Gardner (cognition and education, Harvard U.) describes the kinds of minds that people will need to thrive in the eras to come. Generally, he specifies the operations of the minds that will be needed, but does have personal values, and so also considers operations that he believes people should develop in the future. His five types are disciplines, synthesizing, creating, respectful, and ethical. Annotation ©2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com) Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

Psychologist, author and Harvard professor Gardner (Multiple Intelligences: New Horizons) has put together a thought-provoking, visionary attempt to delineate the kinds of mental abilities ("minds") that will be critical to success in a 21st century landscape of accelerating change and information overload. Gardner?s five minds-disciplined, synthesizing, creating, respectful and ethical-are not personality types, but ways of thinking available to anyone who invests the time and effort to cultivate them: "how we should use our minds." In presenting his "values enterprise," Gardner uses a variety of explanatory models, from developmental psychology to group dynamics, demonstrating their utility not just for individual development, but for tangible success in a full range of human endeavors, including education, business, science, art, politics and engineering. A tall order for a single work, Gardner avoids overly-technical arguments as well as breezy generalizations, putting to fine use his twenty years experience as a cognitive science researcher, author and educator, and proving his world-class reputation well-earned. Though specialists might wish Gardner dug a bit more into the research, most readers will find the book lively and engaging, like the fascinating lectures of a seasoned, beloved prof. (Apr.) Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information. From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information