded belief in biological determinism, the view that "social and economic differences between human groups—primarily races, classes, and sexes—arise from inherited, inborn distinctions and that society, in this sense, is an accurate reflection of biology."Gould, S. J. (1981). The Mismeasure of Man. New York: W.W. Norton & Co. p. 20. The book was reprinted in 1996 with the addition of a new foreword and a critical review of The Bell Curve.