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Books for New & Expecting Parents Browse books on having and raising newborns, including "Taking Care of Your Child, Ninth Edition." Learn more | See related books
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I started off eagerly on Charles Fernyhough’s scientific inquiry into his daughter’s developing mind. The first part is hard science, the neurological development of the human brain in the fetus and in infancy. Here I learned a lot—most memorably that an infant’s stare is not one of pure adoration but rather a function of its inability to shift its gaze easily. I think anyone interested in babies could benefit from his descriptions and insights here. We see Fernyhough’s daughter, Athena, develop from infancy to toddlerhood. The family temporarily moves from England to Australia, and his description of her anticipation and adjustment to new surroundings is on steady footing.
There follows an idyll while father and daughter set off on various outings while, presumably, Mother is at work. These outings are, of course, Father’s work as well. Here his observations shift a bit from the purely neurological to more developmental. He measures her behavior against various theories of child development—Piaget’s most significantly, as well as Freud’s and Bettleheim’s—and goes on to discuss Bowlby’s attachment theories. Athena emerges as an engaging child, sturdy and steadily gaining independence. She can even cope with the news that a sibling is on the way.
What follows is more memoir than scientific inquiry. His wife miscarries and they fall into a pit of grief. The focus shifts from Athena to a story of lost potential. The author wonders how Athena makes sense of it all, but he neatly sidesteps the topic of trauma during the first five years by quoting Freud that all is forgotten, while he tells Athena a familiar story about God and Heaven. Then, we fast-forward to a seven year-old Athena with a sturdy baby brother. I felt as though he lost interest in his inquiry, and it was disappointing.
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I first heard of this book while listening to NPR. There was an interview with the author and after listening to it, I was eager to read the book.
I have three children. I'm lucky that as I've had the opportunity to observe their development 24/7. Even so, they did have some behaviors that have perplexed me and it was really neat to read some of the scientific reasoning behind their behaviors. This book went into more depth than most child development books. However, I do wish it would have gone in even deeper as I left wanting more.
It was easy to relate to the author in is experiences with his daughter. I recognized many of the behaviors and situations that he mentioned. I also really loved that he seemed to really enjoy the time he spent with his daughter. Even though this book is written from a scientist's point of view, It is obvious that he really put his heart into writing this book.
While this isn't applicable to most people and wasn't the point of the book - it also helped me realize some of the differences between toddlers with autism-related disorders. I have a son with Aspergers, and while reading this book, I could kind of see how he was developing differently from the beginning. I think that if I had read this book before he was born, it would have alerted me to these differences earlier on.
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We were given this book when we were expecting our first baby and it was such a refreshing change from all the nappy-changing/baby-whispering/contented-little-baby books. This is a fascinating, loving description of a little girl growing into her mind over her first three years. It reminded us that the baby is a unique, thoughtful, little person learning about the world and growing into herself from day one. I regularly buy it now for friends expecting babies.
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16 of 18 people found the following review helpful
I bought this after hearing it mentioned on a Radio Lab episode thinking it would be an interesting read about infant brain development while I'm expecting our second child. The book is half memoir and half neuroscience but I found the book's split personality kept it from really being good at either attempt. The memoir sections read like forced and impersonal accounts included only to transition between scientific studies. The scientific studies are too often things that one would find in "What to Expect" which was not the level that I was expecting. Overall this book was neither a good memoir or a good neuroscience read, the latter being what I was really hoping for, and it left me very disappointed.
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I work with children, I see this development first hand and in often a very different way than parents see it. But this book reminded me that it's not just the big moments that matter, and helped me pay more attention to the small ones, especially the various cognitive development that goes along with the physical development. I reread it every few months as my young students grow and develop.
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Having just watched my first daughter take this journey, and now expecting my next, I thought this would be a perfect time to read a book about the development of a toddler's brain. There is a lot of interesting information in here, filling in some of the gaps in the knowledge that I've picked up over the years from reading standard parenting material.
It's a little dry and drags at times, but I found it worth the effort. I don't think I would recommend this to everybody, but for science geeks & prospective parents it should be worth checking out.
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This item: A Thousand Days of Wonder: A Scientist's Chronicle of His Daughter's Developing Mind
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