Psychologist Gopnik (The Scientist in the Crib) points out that babies have long been excluded from the philosophical literature, and in this absorbing text, she argues that if anything, babies are more conscious than grownups. While adults often function on autopilot, getting through their busy days as functional zombies, babies, with their malleable, complex minds and penchant for discovery, approach life like little travelers, enthralled by every nuance of their exciting and novel environment. Gopnik compares babies to the research and development department of the human species, while adults take care of production and marketing. Like little scientists, babies draw accurate conclusions from data and statistical analysis, conduct clever experiments and figure out everything from how to get mom to smile at them to how to make a hanging mobile spin. Like adults, the author claims, babies are even capable of counterfactual thinking (the ability to imagine different outcomes that might happen in the future or might have happened in the past). As she tackles philosophical questions regarding love, truth and the meaning of life, Gopnik reveals that babies and children are keys not only to how the mind works but also to our understanding of the human condition and the nature of love. (Aug.)
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"The great American psychologist William James described the infant's worldview as a `blooming, buzzing confusion.' Gopnik's book is a challenge to this notion. Based partly on her own pioneering studies, she brings to life the sophisticated mental capacities of infants. A great read." --V. S. Ramachandran, author of Phantoms in the Brain: Probing the Mysteries of the Human Mind

"One of our best writers, Gopnik reveals the inner workings of those minds that have been wrapped in mystery for all of human time: our children's." --Daniel Levitin, author of This Is Your Brain on Music

"In The Philosophical Baby, Alison Gopnik reveals the latest scientific discoveries--many of them quite surprising--about the developing minds of young children. She also presents a richly provocative and endlessly insightful story that unites the endearing other-worldliness of children's imaginations with some of the oldest and most profound questions in philosophy. This book is at once touching, eloquent, and masterful in its fascinating revelations about what makes us human." --Frank J. Suloway, author of Born to Rebel

"Alison Gopnik's absorbing, smart, and enjoyable book might be better titled The Philosophical Developmental Psychologist. Her remarkably thoughtful and carefully reasoned studies into how babies learn and think give intriguing insights and invite new ways of reflecting on consciousness and creativity in adults as well. In a refreshing counterpoint to speculations in evolutionary psychology, her lucid and engaging descriptions of experiments with babies demonstrate how much can be understood simply by asking the right questions with an open and critical mind. Parents and scientists will enjoy the insights but so will anyone who has thought about the question of what it means to be human." --Lisa Randall, Professor of Physics, Harvard University, and author of Warped Passages

"What is it like to be a baby? In this astonishingly interesting book, Alison Gopnik reminds us about what we can't remember. In the process, she teaches us a tremendous amount about the human condition and how the mind is made." --Jonah Lehrer, author of How We Decide

“This book really makes you think about consciousness. The mind of a child is a strange and wonderful world." --Temple Grandin, author of Thinking in Pictures

"After convincing us that the seemingly familiar human child is actually wrapped in mystery, Alison Gopnik offers a compelling and convincing portrait of the opening years of life. This is scientific writing of the highest order." --Howard Gardner, author of Five Minds for the Future