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Gifted Children: Myths And Realities
In this fascinating book, Ellen Winner uncovers and explores nine myths about giftedness, and shows us what gifted children are really like.Using vivid case studies, Winner paints a complex picture of the gifted child. Here we meet David, a three-year-old who learned to read in two weeks; KyLee, a five-year-old who mastered on his own all of the math concepts expected by the end of elementary school; and Nadia, an autistic and retarded “savant” who nevertheless could draw like a Renaissance master.Winner uses her research with these and several other extraordinary children, as well as the latest biological and psychological evidence, to debunk the many myths about academic, musical, and artistic giftedness.Gifted Children also looks at the role played by schools in fostering exceptional abilities. Winner castigates schools for wasting resources on weak educational programs for the moderately gifted. Instead, she advocates elevating standards for all children, and focusing our resources for gifted education on those with extreme abilities—children who are left untouched by the kinds of minimal programs we have today.
464 pages, Paperback
First published May 16, 1996
5 people are currently reading
457 people want to read
About the author
Ellen Winner
33 books8 followersEllen Winner is a psychologist and a professor at Boston College. She specializes in psychology of art.
Winner graduated from the Putney School in 1965 and received a PhD in developmental psychology from Harvard University in 1978. She collaborated on Project Zero to conduct studies about the way people experience and perceive art. Winner noted how psychological explorations beginning in the realm of philosophy pertained to art.
From 1995 to 96, Winner served as president of the American Psychological Association Division 10. In 2000, Winner was awarded the Rudolf Arnheim Award for Outstanding Achievement in Psychology and the Arts.
Winner graduated from the Putney School in 1965 and received a PhD in developmental psychology from Harvard University in 1978. She collaborated on Project Zero to conduct studies about the way people experience and perceive art. Winner noted how psychological explorations beginning in the realm of philosophy pertained to art.
From 1995 to 96, Winner served as president of the American Psychological Association Division 10. In 2000, Winner was awarded the Rudolf Arnheim Award for Outstanding Achievement in Psychology and the Arts.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
September 20, 2022
Imagine this:
A mother receives a phone call from her "second grader's" teacher saying the counselor would like to talk to her. The school is an ordinary public school in the USA, in a blue collar, working class neighborhood. The mother works at home so she arranges to meet her son's teachers and a school counselor later that week to discuss her son. The son is a quiet student, teachers often remark on how sad he always looks. At recess he is playful, but he seems a bit too shy and they are worried about his lack of social skills. He's an excellent student, but he looks bored and he finishes his work way ahead of everyone else and seems to be miserable when he does. Sometimes he's even arrogant. One time he admitted he had already read half of the textbook because he was so bored he didn't know what else to do. Sometimes he doesn't do his homework at all. The mother is totally unaware. Her son has always been independent, quiet, reflective, and doing his own thing. His room at home is full of things he does and she has made that room his sanctuary. He's always been a little odd and reflective. She, herself, admits that she is very self-absorbed.
Turns out that the concerned teachers and counselor tested this child and he has an IQ of 137 in the second grade, and the child was not happy to take the test when he discovered it was an IQ test, and he became very anxious but he won't discuss why. The school wants to put the son into an accelerated program, a special art program, and give him an alternative reading list. These were the only resources they had. But strangely the mother refused. And everyone knew right then that the son was very unhappy with her response. That this was the source of his anxiety.
The school finally learns that the mother was also a gifted child and was traumatized by how adults treated her in her elementary school years. She had never read with her peers, even in first grade, and was sent to read with eight graders when she was only seven years old. She was also sickly and had allergies (in this book, too) and other health and emotional challenges. Emotionally this stressed her because she was made fun of and bullied. The mother never admits this to anyone at the school, but the father knows the history and tells his son only. The father is not going to go around the mother. The son, this second grader, later decides to put himself in these programs, and without his parents, eventually forges all the paperwork to do it. No one is ever aware until much later and I am not going to detail it. But it all works out in this little country school. (Laughing. He gets things done.)
This story is not in this book. But it is a true story. And this book has many stories about gifted children who faced similar challenges. First of all, while they are gifted, they are children first, and emotionally, most of them are conflicted. Gifted children have great executive skills and are social beings, though it is not their peers who give them comfort. While the son was good with just about everything, he was excellent at Math, the mother, however, was a Reader and an artist but she also had a gift in Biology and was known to have dissected dead turtles when very young. Both were outsiders, resistant to authority, messy, driven, (look at the son who went around the mother without her knowing). They were both distant, too. Separate in any group of peers.
