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Memories of My Life
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339 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1909
About the author
Francis Galton
102 books71 followersSir Francis Galton, FRS was an English Victorian polymath: anthropologist, eugenicist, tropical explorer, geographer, inventor, meteorologist, proto-geneticist, psychometrician, and statistician. He was knighted in 1909.
Galton produced over 340 papers and books. He also created the statistical concept of correlation and widely promoted regression toward the mean. He was the first to apply statistical methods to the study of human differences and inheritance of intelligence, and introduced the use of questionnaires and surveys for collecting data on human communities, which he needed for genealogical and biographical works and for his anthropometric studies.
He was a pioneer in eugenics, coining the term itself and the phrase "nature versus nurture". His book Hereditary Genius (1869) was the first social scientific attempt to study genius and greatness.
As an investigator of the human mind, he founded psychometrics (the science of measuring mental faculties) and differential psychology and the lexical hypothesis of personality. He devised a method for classifying fingerprints that proved useful in forensic science. He also conducted research on the power of prayer, concluding it had none by its null effects on the longevity of those prayed for.
As the initiator of scientific meteorology, he devised the first weather map, proposed a theory of anticyclones, and was the first to establish a complete record of short-term climatic phenomena on a European scale. He also invented the Galton Whistle for testing differential hearing ability.
He was cousin of Douglas Strutt Galton and half-cousin of Charles Darwin.
Galton produced over 340 papers and books. He also created the statistical concept of correlation and widely promoted regression toward the mean. He was the first to apply statistical methods to the study of human differences and inheritance of intelligence, and introduced the use of questionnaires and surveys for collecting data on human communities, which he needed for genealogical and biographical works and for his anthropometric studies.
He was a pioneer in eugenics, coining the term itself and the phrase "nature versus nurture". His book Hereditary Genius (1869) was the first social scientific attempt to study genius and greatness.
As an investigator of the human mind, he founded psychometrics (the science of measuring mental faculties) and differential psychology and the lexical hypothesis of personality. He devised a method for classifying fingerprints that proved useful in forensic science. He also conducted research on the power of prayer, concluding it had none by its null effects on the longevity of those prayed for.
As the initiator of scientific meteorology, he devised the first weather map, proposed a theory of anticyclones, and was the first to establish a complete record of short-term climatic phenomena on a European scale. He also invented the Galton Whistle for testing differential hearing ability.
He was cousin of Douglas Strutt Galton and half-cousin of Charles Darwin.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 1, 2025
This is a fascinating book about a highly intelligent, generative proto-rationalist.
This is also probably the most helpful book I've read on understanding the role of elites in society and how England historically was so successful.
A society's elites can materialize in many ways, and if your society ends up with a class of elites who are incredibly smart, creative, pro-social etc. your society is going to advance much farther than one with a different set of elites. For reasons I haven't looked into yet, it seemed like the elites in England at the time were a unique group - and this book, better than others I've read, sheds light on them.
This quote stood out to me:
"A true philanthropist concerns himself not only with society as a whole, but also with as many of the individuals who compose it as the range of his affections can include. If a man devotes himself solely to the good of a nation as a whole, his tastes must be impersonal and his conclusions so far heartless, deserving the ill title of ‘dismal’ with which Carlyle labelled statistics. If, on the other hand, he attends only to certain individuals in whom he happens to take an interest, he becomes guided by favouritism and is oblivious of the rights of others and of the futurity of the race. Charity refers to the individual; Statesmanship to the nation"
This is also probably the most helpful book I've read on understanding the role of elites in society and how England historically was so successful.
A society's elites can materialize in many ways, and if your society ends up with a class of elites who are incredibly smart, creative, pro-social etc. your society is going to advance much farther than one with a different set of elites. For reasons I haven't looked into yet, it seemed like the elites in England at the time were a unique group - and this book, better than others I've read, sheds light on them.
This quote stood out to me:
"A true philanthropist concerns himself not only with society as a whole, but also with as many of the individuals who compose it as the range of his affections can include. If a man devotes himself solely to the good of a nation as a whole, his tastes must be impersonal and his conclusions so far heartless, deserving the ill title of ‘dismal’ with which Carlyle labelled statistics. If, on the other hand, he attends only to certain individuals in whom he happens to take an interest, he becomes guided by favouritism and is oblivious of the rights of others and of the futurity of the race. Charity refers to the individual; Statesmanship to the nation"
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October 9, 2023Read for research
September 26, 2018
This is a really nice book 📚 about his early life, travels and becoming great through voyages. Really lokeable and inspirational!!!!
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews