To suggest otherwise, as the authors do, is hasty, irresponsible, and insulting to educational scholars, teachers, and parents. While some programs in districts may be made more based on hope than science, the majority of IQ testing and other educational programs are based on years of study and a large meta-analysis of results of hundreds of studies.

The authors do their best to rip up school district decisions on testing, anti-obesity and anti-bullying programs, by claiming these decisions were not based on scientific results but just made using traditional thought and instinct. The best way to make decisions about anything is to weigh multiple instances of evidence, to never rely on one event.

Statistics and study results are nothing to respect when presented alone. The book does, unwittingly, bring up some good points about statistics, studies, and systemic judgments based on those studies. Read it for entertainment purposes, but don’t implement the few approaches outlined at home they aren’t tested enough, and the results have yet to be repeated to gain respect in academia.

Compiling and expounding on past work seems to be the best way to write a book these days this doesn’t mean that the articles, as a book, make a cohesive or worthy statement.īasically, I found the book to be the amateur, armchair science that is fun to read in small bites while on the train. The authors have a reputation for reporting on overlooked studies with rare results, as they boast in their chapter notes that their New York Magazine articles were popular. NutureShock is just another parenting book in a long line of books written by reporters for profit. Child Psychology isn’t one of those places. I’m not advocating gatekeeping there’s definitely a place for independent research and grass-roots efforts. This book isn’t a synthesis of research it’s an opinion piece with a conservative bent (indeed, Ashley Merryman’s back-flap bio boasts that she “ lives in Los Angeles, where she runs a church-based tutoring program for inner-city children.”) Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman are journalists, not scientists. We strive to publish the singular book, by authors who have a unique perspective and compelling authority.” The last page of the book has this blurb about Twelve: “TWELVE was established in August 2005 with the objective of publishing no more than one book per month. New York Magazine journalists Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman team up to add commentary and more information to their articles in this new book published by Twelve, a division of the Hachette Book Group.

Book Review: NurtureShock: New Thinking about Children

NurtureShock by Po Bronson