All gifted children are critical and independent thinkers, and personally self-absorbed and motivated. They are "outsiders" who need alone time and are willing to do many things to get their work done, to satisfy their curiosity. But remember they are children first. And they are bound by their emotions just as you are.
The mother and son were examples of how environment and situation play with intelligence. Their social skills make them feel less normal than other people, and they both suffered from self-esteem issues and personal inferiority in their communities, and because of personality and predicament, they were both late bloomers. They were both worriers and had lots of anxiety over the philosophical contradictions of their predicaments versus their own desires. There was even some pathology going on. Neurosis. All of these factors are discussed in this book with other gifted children and that is what makes it a good book. Especially for people who teach. I wish I had read this book years ago.
Being gifted is messy and complicated.
Not all gifted children become CEOs of tech firms or famous painters or polymathic violinists or renowned journalists. But some do. Look at some famous chess players and Ronan Farrow, Mia Farrow's son.
Gifted children excel at what they do if they love it and are free to do it.
They are driven by curiosity and a need to know. This is an excellent book that really discusses what gifted is and what it can be and cannot do. And it also discusses some of the challenges that gifted children face and exposes the myths about exactly what it means to be gifted, or talented, or just good at something. It edges around intelligence and where it comes from and so forth. That is why I gave an example of a mother and son. Because this entire family was eccentric, everyone, two adults and three children were extremely excellent at many things, including music, art, gardening, and learning any subject they chose to study. They excelled at their own demands, and they created work motivated by their own desires.
Chapter Nine was one of my favorites, too, because what do schools do? What do parents do? The mother of my story wanted to protect her son from the experience she had. Both had IQs in the 130-140 zone which made them able to tolerate the ordinary school experience. With difficulties, yes. But what about those with an IQ of 150, etc. Are schools important at all? Another aspect of the truly gifted child is they are quite able to teach themselves and are equally influenced by their parents who can teach them. That said, some parents are truly not as smart as their gifted child. That's a worry. And do schools miss the artistic types, the ones who paint and play guitars or pianos? Also, what does IQ really mean? Is it predictive of anything at all besides how well a brain can function? Does IQ mean success as society sees it, as you see it? I am not sure it does. One cannot predict. But what you see is that IQ is not a free pass. Above average IQ children, (111-125) who are talented, but not truly gifted creatives, probably do better in school. Because they are not carrying the other baggage. That's how I see it sometimes. Of course, being gifted, being that highly creative person gives a pleasure and "flow" to life. These people are living with intent and purpose. But there are drawbacks.
Lastly, one of the things I have learned from this book and I can agree with it 100 percent is that highly gifted and creative children have a singular gift that other talented children do not. It's how they view risk and failure and how they deal with it. These highly creative people, no matter what field, are risk takers and do not view failure emotionally like other people. It's like a challenge. The exception to this is they are always competing with themselves and their own visions. But failure teaches them something. These creative beings shake things up and are truly unconventional, motivated by love and possibility. They are not people pleasers. They are not your Internet influencers. Some of them might even drop out of high school. Faulkner comes to mind. And honestly I can't imagine Faulkner hanging out on Twitter. Lastly, the two I wrote about also had one thing in common besides being related. In grammar school, they made Cs and Ds in handwriting, a detail discussed in this wonderful book. I smiled at that.
A mother receives a phone call from her "second grader's" teacher saying the counselor would like to talk to her. The school is an ordinary public school in the USA, in a blue collar, working class neighborhood. The mother works at home so she arranges to meet her son's teachers and a school counselor later that week to discuss her son. The son is a quiet student, teachers often remark on how sad he always looks. At recess he is playful, but he seems a bit too shy and they are worried about his lack of social skills. He's an excellent student, but he looks bored and he finishes his work way ahead of everyone else and seems to be miserable when he does. Sometimes he's even arrogant. One time he admitted he had already read half of the textbook because he was so bored he didn't know what else to do. Sometimes he doesn't do his homework at all. The mother is totally unaware. Her son has always been independent, quiet, reflective, and doing his own thing. His room at home is full of things he does and she has made that room his sanctuary. He's always been a little odd and reflective. She, herself, admits that she is very self-absorbed.
