Nurture All The Way

Skin Deep: Journeys in the Divisive Science of Race by Gavin Evans, is a detailed exploration of the race science.  Notably, he follows the work of scientists who try and prove one race or ethnicity has a higher IQ than another, among other indicators.   Evans employs the work of other scientists who fail to see that so-called racial or ethnic background are the determiners of intelligence.  These scientists fall on the nurture side of the argument of the age old nature v nature battle.

So, this is an old argument, and common sense seems to dictate that our intelligence or other positive (or negative) traits are driven by a combination of the two.  Yet Evans points out that precious few behaviors or tendencies can be pinned to genetic inheritance alone.  The science does not back it up.

 

Evans takes down many race scientists in this work.  Probably too many for the casual reader.  If you are really into this subject, and are familiar with the literature, than this book is for you.