Curious Minds: How a Child Becomes a Scientist

A Very Atypical Child Becomes An Academic:
Anyone buying this book as a gift or for insight on how a typical child becomes a scientist will be very disappointed. Do scientists work in industry? Not in this book. Is your child a female? She would be a distinct minority if she becomes a scientist, to judge by this book. Will your child have a Ph.D. by age 21? No? How disappointing. The scientist profiled in the first chapter, Nicholas Humphrey, descendent of famous scientists who grew up an acquaintance of, among others, young Stephen Hawking, captures why this book misses the mark in its selection of role models for aspiring scientists. He "wonders if having been born to be a scientist has not undercut my right to call myself a scientist at all." That is too harsh. It's not his fault that such a good idea for a book and a promising title were wasted.

the scientist in all of us:
As the parent of two school-age children, I loved this book. For all of the current passion for loading our children up with the "best" and "the latest", the best approach is perhaps to simply get out of the way. What struck me about this book was that so many of the scientists profiled made do with very little as children--it wasn't all chemistry sets and parents with advanced degrees. My favorite was the primatologist who was inspired by the Bronx Zoo down the block AND the theme-song from Gilligan's Island ("...the professor and Mary-Ann" convinced him that brains might attract women). There was the woman whose parents wanted her to be a nightclub singer, but the Nancy Drew books she read led her to love investigations. A brain surgeon grew up searching for bullets in the brains of cows that his cowboy-butcher father processed. Indeed some of the scientists don't even find their focus until adulthood (in other words, if your high-schooler doesn't win the Intel science prize, there's still hope). This book made me realize that inspiration is all around my children and the wisest thing I can do is just be supportive.

It Takes a Curious Mind To Be Known!:
Memory is faulty. "Even when we remember events accurately, we are apt to misidentify their places in the casual tapestry of our lives." It wasn't anything in childhood which influenced psychologist Steven Pinkier to pursue his dreams or career, or take a certain path. I think that fate has some place in what we become and do at a particular phase in our lives. It was in grad school when his interest in language became the focus for his career in vocabulary and grammar, my special interests, too. Just like a man, when he is confronted with a question or situation he isn't expecting, he just nods -- therefore, no real "thinking" takes place. For a psychology professor, he has a strange way of thinking about truth, changing his viewpoint as the whim hits him. He feels that childhood influences don't steer a "curious mind" in a certain direction. Usually we find our niche in life quite acccidentally. Most of us don't know what we will become (when suffering through childhood) nor any way to deflect what the future has in store for us. Happenstance has a way of steering us in a direction we might not want to go. We never know when life will throw us a curve ball. The old hometown is full of transplants and aliens interested only with making big money, not in promoting "curious minds" of children to become scientists. Thomas Wolfe was right, "You can't go home again." Because home is where you are, not the place you were born. That's a myth -- an illusion. Nothing is ever the same. No one is ever there to greet you or welcome you "home." These essays include stories by Howard Gardner on making a social scientist, Doyne Farmer (physics), Steven Strogatz (math), V. S. Ramachandran (science), no big names, no one I've heard of, but they have been successful enough in their diverse fields to be included in a social science assortment. John Brockman's books include SPECULATIONS, CREATIVITY, and HOW THINGS ARE, all of which decide who we are as individuals and what we become as adults. He's been busy writing, editing and co-editing. He owns a software agency in New York City. What I am wondering is why he didn't become a scientist with his "curious mind."

Where does a successful adult come from?:
Although the subtitle uses the terms, Child and Scientist, I think the real topic is how a person develops into a successful, creative adult. I found the book fascinating as I looked for patterns to validate how I raised my own children, or how I was raised, or how anyone should mentor younger people. What I learned was that becoming a scientist or any thinking adult is a mixture of luck, genetics, family influence, peer influence, and social setting. There is no recipe, but there may be patterns for our children and ourselves. While this was not a well constructed statistical survey, it was a well conceived set of informative essays from interesting, successful folks. Excellent book, great to discuss. Also, the format of many short essays made it easy to read in pieces and reflect.

"and as the twig is bent....":
I have enjoyed this book so much. After reading the New York Times Tuesday Science Section for years, I wished that those writers would gather the stories in the "Scientists" series and put them in a book. In CURIOUS MINDS the personal reiminiscences include surprises such as a woman who loved Nancy Drew and her sleuthing. Richard Dawkins, often in the news now, loved the Dr. Doolittle books. A good number of women scientists are included. Some of the scientists are from "scientific" families, others from good ole blue collar roots.