The Scientist in the Crib: What Early Learning Tells Us about the Mind

... 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".

This book explains current ideas about infants and how and when they learn. It is a well organized with interesting ancedotes and humorous comments sprinkled throughout. Except for the last chapter, which gets rather philosophical, it was a page turner. I still remember their examples (of the first word 'uh-oh' and failure, or of kids confronting a candy box full of pencils). The book strives not to be the standard parenting text which is refreshing. Still, I would have preferred a summary chart of the basic developmental thresholds and the associated ages for those skills. As a young mother of a one year old, I bought this book along with several others on toddler development. It stands out because it is not a 'how-to' parenting book. The authors leave it to the reader to decide how to act on the information. Also, the book describes in some depth how conclusions were arrived at. As a scientist myself I appreciated this, but found their arguments about the similarities between babies and scientists somewhat trite.All in all, one of my top recommendations for parents. There is great information in an unusual, neutral format.

As the father of a nine month old boy, I have been enthralled with this book. It is not a "how to" book on helping your child learn, but rather is a readable introduction to the current state of the study of cognitive development of babies. If you don't believe that it is possible to know what a baby is thinking, you will be fascinated at the clever experiments that have been constructed to tease out information from a baby's brain. It is surprising who much we can find out about how babies' brains work, and how much that can teach us about the adult human brain.The tone of the book is chatty, but the content is substantial. The authors discuss the philosophers as well as the scientists who are working in this area. I don't suppose that the average new parent is interested in wading into Chomsky, Ryle or Descartes, but this book actually makes it interesting and compelling. The book is broken down into the acquisition of particular mental skills. The authors thesis is that babies learn using, more or less, the scientific method, forming hypotheses and then testing them emperically. (The title of the book is a clever word play, referring to this theory, while simultaneously demonstrating what adult scientists are learning from their empirical studies.) While this may seem pretensious, the authors actually make a pretty good case for this theory.The acquisition of language deviates somewhat from this general theoretical method, but the authors have some fascinating experimental data to illustrate the way babies actually learn language.In short, this book is highly recommended, not just to new parents, but also to anyone interested in childhood cognitive development or what can be known about the workings of the human brain.

If you want practical advice on child-rearing, check out Penelope Leach or Dr. Mom. But if you're interested in reading about the latest research in the mental development of infants, this book is absolutely wonderful. It's full of surprising information about how observant and analytical babies are(at less than an hour old, they mimic faces), and gives details about the structure of the experiments used to deduce such information, allowing you to decide for yourself how much weight to give it. Much of the information confirms those of us who have always suspected two day old kids are as intelligent and tuned-in as, say, the typical graduate student -- they just have fewer ways to express it, and less experience to build on. Better yet, the book is written in a thoroughly engaging and often humorous style that possibly owes something to the first named author's brother, the New Yorker writer Adam (or, more likely, both Gopniks inherited the same literary genes).But don't expect pointers on burping technique.

I read this book for a book group and began without much interest. I was caught. This is a beautifully crafted piece of writing. Some of the reviewers seem to be treating it as though it were a manual or reference book for young parents. Rather it is an examination of the status of research into the development of the mind -- research at the trickiest and most preconception-filled level, at the level of the youngest brains -- written for anyone interested in how we learn to perceive and make sense of the world around us. The presentation is enlivened by the authors' own observations. Is there a more accessible analysis and ultimate rejection of the whole nature vs. nurture controversy? A wise and wonderful book I have recommended to friends, and I've been thanked for recommending it. Incidentally, I've recommended it to friends who do not have young children, the hardest to interest in books about young children! The science is formidable when you pause to think about it, yet this remains a humane and accessible book.