Turns out that the concerned teachers and counselor tested this child and he has an IQ of 137 in the second grade, and the child was not happy to take the test when he discovered it was an IQ test, and he became very anxious but he won't discuss why. The school wants to put the son into an accelerated program, a special art program, and give him an alternative reading list. These were the only resources they had. But strangely the mother refused. And everyone knew right then that the son was very unhappy with her response. That this was the source of his anxiety.
The school finally learns that the mother was also a gifted child and was traumatized by how adults treated her in her elementary school years. She had never read with her peers, even in first grade, and was sent to read with eight graders when she was only seven years old. She was also sickly and had allergies (in this book, too) and other health and emotional challenges. Emotionally this stressed her because she was made fun of and bullied. The mother never admits this to anyone at the school, but the father knows the history and tells his son only. The father is not going to go around the mother. The son, this second grader, later decides to put himself in these programs, and without his parents, eventually forges all the paperwork to do it. No one is ever aware until much later and I am not going to detail it. But it all works out in this little country school. (Laughing. He gets things done.)
This story is not in this book. But it is a true story. And this book has many stories about gifted children who faced similar challenges. First of all, while they are gifted, they are children first, and emotionally, most of them are conflicted. Gifted children have great executive skills and are social beings, though it is not their peers who give them comfort. While the son was good with just about everything, he was excellent at Math, the mother, however, was a Reader and an artist but she also had a gift in Biology and was known to have dissected dead turtles when very young. Both were outsiders, resistant to authority, messy, driven, (look at the son who went around the mother without her knowing). They were both distant, too. Separate in any group of peers.
All gifted children are critical and independent thinkers, and personally self-absorbed and motivated. They are "outsiders" who need alone time and are willing to do many things to get their work done, to satisfy their curiosity. But remember they are children first. And they are bound by their emotions just as you are.
The mother and son were examples of how environment and situation play with intelligence. Their social skills make them feel less normal than other people, and they both suffered from self-esteem issues and personal inferiority in their communities, and because of personality and predicament, they were both late bloomers. They were both worriers and had lots of anxiety over the philosophical contradictions of their predicaments versus their own desires. There was even some pathology going on. Neurosis. All of these factors are discussed in this book with other gifted children and that is what makes it a good book. Especially for people who teach. I wish I had read this book years ago.
Being gifted is messy and complicated.
Not all gifted children become CEOs of tech firms or famous painters or polymathic violinists or renowned journalists. But some do. Look at some famous chess players and Ronan Farrow, Mia Farrow's son.
Gifted children excel at what they do if they love it and are free to do it.
They are driven by curiosity and a need to know. This is an excellent book that really discusses what gifted is and what it can be and cannot do. And it also discusses some of the challenges that gifted children face and exposes the myths about exactly what it means to be gifted, or talented, or just good at something. It edges around intelligence and where it comes from and so forth. That is why I gave an example of a mother and son. Because this entire family was eccentric, everyone, two adults and three children were extremely excellent at many things, including music, art, gardening, and learning any subject they chose to study. They excelled at their own demands, and they created work motivated by their own desires.
Chapter Nine was one of my favorites, too, because what do schools do? What do parents do? The mother of my story wanted to protect her son from the experience she had. Both had IQs in the 130-140 zone which made them able to tolerate the ordinary school experience. With difficulties, yes. But what about those with an IQ of 150, etc. Are schools important at all? Another aspect of the truly gifted child is they are quite able to teach themselves and are equally influenced by their parents who can teach them. That said, some parents are truly not as smart as their gifted child. That's a worry. And do schools miss the artistic types, the ones who paint and play guitars or pianos? Also, what does IQ really mean? Is it predictive of anything at all besides how well a brain can function? Does IQ mean success as society sees it, as you see it? I am not sure it does. One cannot predict. But what you see is that IQ is not a free pass. Above average IQ children, (111-125) who are talented, but not truly gifted creatives, probably do better in school. Because they are not carrying the other baggage. That's how I see it sometimes. Of course, being gifted, being that highly creative person gives a pleasure and "flow" to life. These people are living with intent and purpose. But there are drawbacks.
Lastly, one of the things I have learned from this book and I can agree with it 100 percent is that highly gifted and creative children have a singular gift that other talented children do not. It's how they view risk and failure and how they deal with it. These highly creative people, no matter what field, are risk takers and do not view failure emotionally like other people. It's like a challenge. The exception to this is they are always competing with themselves and their own visions. But failure teaches them something. These creative beings shake things up and are truly unconventional, motivated by love and possibility. They are not people pleasers. They are not your Internet influencers. Some of them might even drop out of high school. Faulkner comes to mind. And honestly I can't imagine Faulkner hanging out on Twitter. Lastly, the two I wrote about also had one thing in common besides being related. In grammar school, they made Cs and Ds in handwriting, a detail discussed in this wonderful book. I smiled at that.
