When the empirical meets the adorable
Babies can be a joy—and hard work. Now they can also be a 50-in-1 science project kit!
This fascinating and hands-on guide shows you how to re-create landmark scientific studies on cognitive, motor, language, and behavioral development—using your own bundle of joy as the research subject. Simple, engaging, and fun for both baby and parent, each project sheds light on how your baby is acquiring new skills—everything from recognizing faces, voices, and shapes to understanding new words, learning to walk, and even distinguishing between right and wrong.
Whether your little research subject is a newborn, a few months old, or a toddler, these simple, surprising projects will help you see the world through your baby’s eyes—and discover ways to strengthen newly acquired skills during your everyday interactions.
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“Offers a fun text…[and] provides a concise and relevant look at child development based on the literature from cognitive, motor, and behavioral research. Gallagher shows parents how to re-create accepted study findings by conducting brief experiments involving such innocuous activities as making faces, flashing pictures, and grasping items. These say nothing about intelligence but rather show healthy child growth, which should ease any worries rather than create anxiety. Age ranges, experimental complexity, and the areas of science relevant to the experiments are all outlined in full…followed by a ‘take-away’ section that describes how to develop further the skills addressed.”
— Library Journal (starred review)
“Experimenting with Babies is a wonderful book…What a fabulous way for parents to get to know their new child!”
— Lise Eliot, PhD, associate professor of neuroscience, Chicago Medical School“Parents will have fun with this book and gain new respect and awe for their babies’ amazing capabilities.”
— Roberta Michnick Golinkoff, PhD, H. Rodney Sharp Professor, University of Delaware“Offers insights on infant development and parenting with a humorous twist…The heart of the book is not the experiments themselves but takeaways that provide the new parent with developmental clues and suggestions for age-appropriate activities. Parents will appreciate these tips and Gallagher’s whimsical tone.”
— Publishers WeeklyBe the first to write a review about this audiobook!
Shaun Gallagher, a father of two ongoing science experiments, is a writer and a former magazine and newspaper editor. He also runs the popular website Correlated.org, which analyzes statistical data to find funny and surprising correlations. He lives in Wilmington, Delaware.
Richard Powers has published thirteen novels. He is a MacArthur Fellow and received the National Book Award. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for The Overstory, and Bewilderment was shortlisted for the Booker Prize.