SmartWhat Science Says About Intelligence

Maria Gunther

In the style of David Epstein’s Range, SMART is an authoritative and engrossing big think book about what science has to say about intelligence.

The question ‘What is intelligence?’ may seem simple to answer, but the study and measurement of human intelligence remains one of the most controversial subjects in all science today. Research into intelligence has been used for both good and bad in the past; politically to highlight differences between groups and people, IQ tests have gained a bad reputation for only measuring one’s proclivity for the test itself, and concepts such as ‘emotional intelligence’ have questioned the very fundamentals of what intelligence is.

With her unique background as a female scientist in the male-dominated field of particle physics, and former Mensa member, Maria Gunther has set out on a mission to find answers to our most pressing questions. What does the latest research about intelligence say? What does intelligence testing actually measure? And when the research can potentially pose a great risk, are we free to research anything, in the name of science? In this pivotal time in history, where Stephen Hawking himself in his final years warned about artificial and alien intelligence being real and a substantial threat to society, there is an urgency to take a closer look at a subject that has often been hidden away and disgraced. In SMART, Maria Gunther as a science journalist is the perfect conduit to get the latest research to armchair experts everywhere.

Doing for intelligence what Susan Cain’s Quiet did for introverts, and what Michael Lewis’s The Big Short did for our understand of economic crises, SMART aims to change the trajectory of the general discussion, telling us what the facts are while simultaneously debunking myths, questioning poor research, and discussing the ethical ramifications of research in the field. In a clear and accessible style, Maria Gunther has written an urgently important book in which the reader is invited to a fact-packed and well-researched, yet personally-engaged, journey of finding out what it really means to be smart.