Customer Reviews

Terman's Kids: The Groundbreaking Study of How the Gifted Grow Up

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This book provides a highly informative overview of Terman's famous study of high IQ individuals. Shurkin both critiques Terman's methods and summarizes his findings, in highly readable prose. He provides informative and useful historical context for each section, including some insight into Terman himself. His use of case studies does not detract from his narrative (a danger in so many other books) but instead enhances the various points he makes about Terman, his methods, and his subjects. If you just want to learn the basics about the Terman study, this is a great way to do so. If you plan to study Terman, this is a good place to start. A caution: if you want to learn more about gifted children and gifted education today, this book might be a disappointment to you - it is more a historical background to inform current study.

I have heard the Terman study referenced in many books and I really was interested in how it was conducted and the findings. "Terman's Kids" doesn't disappointment here. It is a very thorough look at who Terman was and how this influenced the study. The history of the study is interspersed with a very readable interpretation of the results. Terman's meddling in the lives of his subjects isn't overlooked and really opens your eyes to the pitfalls of social science research. The case studies don't overtake the book, but add a concrete and personal look at the subjects.

The way that Joel Shurkin writes you feel like a true insider to the study by the time you're done reading the book. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in how research is conducted, curious about this particular study or interested in the history of social science research. It is not as enlightening as one might think about gifted children - not a fault of the writing of this book, but of the study itself.

I read this book when it was first published, over ten years ago, so don't recall all the details. But I do remember that it was enjoyable and informative at once, which many books attempt to be and don't often succeed. The individuals in the case studies were mostly from the Bay Area in California and I am from that area, so this does account for some of my enjoyment and sense of recognition. In any case, it is highly readable and very interesting from a sociological point of view and helps to explain our quest for high intelligence as well as the social consequences of those who possess so-called high intelligence. I am looking for more books with the same subject matter.....