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David Perkins. Outsmarting IQ: The Emerging Science of Learnable Intelligence. New York: The Free Press, 1995, 390 pages, $23.00.
Reviewed by Norman R. Hertz, Manager, Office of Examination Resources, Department of Consumer Affairs, State of California, Sacramento, CA.
Outsmarting IQ offers a comprehensive discussion of our historical and current fascination with the concept of intelligence. Perkins adopts the perspective that intelligence is not fixed, that there are many ways of viewing intelligence, that no single theory can account for the phenomenon, and that intelligence is malleable.
The purpose of the book is to present an argument for learnable intelligence. As an organizing theme, the author uses the word "mindware." Mindware can best be described by drawing an analogy with computers; Mindware is software for the mind that enables one to do useful things with the data stored in one's memory.
The book is structured around three mindware questions and three levels of analysis that encompass the multitude of theories of true intelligence. The mindware questions are: (a) What mechanisms underlie intelligence? (b) Can people acquire more intelligence? (c) What aspects of...