Horizon Information Portal

e-branch

Home

My Account/Renew Loans

Find Magazine Articles & more

Off the charts : the hidden lives and lessons of American child prodigies / Ann Hulbert.

by Hulbert, Ann.

View full image

Alfred A. Knopf, 2018.

Gifted children -- United States -- History.

Gifted children -- Biography.

9781101947296 (hc.)

xviii, 372 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm

Includes bibliographical references (pages 297-352) and index.

Part I. Nature vs. nurture -- The wonder boys of Harvard -- "A very free child" -- Part II. Daughters and dreams -- "A Renaissance of creative genius in girlhood" -- Performance pressures -- Part III. Rebels with causes -- Bobby Fischer's battles -- The programers -- Part IV. Miracles and strivers -- The mystery of savant syndrome -- Tiger parents, super children.

"A compelling exploration of child genius told through the gripping stories of fifteen exceptionally gifted boys and girls, from a math wonder a century ago to young jazz and classical piano virtuosos today. A thought-provoking book for a time when parents anxiously aspire to raise "super children" and experts worry the nation is wasting the brilliant young minds it needs. Ann Hulbert examines the lives of children whose rare accomplishments have raised hopes about untapped human potential and questions about how best to nurture it. She probes the changing role of parents and teachers, as well as of psychologists and a curious press. She delves into the feelings of the prodigies themselves, who push back against adults more as the decades proceed. Among the children are the math genius Norbert Wiener, founder of cybernetics, a Harvard graduate student at age fifteen; two girls, Nathalia Crane and Barbara Follett, a poet and a novelist, whose published work stirred debate in the 1920s; the movie superstar Shirley Temple and the African American pianist and composer Philippa Schuyler; the chess champion Bobby Fischer; computer pioneers and autistic "prodigious savants"; and musical prodigies, present and past. The surprising inside stories of Lewis Terman's prewar study of high-IQ children and the postwar talent search begun at Johns Hopkins, and what Tiger Mom Amy Chua really has to tell us. But in these moving stories, it is the children who deliver the most important messages. Ann Hu;bert is the author of Raising America: Experts, Parents, and a Century of Advice About Children and The Interior Castle: The Life and Art of Jean Stafford."--Provided by publisher.

Horizon Information Portal 3.24_8902M

© 2001-2013 SirsiDynix All rights reserved.

Horizon Information Portal