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Pink Brain, Blue Brain

How Small Differences Grow into Troublesome Gaps - And What We Can Do About It

Published by Oneworld Publications
Distributed by Simon & Schuster

About The Book

Groundbreaking research opens a new chapter in the Nature vs. Nurture debate

The 2010 smash hit arrives in mass-market paperback!


Turning conventional thinking about gender differences on its head, Lise Eliot issues a call to close the troubling gaps between boys and girls and help all children reach their fullest potential.
Drawing on years of exhaustive research and her own work in the field of neuroplasticity, Eliot argues that infant brains are so malleable that small differences at birth become amplified over time as parents, teachers, and the culture at large unwittingly reinforce gender stereotypes.
Indicating points of intervention where social pressures can be minimised, she offers concrete solutions for helping everyone grow into wellrounded individuals.

About The Author

Lise Eliot is a mother of three, and the Associate Professor of Neuroscience at The Chicago Medical School of Rosalind Franklin University. She is the author of What's Going On In There? How the Brain and Mind Develop in the First Five Years of Life.

Product Details

  • Publisher: Oneworld Publications (May 1, 2010)
  • Length: 432 pages
  • ISBN13: 9781780740867

Raves and Reviews

“A refreshingly reasonable and reassuring look at recent alarming studies about sex differences in determining the behavior of children … Eliot's work demonstrates a remarkable clarity of purpose.”

– Publishers Weekly

“This is an important book and highly recommended for parents, teachers, and anyone who works with children.”

– Library Journal

"Read her masterful book and you'll never view the sex-differences debate the same way again."

– Newsweek

"This meticulous book should challenge everyone's assumption about the role of sex and gender." Sue Blackmore

– BBC Focus

“Gender is strongly affected by environment and stereotyping after all, [Eliot] maintains in this absorbing book.”

– The Bookseller

"A passionate plea for all of us to look beyond the confines of the pink/blue tyranny of childhood... To use the latest brain science to maximise outcomes for both genders, to the greater glorification of both."

– Culture (supplement to the Sunday Times)

"Read her masterful book and you'll never view the sex-differences debate the same way again."

– Newsweek

“A refreshingly reasonable and reassuring look at recent alarming studies about sex differences in determining the behavior of children … Eliot's work demonstrates a remarkable clarity of purpose.”

– Publishers Weekly

“This is an important book and highly recommended for parents, teachers, and anyone who works with children.”

– Library Journal

"[a] sharp, information-packed, and worderfully readable book"

– Mother Jones

10 out of 10 review: "it is difficult to see how Pink Brain, Blue Brain can become anything other than the definitive text on sex differences."

– The Times Higher Educational Supplement

"She tells her story authoritatively but modestly, with frequent references to her experience as a mother, and illuminates a very accessible pathway through the science." Marek Kohn

– The Independent

"She tells her story authoritatively but modestly, with frequent references to her experience as a mother, and illuminates a very accessible pathway through the science." Marek Kohn

– The Independent

10 out of 10 review: "it is difficult to see how Pink Brain, Blue Brain can become anything other than the definitive text on sex differences."

– The Times Higher Educational Supplement

“Read her masterful book and you'll never view the sex-differences debate the same way again.”

– Sharon Begley - author of The Plastic Mind and senior editor of Newsweek

"I wish that Pink Brain, Blue Brain had been available when my children were small. Read it if you’re a parent seeking some savvy insight on child rearing, as a teacher looking to help students—or just read it for the pleasure of understanding yourself a little better."

– Deborah Blum - Pulitzer Prize winner and author of 'Sex on the Brain: The Biological Differences Bet

"Lise Eliot nimbly refutes the overemphasis on sex differences that has dominated popular thinking in our Mars and Venus age--but without resorting to a facile denial of differences, either. This is a lively, marvelously clear and readable book that combines all the latest research on sex differences with smart, sensible and humane advice to parents on how bring out the fullest potential in both boys and girls."

– Margaret Talbot - Staff Writer, The New Yorker

"I wish that Pink Brain, Blue Brain had been available when my children were small. Read it if you’re a parent seeking some savvy insight on child rearing, as a teacher looking to help students—or just read it for the pleasure of understanding yourself a little better."

– Deborah Blum - Pulitzer Prize winner and author of 'Sex on the Brain: The Biological Differences Bet

"I can’t stop talking about Pink Brain, Blue Brain. This book will change the way you think about boys, girls, and how we come to be who we are."

– Jonah Lehrer - author of How We Decide and Proust Was a Neuroscientist

"Lise Eliot nimbly refutes the overemphasis on sex differences that has dominated popular thinking in our Mars and Venus age--but without resorting to a facile denial of differences, either. This is a lively, marvelously clear and readable book that combines all the latest research on sex differences with smart, sensible and humane advice to parents on how bring out the fullest potential in both boys and girls."

– Margaret Talbot - Staff Writer, The New Yorker

"Lise Eliot surveys the real science of sex differences in a way that is clear and careful as well as entertaining, and her advice on everything from public policy to parenting is sensible and scientifically grounded."

– Mark Liberman - University of Pennsylvania

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