June 18, 2020
Gifted Children is structured around the correction of common myths about gifted children by way of extensive discussion of fascinating research that has been undertaken in the field, which had me constantly flipping to the endnotes and taking note of articles to pursue in their entirety. It offers a great deal of insight into various cases of giftedness and the factors that might influence it early in life (such as the fact that “[f]irst and only children receive more adult stimulation in their early years in comparison to children born into families where siblings already exist”) as well as those that might correlate to the eventual direction of a gifted child’s future, with a particular focus on the influences of families and schools.
Winner analogizes the abilities of gifted children and typical ones, pointing out, for example, that “[m]usically gifted children show great sensitivity to musical structure, and this astounds us because it is rare. In contrast, all children show great sensitivity to linguistic structure, and this we take for granted because it is universal.” I found one of the most interesting manifestations of giftedness to be the flexibility of the gifted mind, as demonstrated by the ability of musically gifted children to easily shift from one mode of representation to another as their teachers alternate between speaking of music “as a felt path, as a set of notations, as sound, and as structurer.” Besides examining the direct manifestations of their gifts, Gifted Children also explores in great depth the quite distinctive emotional lives of gifted youths.
Among the many ways in which Winner is very interesting in her thoughtfulness and perspective is how she frequently considers the fact that giftedness is under-acknowledged (in part due to an associated perception of elitism) and under-addressed (in part because “retardation, like psychopathology, has been seen as a problem in need of a solution, while great strengths have been seen as privileges rather than problems”), and to the extent that solutions are offered by American public schools, they are insufficient because standards are so low to begin with and because they target only the moderately gifted, who are in least critical need. Winner expresses the potential usefulness of rigorous sets of criteria to help expose giftedness and allow it to thrive, but notes that “[a]n egalitarian, anti-elitist ideology has become dominant in our culture, even though our culture is in reality far from truly egalitarian,” a grim reminder of the self-perpetuating paradoxical circumstance that has only worsened in the 24 years since the book’s publication.
Winner analogizes the abilities of gifted children and typical ones, pointing out, for example, that “[m]usically gifted children show great sensitivity to musical structure, and this astounds us because it is rare. In contrast, all children show great sensitivity to linguistic structure, and this we take for granted because it is universal.” I found one of the most interesting manifestations of giftedness to be the flexibility of the gifted mind, as demonstrated by the ability of musically gifted children to easily shift from one mode of representation to another as their teachers alternate between speaking of music “as a felt path, as a set of notations, as sound, and as structurer.” Besides examining the direct manifestations of their gifts, Gifted Children also explores in great depth the quite distinctive emotional lives of gifted youths.
Among the many ways in which Winner is very interesting in her thoughtfulness and perspective is how she frequently considers the fact that giftedness is under-acknowledged (in part due to an associated perception of elitism) and under-addressed (in part because “retardation, like psychopathology, has been seen as a problem in need of a solution, while great strengths have been seen as privileges rather than problems”), and to the extent that solutions are offered by American public schools, they are insufficient because standards are so low to begin with and because they target only the moderately gifted, who are in least critical need. Winner expresses the potential usefulness of rigorous sets of criteria to help expose giftedness and allow it to thrive, but notes that “[a]n egalitarian, anti-elitist ideology has become dominant in our culture, even though our culture is in reality far from truly egalitarian,” a grim reminder of the self-perpetuating paradoxical circumstance that has only worsened in the 24 years since the book’s publication.
April 6, 2020
Gifted Children have long stirred fascination, envy, fear, and rejection amongst the common public. In this fascinating book, Ellen Winner uncovers 9 long-standing myths and shows us what gifted children are really like. Through vivid case studies and a century’s worth of research, Winner casts a light on the lives of the unusually gifted amongst us.
These children aren’t ‘globally gifted’ as is usually assumed. Instead, their gifts are domain specific. Though some of them do exhibit some giftedness across the board in academic domains, this is the exception rather than the rule. Those who are gifted in one area can be severely disadvantaged in another.
