THIS is a thoroughly interesting and even exciting biography of Francis Galton, whose reputation is somewhat shadowed because of his enthusiasm for eugenics. This is a term he himself gave to the belief that human beings could be mentally and physically improved by genetic methods. The title of the book Extreme Measures refers to this idea as well as to Galton’s passion for measuring whatever could be measured, the basis for his advances in the use of statistics.
For instance, he even measured the time it took for a sadistic headmaster of his school to beat 11 boys. It took…
