Posted: Wed 01 Jun 2005 16:17 Post subject: Human Variation Reference
Many of the dicussions in this forum center on human variation. Countless physical traits vary around the world. Blood types, immune system types, body proportions, skin tone, skull shapes, hair texture, fat storage, even odors vary in smooth gradients around the globe. In addition, a myriad of invisible traits associated with disease resistance (or succeptibility) also vary similarly. The very fact that each trait varies independently (no two traits occur in association) and that they all overlap or underlap to some extent is precisely what wrecks the "race" notion as a useful categorization scheme. Nevertheless, geographical trait variation is interesting in its own right, independent of the "race" notion.
The standard reference for this topic is Stephen Molnar, Human Variation: Races, Types, and Ethnic Groups, 5th ed. (Upper Saddle River NJ: Prentice Hall, 2002). I encourage everyone interested in human biology to acquire a copy. Used copies are available from Amazon for as little as $10.50.
This is not a book to read (unless you are truly fascinated by the topic). But it is utterly essential as a reference. The index has every conceivable trait listed, and it takes only a few seconds to find all that is currently known about the trait, its genetics, and how it varies around the world.
Last edited by fwsweet on Thu 29 Nov 2007 13:57; edited 3 times in total
Posted: Fri 22 Aug 2008 17:03 Post subject: Review on Amazon
This is what one reader from Norway had to say about the book. I am interested if anyone has information on the testosterone level studies that are mentioned. Also if anyone is from Norway or is familiar with the culture do they know if these type of opinions are common?
4 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars Science at a low level, March 23, 2006
By J. Thorjussen (Norway) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)
I have very mixed feelings about this book. It is a good introduction to the human DNA, Chromosomes and Genes, and it is also good at showing the diversity around the world when it comes to Blood Groups, Enzymes and Hemoglobin Variants.
But Mr. Molnar is so afraid of admitting that races exists that he hides away important facts that he don't like. He strongly denies that there are different behavior among the races when the opposite actually is prooved all over. Just ask prison officers and teachers. That Negroids has up to 20 % more of the Hormone Testosterone than Whites is a so importent fact that it indeed should have been paid attention to in this book, but it is not mentioned at all! Where else than in a book like this should it have been discussed??? This high Testosterone-level makes people more aggressive and sexually active and is an importent reason for behavioral differences among the races. It explains, among many other things, the high crime-rate among Negroids (149 per 100 000 is a murder or rapist in USA), and the rellative low crime-rate among Whites (42 per 100 000 in USA) because Whites have less Testosteron. I know this is taboo, but it is altso facts that Molnar obvious hide in his book to stay politically correct.
When there are theories that not fit in with Molnar's bias, he just call them pseudo-science instead of trying to argue against it. An excample is the measure of the skulls of different races. This has been done in more than a hundred years and always brings out the same results; that Asians have biggest brains, Europeans middle, an Negroids the smallest. A hundred years with IQ-testing shows also a relationship between races concerning brain-size an intelligence. Molnar tries to cope with this by pointing to a couple of writers long time ago who had medium to small brains, and by this "argument" prove that there are no correlation with brain-size and IQ. As if there is an eternal rule that writers are more intelligent than others! This is science at a very low level. Molnar must know that the brains of two random writers from long ago can't proove anything about brain-size and IQ among races. In Norway, where I live, you have to pass an exam called Exam Philosophicum if you want to study at the university, and during The Exam Philosophicum you learn, among many other things, logical argumentation. The way Molnar argue wouldn't pass this test at all. To find out the correlation between IQ and brain-size you have to measure a lot of brains from different races. This have been done in more than a hundred years and the result are always the same: Asians have biggest brains and score highest on IQ-tests, Europeans in the middle, and Negroids at the bottom. This is well known facts, but Molnar call it pseudo-science and refuse to discuss it further. I think that is cowardly.
In the book, Molnar don't like to divide Etnic populations into races, but suddenly he finds it useable although in attacking the IQ-results of Negroids because, as he argue, there are different "races" in Africa with different mental ability, and therefore it is wrong to test all Negroes from Sub-Sahara as if they where one race. So in attacking the IQ he suddenly find it acceptable to do divide people into races nevertheles.
It is very confusing when Molnar, as an expert, try to fool the reader the way he does. But as I mentioned, the book also has it's better sides. Skip the pages about intelligence or read J. P. Rusthons book "Race, Evolution and Behavior" instead. It's a much more honest book.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
SORRY FOLKS I PULLED THE TRIGGER TOO SOON. I FOUND THESE REPLIES TO THE REVIEW. THERE MIGHT NOT BE ANYTHING IN THE ORIGINAL REVIEW WORTH DEBATING.
Imhotep says:
There is no such thing as a Negroid. Medieval whites made up the concept to justify their international kidnap/enslavement racketeering scheme. The only thing amazing about the cowardly ignorance of this review is that 4 people found it helpful. What hormone explains the 500 years of genocidal crime perpetrated by Caucasoids on Africans? The conquest of Native American land? The conquest of Aboriginal land? The gassing of millions of Jews? The oppression of women? Why are almost all serial killers white men? This guy is not someone from Norway with a passing Exam Philosophicum. Sounds like somebody from Jim Crow Mississippi without a GED pretending to be Nordish.
Posted on May 9, 2008 11:30 AM PDT
TMakem says:
"Serum Estrogen, But Not Testosterone, Levels Differ between Black and White Men in a Nationally Representative Sample of Americans"
http://jcem.endojournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/92/7/2519
"Conclusions: Contrary to the postulated racial difference, testosterone concentrations did not differ notably between black and white men. However, blacks had higher estradiol levels. Mexican-Americans had higher testosterone than whites but similar estradiol and SHBG concentrations. Given these findings, it may be equally if not more important to investigate estradiol as testosterone in relation to diseases with racial disparity."
Posted: Fri 22 Aug 2008 18:31 Post subject: Re: Review on Amazon
J. Thorjussen wrote:
J. P. Rusthons' book "Race, Evolution and Behavior" instead. It's a much more honest book.
Yes, it is. It is honest in the same sense that Houston Stewart Chamberlain's The Foundations of the Nineteenth Century or Madison Grant's The Passing of the Great Race are honest.
With utter sincerity, Rushton, like Chamberlain and Grant before him, passionately advocates White supremacy and the supertiority of White intellect. Not even the SPLC, which names Rushton's organization as a virulent pro-hate group, suggests that Rushton's racism is insincere or dishonest. But Molnar (and this forum) are committed to something beyond mere honesty. They are committed to replicable factual accuracy, a concept that eludes Rushton.
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