Off the Charts: The Hidden Lives and Lessons of American Child Prodigies

January 30, 2020 - Comment

From the author of the widely praised Raising America–a compelling exploration of child genius told through the gripping stories of fifteen exceptionally gifted boys and girls, from a math wonder a century ago to young jazz and classical piano virtuosos today. A thought-provoking book for a time when parents anxiously aspire to raise “super children”

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(as of April 19, 2020 1:39 pm GMT+0000 - Details)

From the author of the widely praised Raising America–a compelling exploration of child genius told through the gripping stories of fifteen exceptionally gifted boys and girls, from a math wonder a century ago to young jazz and classical piano virtuosos today. A thought-provoking book for a time when parents anxiously aspire to raise “super children” and experts worry the nation is wasting the brilliant young minds it needs.

Ann Hulbert examines the lives of children whose rare accomplishments have raised hopes about untapped human potential and questions about how best to nurture it. She probes the changing role of parents and teachers, as well as of psychologists and a curious press. Above all, she delves into the feelings of the prodigies themselves, who push back against adults more as the decades proceed. Among the children are the math genius Norbert Wiener, founder of cybernetics, a Harvard graduate student at age fifteen; two girls, a poet and a novelist, whose published work stirred debate in the 1920s; the movie superstar Shirley Temple and the African American pianist and composer Philippa Schuyler; the chess champion Bobby Fischer; computer pioneers and autistic “prodigious savants”; and musical prodigies, present and past. Off the Charts also tells the surprising inside stories of Lewis Terman’s prewar study of high-IQ children and of the postwar talent search begun at Johns Hopkins, and discovers what Tiger Mom Amy Chua really has to tell us. But in these moving stories, it is the children who deliver the most important messages.

Comments

Anonymous says:

Fascinating, thought-provoking look at youthful genius, how it ages & what both tell us about ourselves I absolutely loved this book and wonder if the one or two sourpuss reviews are from people who came to the book mistakenly looking for a guidebook on how to raise a prodigy. This book won’t tell you how to create a Genius, Jr. But anyone who has an extremely gifted child–or just a rebellious teenager–would do very well to read this book for its profound wisdom and historical perspective on the way we view talent and achievement in children. I came to it after a friend’s son was a finalist for…

Anonymous says:

poor writing Mildly interesting. She’s not a very good writer- too many compound and run-on sentences- hard to follow in an unneccesary way. The children chosen were odd. Questionable if they were actual prodigies. Would not recommend.

Anonymous says:

ok, if you want mainly biography I didn’t like the set-up of the book into little vignettes about gifted people most of whom I had never heard of.I was really interested in the idea that “off the charts” had both good and bad connotations that should both be explored and accepted. I also liked the connection to to time-sensitive cultural beliefs and how that affected the receptions of the various gifted children. I got bored though and started skimming. Since when is Amy Chua the mother of “gifted” kids? I…

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