A Mind at a Time: America's Top Learning Expert Shows How Every Child Can Succeed by Mel Levine
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Book Reviews of A Mind at a Time: America's Top Learning Expert Shows How Every Child Can Succeed
Book Review: How to make the very best use of your mind.
Summary: 4 Stars
Mel Levine has written a most inspiring book for parents and teachers. So many of us focus on weaknesses instead of the unique talents and abilities of our children. As a parent dedicated to supporting the best interests of my children, I must recommend another book here called Optimal Thinking: How To Be Your Best Self by Rosalene Glickman PhD. Dr. Glickman, who was a school teacher for many years, understands from first-hand daily experience how children learn best. She teaches you how to use Optimal Thinking to be your best, make the most of your own thinking, and the thinking, special talents,abilities, and learning experiences of our children. Optimal Thinking is simple immediately useful, and life-optimizing.Book Review: A Mind at a Time
Summary: 4 Stars
Book is in good, promised condition. My only complaint is that it got here later than I thought it would.Book Review: Great book
Summary: 4 Stars
This is a wonderful book that emphasizes the need to look at the individual needs of students.Book Review: A page at a time
Summary: 3 Stars
I bought this book because I saw Dr. Mel Levine speak at a conference recently. He is an excellent speaker with really intriguing theories; many of which he details in the book "A Mind at a Time."
While Dr. Levine is an enthusiastic and dynamic speaker with riveting anecdotes about his patients, his writing tends to be a little drier than his "in person" delivery. When he is telling these anecdotes and others in the book, it is gripping. The reader feels like they know the exact kid he is talking about, but a lot of the rest of the book is rather dry in its delivery.
I love the message Dr. Levine has about each of us having learning differences and that learning to approach them and strategize a "work around" is the real solution, not labeling and medicating.
I still plan on using this book for a study group in my school. I am hoping that as a group, we can cheer each other through the tougher sections. After the first 100 pages, I had to slot a day and time when I would read this book so that I didn't just put it down and never pick it up again.
If you ever get the opportunity to hear Dr. Levine speak, jump at it.
Book Review: Rambling; lacking citations; some good ideas nevertheless
Summary: 3 Stars
Let me be clear that I'm reviewing the book, not the doctor. I ordered this book because I'd heard Dr. Levine speak on television. He's affable and convincing. He makes a powerful case for the need to respect different learning styles and incorporate every adult involved in a child's education in developing a tailor-made plan. The problem is that the case he makes is less powerful here in print, where he never drops a citation or gives credit or offers anything but anecdote to bolster his claims. That could be fine, but it wasn't the scholarly discourse I was hoping for. And he sometimes runs long in the speaking. Dr. Levine may be a whizbang at communicating with kids and extremely sensitive to the needs of an individual, but it seems he's a little less astute at judging the attention of a remote audience--or this one, anyway. I found it brutally hard to finish this book. Now that I have, I plan to use it the way I believe that it should have been written: piecemeal, as I find I have need. This is a manual, not a story, and I believe it would have benefited from a more streamlined presentation.