Gifted children are defined by their precocity, divergence, and drive. Though many of them have IQs a few standard deviations above the norm, IQ is not the only factor that characterizes their gift. This logic is buttressed by the fact that many savants who have extremely low IQs are nevertheless able to perform at dazzling levels in their domain. Their gifts operate independent of their IQ levels.
Undoubtedly, the families of the gifted children play a vital role in developing their gifts. But there is a real danger when some parents who want to live vicariously through their children’s gift end up destroying their gifts and burning them out.
Gifted children are different from others and unless their passion for mastery and learning is shared by their peers, they become isolated and discouraged. Not all children are gifted, and schools must spend a part of their resources to help these gifted individuals get the stimulation and challenges they need. Simply accelerating them a few grades or putting them in enrichment classes does them little good.
They tend to be introverted and have unnatural levels of focus that is unusual for most children their age. Many end up mastering their domains way before they even reach elementary school. But their giftedness does not guarantee them a bright future. Personality seems to play a major role in determining if these children will end up becoming eminent adults.
A must read for psychologists and parents.
These children aren’t ‘globally gifted’ as is usually assumed. Instead, their gifts are domain specific. Though some of them do exhibit some giftedness across the board in academic domains, this is the exception rather than the rule. Those who are gifted in one area can be severely disadvantaged in another.
Gifted children are defined by their precocity, divergence, and drive. Though many of them have IQs a few standard deviations above the norm, IQ is not the only factor that characterizes their gift. This logic is buttressed by the fact that many savants who have extremely low IQs are nevertheless able to perform at dazzling levels in their domain. Their gifts operate independent of their IQ levels.
Undoubtedly, the families of the gifted children play a vital role in developing their gifts. But there is a real danger when some parents who want to live vicariously through their children’s gift end up destroying their gifts and burning them out.
Gifted children are different from others and unless their passion for mastery and learning is shared by their peers, they become isolated and discouraged. Not all children are gifted, and schools must spend a part of their resources to help these gifted individuals get the stimulation and challenges they need. Simply accelerating them a few grades or putting them in enrichment classes does them little good.
They tend to be introverted and have unnatural levels of focus that is unusual for most children their age. Many end up mastering their domains way before they even reach elementary school. But their giftedness does not guarantee them a bright future. Personality seems to play a major role in determining if these children will end up becoming eminent adults.
A must read for psychologists and parents.
August 18, 2011
Intéressant mais inégal, avec tendance à l'amalgame entre précocité, don et handicap, ce qui me semble éloigné de la surdouance !
Cependant les exemples sont saisissants.
A reprendre.
Cependant les exemples sont saisissants.
A reprendre.
December 30, 2011
I like the author's balanced discussion of giftedness and talent, especially her look at the development of artistically gifted children. The book contains some fascinating examples of drawings.
January 30, 2015
from the library
Gifted Children: Myths and Realities
ISBN 0465017592 (ISBN13: 9780465017591)
my thoughts from skimming through the pages, TOC, index, ref's and notes
what a mix of good and her own mess
While she admits that gifted children burn out there is no mention of why they burn out---as if that is just the way it is. well it isn't. They burn out from being abused mentally, psychologically, emotionally and all the other ways. IQ is not a fixed entity and she doesn't see that. Further gifted children are, like any other aberration (see Andrew Solomon Far from the Tree: Parents, Children, and the Search for Identity, not wanted. Sometimes parents don't want them, maybe its the neighborhood, maybe its the school system philosophy, may its the family.
In my case the school, the teachers and the students, didn't want me although the school counselors and the principals did. Gifted children can be born into dysfunctional families --dysfunctional being defined as the parents are so preoccupied with their own problems that the children take care of them. Or defined as parents are abusive. This will burn out a gifted child.
Gifted adults burn out too. She makes no mention of Progoff's workAt a Journal WorkshopIra Progoff which came out of his work with gifted adults who were in need of therapy and couldn't get help from nongifted psychologists. She likewise is dismissive of the gifted cohort itself when she mentions nothing but a few negatives about the organization Mensa. This is an organization that has many fabulous programs and which fortunately tolerates a a considerable amount of nonconformity.
This author is prone to accepting established authority, even though it is known to be biased against women, and minorities, and is more comfortable with conformity. I will be glad to change this assessment when I have read the book carefully but meanwhile readers should be cautious about what anyone claims about gifted children. Gifted children are often the focus of bullying in schools and schools do just about nothing about it. See the work of Rachel SimmonsRachel Simmons
Among the many organizations that know what to do is AVP. See Sally Herzfeld's review Sally Herzfeld of AVP work.This We Can Do: Quaker Faith in Action Through the Alternatives to Violence Project. (AVP is not affiliated with any religion and is definitely not a Christian organization but has considerable support from Quakers.)
