Taboo: Why Black Athletes Dominate Sports and Why We're Afraid to Talk About It

I also expected to see some data comparing anthropometric differences that may explain better athletic performance, such as the average thigh length or ratio of thigh length to lower leg length.

The book is devoted 90% to the "why we're afraid to talk about it" aspects, that is, the political correctness issue in talking about racial differences. Frankly, this was not why I bought the book so I was mostly disappointed.


Dissapointing   July 18, 2003
 36 out of 40 found this review helpful

Althogh this book had some interesting points, overall I would say it [stinks]. He never properly analyzed the supposed premise of the book, and after going through the entire 400 page text, I can't say that he really came close to drawing any major conclusions. He is also very biased, and tends to skew as much data as he can to try and corelate blacks as superior athletes. Most of the book is very irrelevant to objectively analyzing if blacks are suprior at sports and if so, why they are. I am very dissapointed!


racism   April 14, 2003
I think this book is raciest! To say that there is such a difference between the races just makes me think that someone is trying to come up with more reasons to keep the races apart. I am white, but I can't support this kind of exploitation. Shame on all of you!


Good, but it takes the long way   April 9, 2003
 49 out of 51 found this review helpful

I find no fault in this book's premise that there are differences between ethnic groups in terms of pure athletic performance and it is a mystery to me how some people find fault in this idea and why it is so politically charged.

But I do find fault in the way Mr. Entine makes his point, and makes it, and makes it, and makes it. This books weighs in at a hefty 400 pages, and it would have benefited from a filter of some kind that would have cut out half of the text by eliminating many of the second, third and fourth examples that illustrate the same points and dull the impact of Mr. Entine's relevant and valuable research and conclusions.

I am not a physiologist, but as a middle distance runner at the university level, a sports journalist for nearly a decade and a keen observer for longer than that, I have seen nothing to make me disagree with Mr. Entine's main points. I do agree with the arguments of those who say there are also cultural factors at play, but to deny the genetic part of the equation does not stand to reason. The opposing view would assume that all types of talent were somehow evenly distributed among the genetic groups.

If that were the case, why are so many great runners from Kenya and Ethiopia but not from, say, Uganda or Zimbabwe (or Mongolia or Bolivia), where conditions are similar but the genetic makeup is different? In the U.S., why do inner city white kids succeed in basketball less often than inner city black kids? From another angle, why, for example, is it rare to see great black swimmers or gymnists, even in proportion to their participation?

That said -- and Mr. Entine makes this point as well, albeit in passing and with some conditions -- none of that gives support to the simple-minded people who write off the accomplishments of successful athletes by pointing to their genetic head start. In global sports competitions that are usually decided by fractions of seconds and millimeters, nobody can succeed without dedication, hard work and discipline at a level that is unfathomable to most of the rest of us.

The point here is that among those who gather the strength and will to work that hard, a few will stand out because of their genetic advantages, and they are the ones who usually go home with the gold medals. Of course, this does not mean that great champions cannot come from other genetic groups, only that this will happen less often. And these great champions should not be looked down upon for who they are, but celebrated -- they represent the best of what humankind can muster in a specific area, just the same as Mozart, or Einstein, or Shakespeare.