Review
NurtureShock: New Thinking About Children by Po Bronson, Ashley Merryman
A skilled, accessible presentation of scientific research in layman's language." (Kirkus )In a world of modern, involved, caring parents, why are so many kids aggressive and cruel? Where is intelligence hidden in the brain, and why does that matter? Why do cross-racial friendships decrease in schools that are more integrated? If 98% of kids think lying is morally wrong, then why do 98% of kids lie? What's the single most important thing that helps infants learn language?NurtureShock is a groundbreaking collaboration between award-winning science journalists Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman. They argue that when it comes to children, we've mistaken good intentions for good ideas. With impeccable storytelling and razor-sharp analysis, they demonstrate that many of modern society's strategies for nurturing children are in fact backfiring--because key twists in the science have been overlooked.Nothing like a parenting manual, the authors' work is an insightful exploration of themes and issues that transcend children's glives.. The second-the fallacy of the good/bad dichotomy-is the assumption that a trait or factor is either good or bad, when in fact it may be both gThe authors also provide helpful notes for each chapter and an extensive bibliography. The first is the fallacy of similar effect-the assumption that what is true for adults is also true for children. Their findings are often surprising. Pink, author of A WHOLE NEW MIND )"A provocative collection of essays popularizing recent research that challenges conventional wisdom about raising children...[Bronson and Merryman] ably explore a range of subjects of interest to parents... For example, in schools with greater racial diversity, the odds that a child will have a friend of a different race decrease; listening to "baby DVDs" does not increase an infant's rate of word acquisition; children with inconsistent and permissive fathers are nearly as aggressive in school as children of distant and disengaged fathers. Much like in his previous work, he's entered a genre known for emotional cheese, and produced a book that's hard to put down and easy to take seriously. This is a funny, clever, sensible book. As a writer, I was impressed by the prodigious research and keen analysis. Bronson and Merryman call attention to what they see as two basic errors in thinking about children. Grade: A" (The Onion AV Club )"NURTURESHOCK is one of the most important books you will read this year. As a father, I was consumed with taking notes and exhilarated by all I learned." (Daniel H. It's not didactic - more of a revelatory journey . .. "Engaging . .. Bronson delights in showing that most parental intuition and supposedly common knowledge about child rearing is just bullshit, and he has the facts to prove it. Now, in Nurtureshock, he's taking on child rearing, and raising some issues about adolescent intelligence, language acquisition, early friendships and aggression that will surprise even well-informed parents." (Time Out New York )"The least touchy-feely [parenting book] ever . .. This book's great value is to show that much of what we take to be the norms of parenting - i.e. what's good for children - is actually non-scientific and based on our own adult social anxieties . .. Using the simple technique of speaking to researchers and observing them at work, Bronson and Merryman avoid the smugness common to the parenting oeuvre, which is often rather self-satisfied and/or guilt-inducing. Nobody's ever done this before in a systematic way . .. Bronson relays some startling scientific findings . .. Every parent should read it." (The Financial Times )"Bronson is a writer who can capture unwieldy topics such as Silicon Valley (The Nudist on the Late Shift), family gand big decisions (What Should I Do with My Life?).