Gifted Children: Myths and Realities
ISBN 0465017592 (ISBN13: 9780465017591)
my thoughts from skimming through the pages, TOC, index, ref's and notes
what a mix of good and her own mess
While she admits that gifted children burn out there is no mention of why they burn out---as if that is just the way it is. well it isn't. They burn out from being abused mentally, psychologically, emotionally and all the other ways. IQ is not a fixed entity and she doesn't see that. Further gifted children are, like any other aberration (see Andrew Solomon Far from the Tree: Parents, Children, and the Search for Identity, not wanted. Sometimes parents don't want them, maybe its the neighborhood, maybe its the school system philosophy, may its the family.
In my case the school, the teachers and the students, didn't want me although the school counselors and the principals did. Gifted children can be born into dysfunctional families --dysfunctional being defined as the parents are so preoccupied with their own problems that the children take care of them. Or defined as parents are abusive. This will burn out a gifted child.
Gifted adults burn out too. She makes no mention of Progoff's workAt a Journal WorkshopIra Progoff which came out of his work with gifted adults who were in need of therapy and couldn't get help from nongifted psychologists. She likewise is dismissive of the gifted cohort itself when she mentions nothing but a few negatives about the organization Mensa. This is an organization that has many fabulous programs and which fortunately tolerates a a considerable amount of nonconformity.
This author is prone to accepting established authority, even though it is known to be biased against women, and minorities, and is more comfortable with conformity. I will be glad to change this assessment when I have read the book carefully but meanwhile readers should be cautious about what anyone claims about gifted children. Gifted children are often the focus of bullying in schools and schools do just about nothing about it. See the work of Rachel SimmonsRachel Simmons
Among the many organizations that know what to do is AVP. See Sally Herzfeld's review Sally Herzfeld of AVP work.This We Can Do: Quaker Faith in Action Through the Alternatives to Violence Project. (AVP is not affiliated with any religion and is definitely not a Christian organization but has considerable support from Quakers.)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 9, 2025
Great book on giftedness and adult creatives. Greta perspectives for gifted children and their parents and or guardians to learn from. Also, help for adult creatives to see and understand the challenges in their path.
December 6, 2013
I took the book from the local library for a quick skimming. I found that the book has a great overview of what was currently known about gifted children as of 1996 (time the book is written). So, this is a good intro book for a parent of a gifted child.
The most interesting and surprising findings for me were in chapters devoted to predictions of what happens to gifted children later in life. For example, in "Family Factors that Predict Later Creativity" I found that:
* "The future creator seem to grow up in a family that is much less child-centered and supportive and far more stress-filled than does the gifted child not destined to become a creator".
* "These creators came from atypical families - irritable and explosive, often prone to depression or to large-scale mood swings. The extreme stress in their early family life could include poverty, death of a parent, divorced or estranged parents, rejecting, abusive or alcoholic parents, fathers who experienced professional failure or bankruptcy etc.
* Since the book is well-researched, the claim that the high level of stress and trauma is prevalent in the families of future creators can be supported by 10+ different studies mentioned in this book. fascinating stuff!
The most interesting and surprising findings for me were in chapters devoted to predictions of what happens to gifted children later in life. For example, in "Family Factors that Predict Later Creativity" I found that:
* "The future creator seem to grow up in a family that is much less child-centered and supportive and far more stress-filled than does the gifted child not destined to become a creator".
* "These creators came from atypical families - irritable and explosive, often prone to depression or to large-scale mood swings. The extreme stress in their early family life could include poverty, death of a parent, divorced or estranged parents, rejecting, abusive or alcoholic parents, fathers who experienced professional failure or bankruptcy etc.
* Since the book is well-researched, the claim that the high level of stress and trauma is prevalent in the families of future creators can be supported by 10+ different studies mentioned in this book. fascinating stuff!
February 15, 2011
I read it just to inform a small part of the novel I'm writing, but I also ended up loving it. Really fascinating stuff, and of course I spent a good portion of the book self diagnosing and trying to gauge how gifted I was as a child. The writing was good--not overly technical or overly casual--and the case studies were interesting.
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