[.ca] Blank Slate (ISBN 0142003344)

Achieves its goals and then wanders:
This book explores an important topic, the concept that human beings exist without any biologically deterministic viewpoints and thus can be shaped completely by the "correct" ideas from society itself, but when it leaves firm science falls into the very system of thought that it laments. Pinker explores the history of biological determinism, and dissects the major arguments against it, effectively proving his point by page 223; however, from that point onward, he discusses the "positive" applications of his research from a progressivist, scientistic, and individualistic viewpoint, thus affirming the very belief systems that gave rise to his much-detest concept of the "Blank Slate." While the first half of this book is thus insightful and politically controversial research, the second half is the kind of social platitudes that one might expect from a professor who teaches introductory creative writing, not a lucid mind. However, the book remains important for its comprehensive and diligent tackling of what is perhaps the greatest pseudo-scientific mythos of our time.

very good:
This book presents the overwhelming evidence against the popular doctrines of the Blank Slate and the Noble Savage and shows their invalidity. Mr. Pinker writes well, the language is neither simplistic or too difficult for the average senior highschool student, and this book has just the amount of 'entertaining' additions (like quotes and anecdotes)for my taste. I like (I am mentioning this so that any customers might guess their liking of this book based on my taste and my obvious loving of it) information, arguments and detail and get annoyed and bored with constant anecdotes that act as poor evidence and redundancy in general. Do not think that this book is dense or dull, though. Mr. Pinker is an excellent writer and obviously knows how to appeal to the mainstream reader. In addition to the actual presentation of the evidence, the study of the Blank Slate's immense popularity in spite of its obvious falsity would be immensely interesting for those of you who seek to understand human nature. My favourite parts of this book are the discussions of the relation of the Blank Slate doctrine to specific 'hot button' issues like gender politics, violence and political affiliation. I highly recommend this book. !

Highly politicized, non-scientific book:
I have been an avid reader of Steven Pinker's books but found this one non-scientific, political garbage. Instead of concentrating on the science, he seems to dedicate his efforts to bashing scientists who don't share his (and his friends) opinions. Highly dissappointing.

Time for social scientists to go back to the drawing board.:
This book is simply amazing. It explains in great detail just how wrong we've been until now about...well, everything. Pinker explains how Evolutionary Psychology (or Sociobiology) is the only discipline that can come up with a reasonably predictive model of human behavior. You'll notice many social scientists (psychologists, sociologists, anthropologists, etc...) reacting very harshly toward this book. That is because Pinker exposes the assumptions that make up the very foundation of much of their disciplines as completely false. Evolutionary psychology provides the basis for understanding human behavior, interactions, and deviances. A century from now, we'll look back at the twentieth century "behavioral model", what Pinker refers to as the "Standard Social Science Model" (or "SSSM"), much the same way we look at alchemy and bloodletting today. Read this book. It will challenge your most cherished beliefs regarding the motivations that underly human behavior. And it makes an important contribution toward the necessary demolition of social science as we know it.

Breathtakingly Silly:
I've long been critical of sociobiology and its allied disciplines. But everyone from The Nation to the National Review was exclaiming gleefully that The Blank Slate is the best possible argument in their favor. So I decided to pick it up and make sure the arguments I've made still stand. They do. A thorough exposition of all the problems with this book is beyond the scope of this review. Pinker cherry picks those pieces of evidence that might seem to support his views and ignores the the vast amount of that which contradicts it. His distortion of the current state of anthropological knowledge is particularly severe. And of course, he tops it all off with the obligatory strawman attacks on Richard Lewontin and company. The sheer intellectual arrogance of this man is amazing.