 | Summaries and Customer Reviews are supplied by Amazon.com | Amazon Exclusive: Eric Kandel Reviews Pink Brain, Blue Brain
Eric R. Kandel is a Nobel Prize-winning neuroscientist, and founder of the Center for Neurobiology and Behavior at Columbia University, where he is also Kavli Professor and University Professor. Kandel is a senior investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Center, and has written several books on the science of the mind, including In Search of Memory and Memory, which he co-authored with Larry Squire. Read his guest review of Pink Brain, Blue Brain:
 We live in a world that is driven by science. As a result, science is no longer the exclusive domain of scientists. It has become an essential part of modern life and contemporary culture. Almost daily, newspapers report technical information about science, particularly about biological science and medicine, that we are expected to understand but cannot without further explanation. We are told that gender differences and aptitude influence the academic and career paths of men and women. Does this mean that there are differences between the brains of men and women? Do men and women learn differently? Or are men and women taught differently?
These are not easy questions and they do not lend themselves to easy answers. They need a deep understanding of the biology of the developing brain. In a follow-up to her excellent first book, What’s Going On in There? How the Brain and Mind Develop in the First Five Years of Life, Lise Eliot, a first-rate scholar and a superb neuroscientist, has now brought her extensive knowledge and insight to bear on the difficult and socially important issue of gender difference in her marvelous new book, Pink Brain, Blue Brain. In taking the challenge of addressing the difference between little boys and little girls, Eliot explains how modest differences at birth between the brains of boys and girls are amplified by social factors that in turn produce anatomical changes in the brain to give rise to the greater differences evident in the actions of brains of mature men and women. Eliot explains, in language that is clear to all of us, that these sex differences are plastic and can be modified by experience. Eliot indicates points of intervention where these social pressures could be minimized, interventions that would assure our achieving a fair and equitable maturation of both sexes. This is a wonderfully optimistic book that will be helpful not only to parents and grandparents but to the general public (aunts and uncles) as well. The gradual liberation of women has been the great social theme of the 20th century. Lise Eliot brings this theme into the 21st century by showing us how we can help to initiate and maintain intellectual and social equality for both the pink and blue babies of the future as they mature. This is a brilliant book and I could not recommend it more highly.
Test Yourself: 5 True or False Questions from Pink Brain, Blue Brain TRUE OR FALSE? 1. Bouncy seats and ExerSaucers are great for babies, and parents should make use of them whenever possible. 2. Girls shouldn't be expected to play with Legos and other "boy" toys. 3. Once children can read by themselves, it's not good to keep reading aloud to them. 4. Girls should spend more time playing video games. 5. Boys should be spared awkward social interactions when company comes to visit. (See the Answers Here)
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Average Customer Rating:   A fantastic discussion about sex differences! I teach a session at parenting conferences about raising boys, which necessitates a discussion of how boys differ from girls. This book has been a tremendous resource for up-to-date information about this topic. It is very well written and accessible, grounded in well-analyzed research. What I like best about this book is that it is written with the heart of a mother -- looking at all these differences in the context of real-world application.
I think this book is truly excellent. I applaud this author on her tremendous accomplishment! Good book - but its technical/scientific I was a little torn with how to rate this book. I give it just 4 stars out of 5 because I expected a book that was generally "for parents" and not for the medical/psychology area. On the back of the book it states "And she offers parents and teachers concrete ways to help. Presenting the latest science regarding development from birth to puberty, ..." I zeroed in on the first part - "parents". However, the latter part is more true, she focuses a lot on science. However, I love research and analyzing, so I feel this book was helpful.
Pros:
* Makes footnotes available on the page when needed - this is helpful to expand on the thought or background.
* This is research based and not just what she feels like or pulls out of a hat (although I do believe you can get enough research material to build a case any way you want)
* @ 83 pages of Notes and Bibliography at the end. I love this! If I want more information, I feel like I could dig further if I wanted to.
* Fairly easy to pick up and jump in at various points - you don't have to read cover to cover.
Cons:
* 18 pages of introduction - just get to the point
* seems to linger on topics and points to various research - just make the point
* this seems more technical than I thought it was going to be when I selected the book. I bet it could be even more technical if she wanted it to be - its at least readable for those of us not in Science/Medicine.
My recommendation: It depends. If you like details/analytics - go for it. If you are looking for an easy-to-read Parent book - this is not for you.
about me: female w/ business and IT master degrees and twin toddlers. pink & blue is little murky Clearly Dr. Eliot wants to add more light and subtract some heat from the ever popular issues of gender differences, and she clearly wants what is best for birth sexes, and is not counting up the wrongs committed against one gender or the other.
On the other hand I think she has two visions before her and they don't combine well. On the one hand she used the analogy whereby she compared to gender socialization to learning different languages, and then a few pages later points out the huge overlap on psychological tests and experiments where boys and girls are tested. She seems to be saying that socialization has this large effect making boys and girls really different, but on the other hand they are really not that different. It is my impression that this does not create insurmountable cognitive dissonance because she places the not that different into the nature basket, and the boys and girls speak different languages into the nurture basket, and somehow the same critical mind she brings to nature, has a kind of double standard when reviewing the nurture studies.
I think her approach struggles with understanding the misery of children raised contrary to their brain sex if socialization was as nearly all powerful as she suggests. I am no expert in this area but was surprised to find a simple search uncovered a number of articles on the differences between the corpus callosum in neonates, and Dr. Eliot was quite emphatic that such differences could not be found. A Good Overview Dr. Eliot's book is satisfying on multiple levels. She has written this book
for the general audience, but she doesn't talk down
to the reader. She has read the gender-difference scientific literature,
and makes it accessible to all of us. I think her book is likely to
resonate most with parents of young children. But as a faculty member
in a male-dominated academic field (engineering), I found this book
interesting on other levels as well. A fun and interesting read I've enjoyed reading this book. I am fascinated by how our culture tends to split boys and girls up so much (just look at clothing) but also at the same time want to understand the natural difference. It's been a great read. Backed by research, which I like! |  |
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