What's Going on in There? : How the Brain and Mind Develop in the First Five Years of Life
by Lise Eliot

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Book Reviews of What's Going on in There? : How the Brain and Mind Develop in the First Five Years of Life

Book Review: Absolutely Excellent, A MUST Read
Summary: 5 Stars

Unlike most books of this sort that divide the book into ages (0-3 months), Eliot divides her book into developmental stages from start(in uetero) to finish (postnatal) and head to toe. Therefore she will discuss a certain developmental task a chapter but in that chapter covers that development from emergence to completion, which in some cases spans several years. At first you might think that a book that is well over 500-pages on child development a bit hefty but in alll actuality it is quite an easy read. That being said I studied molecular/cell bio in college so because of my background education this book was a lot easier to read. Does one have to be and expert in biology in order to understand this book, I don't think so. Eliot presents her views and scientific evidence in a strait forward manner that anyone that has had high school biology should be able to understand.

The Chapters are as Follows:
(1) Nature vs Nurture? It's all in the Brain
(2) The Basic Biology of Brain Development
(3) Prenatal Influences on the Developing Brain
(4) How Birth Affects the Brain
(5) The Importance of Touch
(6) Why Babies Love to Be Bounced: The Precocious Sense of Balance and Motion
(7) The Early World of Smell
(8) Taste, Milk, and the Origins of Food Preference
(9) Wiring Up the Visual Brain
(10) How Hearing Evolves
(11) Motor Milestones
(12) Social-Emotional Growth
(13) The Emergence of Memory
(14) Language and the Developing Brain
(15) How Intelligence Grows in the Brain
(16) Nature, Nurture, and Sex Differences in Intellectual Development
(17) How to Raise a Smarter Child

Some of you might be tempted to skip the first 16 chapters and go for the last one, I don't recommend doing this. Although the last chapter suggests that she put all the secrets to making your child smarter, actually I think that the message from Eliot is not for smarter kids but smarter parents. It is our resposibility as parents to foster our children's development, through interacting/ bonding, communicating and play, ths child does a lot of learning by observing us, and it is from us that they learn how to handle the pressures of the world. Which comes to Eliot talking about the Nature vs Nurture debate. This book does not advocate one way or the other, but BOTH. We are in the age now where scientists are tracking down the human genome trying to figure out what is it about our DNA that makes us, well us. Basically, DNA is the foundation that makes us who we are, giving us the foundation to grow, but without environmental pressures (both good and bad) to either foster or hinder our development. For example; let's take height a "normal" child (one born without autosomal defects which can lead to Dwarfism) growing up in an environment where there is poor nutrition either due to famine or poverty has less of a chance of becoming tall than a similar child that has had the benefit of eating foods that are fortified and that are bountiful. However, with certain genetic disorders like Dwarfism not matter how much positive pressure(i.e. nutrition) there will be little effect.

Eliot does an excellent job of transitioning from one chapter to the next. Thus I recommend reading it cover to cover. I also recommend reading it more then once, it is very useful to use as a reference, albeit not the best reference book on babies nor is it the worst.

Summary of What's Going on in There? : How the Brain and Mind Develop in the First Five Years of Life

You'll understand the inner workings of the brain like never before. You'll learn the latest thinking on the nature vs. nurture question. You'll gain invaluable insights into the evolution of the senses, motor skills, social and emotional growth, memory, language, and intelligence. But most importantly, you'll understand--maybe for the first time--exactly how great your contribution as a parent can be to the development of your young child's brain. Written by Lise Eliot, Ph.D., a neurobiologist and mother of three, What's Going on in There? is an immensely intelligent labor of love. It is based on the author's own "odyssey of discovery" as she sought answers to questions about her own role in carrying, delivering, and parenting her children. --Kelley Smith

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