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: Very Tough Read
Summary: 2 Stars
Neither my daughter or I have made much progress reading it. It's not really written for a lay person.Book Review: Fascinating account of neurological development
Summary: 4 Stars
This is a fascinating account of how the brain develops in early life, and how this maps to changing behavior. "What's Going On in There?" is written for a lay audience and is very accessible.
I only have two grievances with this book. The first is that although it is written in a very readable narrative format, I wish she put a reference section at the end with diagrams, timelines, references, etc to summarize the narrative - because you probably won't memorize all of the fascinating detail on first read, but then it is difficult to locate specific information later on when you are trying to remember something. The other grievance is that she makes many assertions without citing references - a pet peeve of mine, but this is not something that is likely to bother most readers. But again, this is a good book, and it is the only one I know about this fascinating topic.
Book Review: Not what I expected
Summary: 1 Stars
I was disappointed. It's all about the scientific aspect of the brain (developing in the womb, how it compares to animals brains, how it develops in childhool). There's only 1 chapter at the very end on what you can do as a parent to help positively affect the growth and development of your child's brain. Skip this one!Book Review: Fantastic information for parents
Summary: 5 Stars
I found this book really insightful and full of great practical infomation that helps me understand my baby girl.Book Review: Interesting, but recommended mostly for people currently conceiving, pregnant or have a newborn
Summary: 3 Stars
I got this book based on the title where it states, "how the mind develops in the first five years of life." I have a 9 mos old and a two and a half year old so I thought that I could get some valuable info, since they are both still pretty young. This book is only 460 pages long, and Dr. Eliot doesn't even really start talking about children over a year of age until about page 300 (and I'm being generous to start that far back.) This book, while interesting, mostly discusses brain development from conception (especially conception through infancy) through the first two years years. Naturally, our brain continues to develop after two years, and she mentions the years 3-5 here and there but it's usually in reference to statistics supporting her facts on the subjects she talks about pertaining to brain growth during infancy (thus she's "justified" in adding the "birth through five years" on her cover.) I still felt like the title was misleading though. I spent the first 300 pages reflecting back on my pregnancies and all the things I did "wrong." The first 300 pages kinda made me feel guilty.
Now that doesn't mean that I didn't like the book itself. This is a great book. It's different than all the other "child rearing" books on the market because it's not all psychology. Most of this book is biology. So I will say that if you like science, you'll enjoy this book. Even though it is on the scientific side, I think that it was written (as well as it could be) in layman's terms. I wouldn't go as far to say that it's like college textbook material, but it does use jargon that you probably haven't heard since you've been in school. I also liked the way the book was written. You can tell that she tried to write a "science" book to appeal to everyone (whether science is your thing or not). When I read it, I felt like I was having a discussion with a Mom who has a biology degree instead of listening to a boring science professor. Overall, I think that if you don't have any distractions around you, this book is easier to follow. I just wished I had read it earlier, is all.