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 enlarge | Author: Jon Entine
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Category: Book
List Price: $17.50
Buy Used: $4.99
You Save: $12.51 (71%)
New (21) Used (18) Collectible (1) from $4.99
Avg. Customer Rating:  47 reviews
Sales Rank: 154718
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 400
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 8.9 x 6.1 x 1
ISBN: 158648026X
Dewey Decimal Number: 796.08996073
EAN: 9781586480264
ASIN: 158648026X
Publication Date: January 2001
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
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| Customer Reviews:
| Showing reviews 46-47 of 47 | | « PREV 1 ... | | |
 A must read for those interested in genetic differences. January 23, 2000
53 out of 64 found this review helpful
The raging debate about the average intelligence between races or ethnic groups has always been equated with male athletic ability as well, but it has been kept off the table for discussion as to the genetic component of black dominance in sports. This book finally brings that chapter to a close, and we can begin to look at athleticism with the same tools and analytical perception that we have devoted to intelligence. Of course, sports are just that, and nations and economies do not fall and rise based on the athletic ability of their athletes, but on the creativity and intelligence of their people. So it is only fitting that intelligence would be studied far longer and with greater interest than sports. But with the dominance of blacks in sports, those who demand fairness have the right to ask, "why not affirmative action in sports for whites and Asians?" This book, using many of the same multiple techniques that have been used to debunk the radical environmentalists' assertion that anyone can become a brain surgeon with the right nurturing, has now debunked the myths that environmental conditions have produced a disproportionate number of blacks in key areas of sports. Unlike intelligence, it is absurd to assert that the tests are biased because the tests are simply running races, jumping higher, quick burst of speed for sprints, and endurance for marathons. Instead of arguing that the tests are biased, sports have numerous tests and reformulations of ability that come into play in winning the prestigious top positions on teams and in contests. This easy to read book does not attempt to look at every form of athletic ability. It concentrates on two primary adaptations that are important in many sports: quick bursts of speed and long distance endurance. In fact, a good portion of the book looks at the asymmetry of black abilities: sprinting and long distance running. What is amazing is that sprinters come from West Africa; but the long distance marathon runners are virtually all from the same ethnic group in Kenya--the Kalenjin. That is, the world male marathon runners come from virtually the same ethnic group. Taboo digs into evolution itself, and explains how individual differences are not only possible but are to be expected from the history of humans evolving in radically different climates and ecologies. Different racial groups evolved adaptations that helped them to survive, and it is only natural that intelligence and physical attributes as well would not be equally distributed under drastically varying environments. In fact, J. Philippe Rushton, in his 1995 book Race, Evolution and Behavior describes the numerous ways that whites, blacks and Asians are different, and how it came about because of different selection patterns for survival. Asians and whites for example experienced severe selection for intelligence when faced with glacial conditions in their northerly habitats, Asians more so than whites, resulting in a somewhat higher IQ. (Rushton's new abridged book on this matter has just been released, and makes good reading to fill in the blanks on racial differences not covered in Taboo.)
Provocative, intriguging and very readable January 16, 2000
What a terrific and brave book! Intriguingly, "Taboo" is not so much a sports book as it is a a sensitive and thought-provoking look at what defines us as human beings. I'm a science buff, greatly interested in the impact of genetics, and found it right on the mark. It also goes about, in a non-polemical way, debunking facile theories of race that have been used for hundreds of years to justify racism and even genocide. Perhaps more than anything, it shatters racist stereotypes that blacks or whites or any "racial" group are innately "superior" or "inferior" -- this is a book about the rich diversity of life, free of the myths of "ranking" that have plagued Western thought for centuries.
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