Customer Reviews

The Developing Mind: Toward a Neurobiology of Interpersonal Experience

5 star:		(8)
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This very well written book outlines how the brain developes and integrates what we know about the impact of life experience with the unraveling mysteries of the brain. Emotional disorders such as PTSD are informed by Siegel's elegant discussion of how memories are created. This is a very well written, challenging book; each sentence contains important information. While the subject matter may not be familiar to the reader, Siegel presents this valuable information in a very accessable manner. Very Strongly recommended to therapists and counselors.

This book is a heavily research based volume detailing the ways in which parenting styles affect brain development, brain wiring structure with the implications for our lives and civilization. Although it's sometimes a bit redundant and disorganized in presentation, the information is potent and important and the quantity of research staggering. This is truly worth reading - for those who may prefer a less academic presentation, try it anyway. The value of this book is extraordinary.

Siegel writes clearly and accurately. He is passionate about the mind and it's development. This book is written at a college level which means your average reader won't be picking it up. You'll take a grand tour of brain/mind development, memory,attachment, emotion and interpersonal relationships. This is must reading for the clinician and parents who want to do it right. This book deserves 6 stars but there are only five to offer. This was a wonderful read! Kevin Hogan,...

As I start this review, I want to say that I'm not a mental health professional. I'd been so used to psychological texts falling into 2 distinct categories: texts written by MD's explaining how everything wrong with you involves an excess of seratonin (or some other chemical) or books written by clinicians talking essentially only about their personal clinical experiences. This book breaks (or combines maybe..?) these stereotypes in a readable, detailed, and very well-supported (~500 references) account of how experiences actually create biological malfunctions.

A brief note to other readers who might also not be mental health professionals: While this book doesn't really assume you know anything at all, it can be dense at times. However, Dr. Siegel goes out of his way to make sure that you can follow along by rehashing earlier points that might have been easily confused.

Outlining important points in italics, Dr. Siegel proceeds through the entire range of mental development. He starts out with the more basic processes involved in mental functioning (memory, attachment, emotion, states-of-minds) and shows how these systems are shaped in an infant by a responsive caregiver into forming an emotionally healthy adult. He also talks about how mental disorders can develop when these various systems are either inadequately stimulated or actively stimied.
I found the chapter on attachment particularly remarkable. As he explained the various types of attachments and how they were dependant on parental-child interactions (all backed up, of course, by various clinical data), I felt like I could make sense of some events from my own childhood.

This book should DEFINITELY be read by the hordes of biologically oriented psychiatrists out there. Its also a wonderful read for people who might want some insight into why they've always had problems making friends, controlling their emotions, or repeating the abusive behavioral patterns of their parents.

This book is great for parents and teachers. It clearly explains how sensitive human contact is critical to the full development of a child's mind. It requires some effort to follow the logic of the author's argument, but the effort is definitely worth it.

This very well written book outlines how the brain developes and integrates what we know about the impact of life experience with the unraveling mysteries of the brain. Emotional disorders such as PTSD are informed by Siegel's elegant discussion of how memories are created. This is a challenging book; each sentence is packed with important information. While the subject matter may not be familiar to the reader, Siegel presents this valuable information in a very accessable manner. Very Strongly recommended to therapists and counselors.

New book in the making- Passing this on from Daniel Siegel

I am happy --and relieved! -- to report that this month I submitted the final manuscript of The Developing Mind, 2nd edition to my publisher. In the spring of 2012 it will be released -- with over 1,200 new references thanks to my 15 summer interns! Their task was to disprove any hypotheses that were set forth in the lst edition which came out in 1999. We were all excited to find that after reviewing over 2000 new studies, there is substantial new scientific support for the core ideas of integration and well-being and the interconnected nature of mind, brain, and relaitonships! ~ Dan

This is a uniquely important book! Maybe those who so vividly expressed their disappointent in their reviews, misunderstood the title! The book is about DEVELOPING MIND, which means about how certain class of brain processes we call 'mind' come into being as the brain rewires itself.

Most of the literature seems to be assuming that these proceses somehow come into being and focus on deciphering their meaning and purpose assuming the 'mind' to be like a computer in the skull we are born with which is ready to use and it is suficient to switch it on.

But clearly, this less ingteresting frame, since the 'mind' never remains the same as a kind of static 'thing.' What is fascinating, is its continuous development process. The book presents very readable explanatory model. Minsky says that "brains use processes that change themselves[...] The principal activities of brains are making changes in themselves." Siegel explains how this happens and this is a fascinating narration.