Harvard paleontologist, author, and evolutionary biologist Stephen Jay Gould was one of the modern world's truly great minds.  Gould stands in the same league as scientists like Carl Sagan, who also brought science to the rest of us.

One of Gould's greatest books has to be The Mismeasure of Man, which should also be required reading for every American.  Heck, for every human being on this planet.  Originally published in 1981, The Mismeasure of Man continues to be relevant today, and sadly enough will probably never pass into irrelevancy.

One of the things that makes The Mismeasure of Man such a rich book is that it spends a great deal of time walking the reader through some of the most common logical fallacies.  These are common because they befall everyone frequently - from scientists conducting studies on racial differences, to the guy in the next cubicle who thinks he has the ability to make street lights go out when he drives past.  In addition to eviscerating racial stereotypes and bad science, The Mismeasure of Man is a book that helps the reader learn how to think better.  I can come up with no higher praise for a book.

The topic of the book, how science can be led astray by the prejudices of the scientists, is also a topical one today.  More than anything, Gould shows that it is the audience's willingness to believe which propagates these falsehoods, and that a proper peer review can do wonders.  

Many of the studies cited in The Mismeasure of Man were not peer reviewed, they were simply published to the world as is, warts and all.  By essentially walking the audience through its own peer review of the studies, Gould shows us not only how to cast a critical eye on scientific research, but (by implication) gives the reader a gut level feeling for the importance of peer review.

Similarly, we earn a substantial respect for the power of the double blind study.  So many of the nonsense scientific "conclusions" you encounter in life (and the news) can easily be dismissed when you read the fine print and learn that the results were not obtained through a double blind study.  And if The Mismeasure of Man teaches the reader anything, it's that if people have the opportunity to reinforce their personal assumptions, they will do so.  Presumably unconsciously, but still.

(The correlation of this is that so many pseudo-scientific theories can so easily be debunked by a simple double blind test, which can easily be conducted by regular folks just like you and me at home.  I am reminded of the wonderful story of the student who effortlessly, effectively, and scientifically debunked claims of magnetic bracelets' powers, using one magnetic bracelet, one regular bracelet, a sheet of cardboard with a hole cut in it, and whichever passers-by wanted to participate.)

I think - I hope - that the actual racist claims in the book which Gould debunks are not themselves going to be a surprise to anyone.  However, watching him walk through stripping down the biases in these studies is not just educational, it's also an inspirational look at a master at work.