After I finished the bell curve I decided to explore the scholarly reaction to the book which has been extremely heated. Articles both for and against the conclusions of the book routinely attack their opponents as being racist, excessively politically correct, classist etc. A book compiling scholarly responses to the bell curve called "the bell curve wars" for my next several blog posts I will read and explore this compilation. In the introduction (essentially the first 50 pages) the most potent criticisms of the bell curve are explained. They start with Hernstein and Murray's assumption that IQ is "heritable" and that IQ can sufficiently measure a person's intelligence. Ignoring the rest of the book these two statements are highly controversial because they imply that one's intelligence is fixed at birth. Secondly, many have attacked the data sets used by Hernstein and Murray, an issue I have touched upon in previous posts. Many of their datasets have significant flaws such as small sample sizes and inconsistent data sources. Included in the bell curve war is a copy of an APA report investigating the data, which, according to the introduction affirms some but not all of Hernstein and Murray's assumptions. I was quite surprised to find that a book exists entirely of scholarly criticisms and defenses of the Bell Curve. However, from what I have read in the introduction these arguments shed new light on Hernstein and Murray's work and provide insights of their own. I think it is also important that the data in the bell curve is closely scrutinized. The book has been very widely read and has the potential to influence public policy. As a result I think it is a healthy intellectual exercise to verify its data. One element in response to the bell curve that I don't like is the more extreme, unqualified and politically motivated reactions. On one end these consist of individuals calling Hernstein and Murray racist and arguing that their works should never be read or discussed. On the other end are those who take the bell curve and use it to justify income inequality in the United States. Of these groups the second is far more harmful to society.