The Scientist in the Crib : What Early Learning Tells Us About the Mind by Alison Gopnik, Andrew N. Meltzoff, Patricia K. Kuhl Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Scientist in the Crib : What Early Learning Tells Us About the Mind
Book Review: Technical but informative
Summary: 4 Stars
Not written to entertain but to help explain their research into the thoughts of babies and how they learn. Example: Follows their experiment on babies and foreign languages, even though these children can't talk yet!Book Review: a must-read for new parents
Summary: 4 Stars
There have been so many times since my son was born that I've wondered just what's going on in there. How we can wordlessly communicate, and how much I think he really understands about what's going on around him. This book does an excellent job of demystifying the mind of a baby and explains it in an engaging way. A perfect gift for new parents.Book Review: Well-writen survey of current developmental psychology
Summary: 5 Stars
This book is a concise, readable summary of recent science on baby brain development. A nice antidote to all the urban-legend-based/ new-age/ guilt-and-paranoia/ baby literature out there.Book Review: Between Scientific American and Dr. Spock ...
Summary: 5 Stars
... there's a distinct need for a book between the "how-to" manuals like Dr. Spock and the "hard science" works in Scientific American and scholarly journals.
This book by serious scientists who are also devoted and observant parents hits the sweet spot!
If you are looking for yet another book of opinions on how to raise kids, keep looking. This book describes scientifically repeatable findings, using techniques some of which you can replicate (...you might not have access to an MRI device, but you can play with your own child's concept of "gone" ...)
50 pages of notes for people who want to dig deeper into the research! 15 pages of index for people in a hurry! Amusing anecdotes to lift the tedium of careful analysis.
This is a book for any thoughtful and curious parent. It is NOT a "how-to" ... more of a "why it works".
Book Review: Disappointing
Summary: 1 Stars
I bought this with the hope of reading an easy-to-approach book containing the current science on baby development. What I got instead was a book containing a little science and a lot of breathless commentary on how amazing babies, science, and scientists are.
If you're a thinking religious person that believes science is a useful tool that does not have all the answers you probably will not enjoy this book. The authors have already come to all the conclusions for you and God has been deliberately scrubbed out (literally--they quote part of the famous Wordsworth poem "Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood" at the heading of the last chapter, but leave off the final and most significant line, "From God who is our Home.").
On the other hand, if you belong to the "science is man's best hope" school of thought then you may enjoy this book.