NurtureShock

New Thinking About Children

By Po Bronson, Ashley Merryman (Trade Paperback, 2011)

One of the most influential books about children ever published, NurtureShock offers a revolutionary new perspective on children that upends a library's worth of conventional wisdom. With impeccable storytelling and razor-sharp analysis, the authors demonstrate that many of modern society's strategies for nurturing children are in fact backfiring--because key twists in the science have been overlooked. Nothing like a parenting manual, NurtureShock gets to the core of how we grow, learn and live.

Released in hardcover in September 2009, NurtureShock remained on the New York Times best seller list for three months, and was one of Amazon's best selling books for 2009. The book has become a worldwide phenomenon with editions published around the world - in fifteen languages, to date.

In addition to Bronson and Merryman's writings on praise -- first made famous in New York magazine -- there are nine more equally groundbreaking chapters. Among the topics covered:

Why the most brutal person in a child's life is often a sibling, and how a single aspect of their preschool-aged play can determine their relationship as adults.

When is it too soon - or too late - to teach a child about race? Children in diverse schools are less likely to have a cross-racial friendship, not more - so is school diversity backfiring?

Millions of families are fighting to get their kids into private schools and advanced programs as early as possible. But schools are missing the best kids, 73% of the time - the new neuroscience explains why.

Why are kids - even those from the best of homes - still aggressive and cruel? The answer is found in a rethinking of parental conflict, discipline, television's unexpected influence, and social dominance.

Parents are desperate to jump-start infants' language skills. Recently, scientists have discovered a series of natural techniques that are astonishing in their efficacy - it's not baby videos, sign language, or even the richness of language exposure. It's nothing you've heard before.

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- Format: Trade Paperback
- Price: $16.00 US/$18.00 CAN
- ISBN-13: 9780446504133
- On Sale Date: 01/05/2011
- Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Full Details
Formats Available: Hardcover Book, Trade Paperback, Audiobook, Audiobook, Electronic Book
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Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman's New York Magazine articles on the science of children won the magazine journalism award from the American Association for the Advancement of Science, as well as the Clarion Award from the Association for Women in Communications. Their articles for Time Magazine won the award for outstanding journalism from the Council on Contemporary Families. Bronson has authored five books, including the #1 New York Times bestseller What Should I Do With My Life?

"The integrity of Bronson's prose style as well as the incredible sweetness of those he writes about give him 24-karat credibility." (Washington Post).
"Bronson is a modern Studs Terkel." (Glasgow Herald).
"As he did in What Should I Do With My Life?, his 2002 bestseller, Bronson has adroitly polished a fairly unoriginal subject into high-gloss pop psychology. This isn't the big news of the day, but the small, consequential news that affects our daily lives; it's the stuff of breakfast shows and private-school parenting seminars. It's 'What Should I Do With My Kids?'" (The New York Times Review of Books
).
"The authors, who have collaborated on articles about the science of parenting for New York and Time magazines, throw open the doors on this research to create a book that is not only groundbreaking but compelling as well. Even if you don't have children, or your kids are grown, you should find the revelations about how the brain works and the rigors and frustrations of the scientific process captivating." (San Francisco Chronicle
).
"Grade: A. [Bronson] delights in showing that most parental intuition and supposedly common knowledge about child rearing is just bullshit, and he has the facts to prove it. Much like in his previous work, he's entered a genre known for emotional cheese, and produced a book that's hard to put down and easy to take seriously."
"NurtureShock is one of the most important books you will read this year. Bronson and Merryman move parenting out of the realm of folklore and into the realm of science -- and reveal what decades of studies teach us about the complexities of raising, happy, healthy, self-motivated kids. As a writer, I was impressed by the prodigious research and keen analysis. As a father, I was consumed with taking notes and exhilarated by all I learned." (Daniel H. Pink, author of A Whole New Mind).
"A provocative collection of essays popularizing recent research that challenges conventional wisdom about raising children...[Bronson and Merryman] ably explore a range of subjects of interest to parents... Their findings are often surprising. For example, in schools with greater racial diversity, the odds that a child will have a friend of a different race decrease; listening to "baby DVDs" does not increase an infant's rate of word acquisition; children with inconsistent and permissive fathers are nearly as aggressive in school as children of distant and disengaged fathers. Bronson and Merryman call attention to what they see as two basic errors in thinking about children. The first is the fallacy of similar effect-the assumption that what is true for adults is also true for children. The second -- the fallacy of the good/bad dichotomy -- is the assumption that a trait or factor is either good or bad, when in fact it may be both (e.g., skill at lying may be a sign of intelligence, and empathy may become a tool of aggression). The authors also provide helpful notes for each chapter and an extensive bibliography. A skilled, accessible presentation of scientific research in layman's language." (Kirkus).
"The Freakonomics of child rearing... a fantastic read... a wake-up call for parents."
(Good Morning America
).
Astonishing... prepare to be slack-jawed... This tour de force is one of the best parenting psychology books in years and will likely be seismic in influence."
(Library Journal (Starred Review)
).
"Blinding... Brilliant."

-- Washington Post
Compelling... Captivating... Explains cutting-edge research to the lay readership... It's riveting."

-- San Francisco Chronicle
"A highly readable Malcolm Gladwell-esque look at the social science of child rearing."

-- 'XX Factor,' Slate.com
"The most important book I've read this year... If you only read one thing I review, please make it this."
(Wired
).
"Some of the most groundbreaking research on children conducted in years... will knock your socks off."
(HuffingtonPost.com).
"Engaging.... revelatory... A funny, clever, sensible book. Every parent should read it."
(Financial Times
).
"Adds insight to irresistible nonfiction subject matter... destined to turn up in conversations among working parents."
(New York Times
).
"The least touchy-feely [parenting book] ever... hard to put down and easy to take seriously."
("A.V. Club," The Onion
).
"Irresistible... [NurtureShock] will make you a better mom or dad without you even knowing it."
(TheDailyBeast.com
).