Magic Trees of the Mind

Description

Cutting edge scientific research has shown that exposure to the right kind of environment during the first years of life actually affects the physical structure of a child’s brain, vastly increasing the number of neuron branches—the “magic trees of the mind”—that help us to learn, think, and remember. At each stage of development, the brain’s ability to gain new skills and process information is refined.

As a leading researcher at the University of California at Berkeley, Marion Diamond has been a pioneer in this field of research. Now, Diamond and award-winning science writer Janet Hopson present a comprehensive enrichment program designed to help parents prepare their children for a lifetime of learning.Magic Trees of the MindPrologue and Acknowledgments
Introduction: Experience Is the Best Sculptor

1: Trees That Grow So Fair: Neural Forests of the Mind

2: An Enchanted Thing: The Brain’s Network of Connections

3: Feed My Brain: Influences in the Womb
An Enrichment Program for the Unborn Child

4: Dreaming Eyes of Wonder: Nurturing the Very Young
An Enrichment Program for Babies and Toddlers

5: These Become Part of the Child: Stimulating the Mind in the Preschool Years
An Enrichment Program for Preschool Children

6: Letting the Future In: The Power Of Experience in Middle Childhood
An Enrichment Program for Grade School Children

7: Plant Another Tree: Continuing Mental Development in Adolescence
An Enrichment Program for Teenagers

8: Learning Not by Chance: Enrichment in the Classroom

9: As Morning Shows the Day: How Social Factors Shape Future Minds

Resource Guide: Additional Tools for Enrichment
Articles / Books / Organizations / On-line Resources / Catalogs and Commercial Sources / Parent-Recommended Enrichment Tools

Notes
Index

“Wonderful… an excellent resource and activity guide for children ages one through twelve.”—Rebecca Shore, Baby Teacher: Nurturing Neural Networks from Birth to Age Five
 
“More than 35 years ago, Marian Diamond, a distinguished neuroanatomist in Berkeley, was part of a University of California research team whose imaginative experiments yielded a wealth of insights into rat behavior—and later into the plasticity of the growing human brain. A consequence of that groundbreaking research, and much that followed, is this remarkable book—both a guide for perplexed parents and an absorbing tale of scientific discovery. Its provocative subtitle offers a promise that the authors fulfill abundantly.”—David Perlman, San Francisco Chronicle
 
“Diamond and Hopson bring hard science up to the standards of common sense… Diamond, a researcher at UC-Berkeley, and science journalist Hopson bring a clear and steady gaze to material that could have overwhelmed less able writers. The valuable nearly 100-page resource guide includes extensive lists of recommended books and toys for children grouped by age level and by gender.”—Publishers WeeklyMarian Diamond has taught for more than thirty years at U.C. Berkeley, where she directed the Lawrence Hall of Science. She is the author of Magic Trees of the Mind, Enriching Heredity and The Human Brain Coloring Book.

Janet Hopson is a journalist, editor, and columnist for Science News and Outside magazines, as well as the New York Times, Smithsonian, Reader’s Digest, Newsweek, Psychology Today, and Cosmopolitan. She is the author of six books, including The Nature of Life and Scent Signals: The Silent Language of Sex.US

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