NURTURESHOCK IS NOW IN PAPERBACK

As of this week, NurtureShock is now available in trade paperback!

And a NPR Recommended Paperback of the week!

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We don't post a ton – but we do keep our Facebook and Twitter friends updated with tour information, media appearances, articles we think are interesting.

And soon we'll be having a give-away for autographed copies of NurtureShock, so please sign up today!

Thanks very much!

Creativity Tasks for NurtureShock/Newsweek

UPDATE: Since the piece has been published in Newsweek, we're no longer looking for creativity tasks for the piece - but you're still welcome to download the tasks and try them out on your own. Thanks again!

We’re writing a piece for Newsweek on the cutting edge science of creativity, and, in the piece, we're going to explore creativity assessments such as the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking (TTCT) and others.

We'd love you to try out 3 of the test questions. One is a three minute written question, and there are two drawing tasks, five minutes each.

If you think you've got some really creative answers, sign the permission form and send them in to us. We'll put some of the best up on our websites – and hopefully Newsweek.com and the magazine itself!

What' s important to know: we are not looking for overall artistic ability. And the questions have time limits, anyway – so there's no time to be Rembrandt. What we are looking for is inventiveness and originality. We want unique ways of looking at things and new ways to solve familiar problems. The best response will be the one that you alone could come up with: the answer that would never occur to your friends or family.

Here is the link to the PDF for you to print out.

New Pieces at the Daily Beast

Last week, we wrote two-pieces for The Daily Beast that we're very excited about.

In our book, we explain how poorly early IQ scores predict kids' later achievement, and, since the book's release, a number of people have begun calling for schools to use behavioral measures to assess kids. So in our first piece, we explain that the truth is these alternative measures are even worse – less reliable – than IQ results.

Our second piece is about one of the most famous behavioral measures: the Marshmallow Task. This test measures a child's ability to delay gratification, and it has been suggested that a preschooler's success in it can predict his SAT scores, 15 years later. However, we write that the science to support that claim is razor thin.

NurtureShock is On Over 30 "Best Of" Lists!

NurtureShock has been included in over 30 "Best Of 2009" lists. We're very honored to have been recognized by each of them, and the sheer number is fantastic, but what is particularly thrilling to us is the variation in the lists, themselves.

For example, Barnes & Noble, San Francisco Chronicle and iTunes recognized us as being some of the Best in General Nonfiction, while Library Journal, AV Club, East Bay Express, and Nevada NPR had us in their lists of Best of Books, without reference to genre.

Audible.com has us at #1 in its "Best in Self Development" category.

Meanwhile, Discover magazine and Seed magazine said we were among the Best in Science Writing. This Week in Education and others include us in their lists of Best Education Books while Big Think has our race chapter as one of the year's Best Coverage in Politics/Social Issues.

And then Momma Data and others have tapped as us being the Best Parenting Book of the Year.

Amazing. Thank you so all very much.

NurtureShock's Many International Editions

NurtureShock is now in its 6th printing in the U.S. It will be available on Feb 4th, 2010 in English in the U.K., Australia, and in English-language bookstores in Asia, released by Ebury Press. NurtureShock will soon be available in at least nine translations, by the following publishers:

Japanese: Intershift Inc, Tokyo
Chinese (Taiwan): Ars Longa, Taipei
Chinese (Mainland): Huaxia, Beijing
Korean: Mulpure, Seoul
Thai: WeLearn Books, Bangkok

German: Goldmann Arkana, Munich
Spain: Editorial Sirio, Barcelona
Portugal: Lua de Papel, Lisbon

Brazil: Texto Editores, Sao Paulo

Great Interview on CBC's The Current

To those wondering how NurtureShock hit #2 in nonfiction on Amazon Canada over the weekend, it's because a great interview ran with Hana Gartner of CBC's The Current. The opening several minutes are some great/hilarious quotes from parents on the street giving their opinions on race, self-esteem, baby einstein, etc.

Here's the link to the page to hear it. On the bottom of the page, click "Listen to Part Three."