I have to commend you for getting through the Bell Curve. You must have a fairly good background in statistics. Most people never finish the book.
It’s too bad, really. The opponents of Hernstein and Murray probably never even got through the preface.
Full disclosure - I have a B.A. in English and never took statistics - so I skimmed over the stats, although I was able to comprehend most of the graphs.
The ability to figure out when to skim or skip over the stats and when to resume reading took patience and some skill (honed by years of reading an average of a book a week).
The stats backed up his premises so I basically was able to absorb the premises and trust that they were backed up the stats that I skimmed.
It is well worth the trouble.