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amlibera's review
5.0
Smart, insightful deep dive into the question of what comprises intelligence framed with Scott's own personal experience- starting in a "learning disabled" classroom through a journey that lead to a Phd from Yale and a thriving career as an academic and a public intellectual.
tgh124's review
5.0
Incredibly thought-provoking book, but for me, hard to get through. How can one man, Scott Barry Kaufman, absorb and integrate so many studies and theories about intelligence? How all of this can point to needed changes in education isn't clear. Allowing students to gravitate towards their interests/passions may reveal many more intelligences beyond reading. writing and 'rithmatic. But if that causes avoidance of areas of learning that are difficult but can be developed by encouragement, mentoring, then education may be failing them needlessly.
In the Epilogue, the Author is reunited with a teacher of "gifted" students, who allowed Kaufman to sit in on her classes despite his label of learning challenged. An education decision like that can make all the difference. Maybe a whole course comprised of the stories by high achievers, of particular teachers who had that total educational and emotional impact. Modeling behavior may teach more than theories.
In the Epilogue, the Author is reunited with a teacher of "gifted" students, who allowed Kaufman to sit in on her classes despite his label of learning challenged. An education decision like that can make all the difference. Maybe a whole course comprised of the stories by high achievers, of particular teachers who had that total educational and emotional impact. Modeling behavior may teach more than theories.
pgck's review
2.0
scrupulously researched and hundreds of academic findings densely packed together, which does not lend itself readily to the general nonfiction genre
roomforastory's review
3.0
I really like the big ideas in this book - that intelligence is more than IQ, more than performing well on standardized tests. The author's personal story, that he started out as a kid in special education and slowly worked his way to graduating with a PhD from Yale, is woven throughout the book and is compelling. About half way through, I felt bogged down by the large amounts of research and data.
bootman's review
5.0
I often think about how it's so strange that we measure intelligence based off a person's ability to memorize different facts. A prime example is the phenomenon of Jeopardy, but we see this throughout school as well. Grades and standardized tests aren't so much based on a person's problem-solving abilities or creativity but memorization, and this I've always felt that this is a poor gauge of intelligence. Fortunately, I came across this book by Scott Barry Kaufman.
Scott started out as a kid who was put in special needs classes and is now one of the greatest academics of our time. Recently, I finished his new book Transcend: The New Science of Self-Actualization, and when I realized he wrote on this subject that I'm interested in, I had to read it. I highly recommend this book for any parent, teacher, or person who disagrees with the conventional ways we see people as "intelligent". I also think this book is great to read in conjunction with Peak by Anders Ericsson and The Cult of Smart by Fredrik deBoer.
Scott started out as a kid who was put in special needs classes and is now one of the greatest academics of our time. Recently, I finished his new book Transcend: The New Science of Self-Actualization, and when I realized he wrote on this subject that I'm interested in, I had to read it. I highly recommend this book for any parent, teacher, or person who disagrees with the conventional ways we see people as "intelligent". I also think this book is great to read in conjunction with Peak by Anders Ericsson and The Cult of Smart by Fredrik deBoer.
d_sebek's review
5.0
As a teacher of students identified as gifted my enjoyment and appreciation of a book title "Ungifted" may seem ironic.
The children I teach are generally highly successful at playing the game of school. But some are not, including my own children. My oldest was very successful in public education until his sophomore year in high school when boredom and disinterest drove him to ignore his studies. He eventually, begrudgingly, rejoined the education game and is doing very well in college.
My younger two children have various learning difficulties, including learning delays and dyslexia. But they are very intelligent in the areas of their passions. My daughter, due to her super power of dyslexia, has an amazing visual memory and taught herself to ride a bike and tie her own shoes very early in life. My middle son is encyclopedic in his knowledge of college and pro sports. It hurts that he can recall every starting QB and their number in the NFL but took eighteen months to learn a dime and nickel make fifteen cents.
The one thing that Kaufman makes clear in his writing is that an IQ test will have very little determination on the future success on my students who are academically gifted and my own children who show high ability in non-academic areas. What is important is the dynamic interplay of engagement and abilities in pursuit of personal goals.
How come my son did not learn about money but had no problems assigning numbers to QB's? He didn't care about money, it didn't match with his personal goal to be involved in sports.
Why does my daughter not like to read? It's hard, frustrating. Who wants to do things that cause your brain to hurt and your self-esteem to suffer? At the same time she is great working with younger children, and volunteers helping children using hippotherapy at a local stable.
Success is not a test score. And that is important for all students to know, no matter where their dot falls on the bell curve.
The only point I disagree with is the use of the word Truth in the title. As Kaufman points out many times in his work, the truth is subjective and it changes. A century from now researches may look on his work much like we look at the work of Alfred Binet and his IQ tests. At the time, everyone thought he had unlocked the secrets of measuring intelligence, when they were just a little less bit less wrong in their thinking than before.
Ungifted is an important book for anyone who works with children. We cannot let the antiquated structure of the early 1900's still dictate what is considered successful in schools. Kaufman reaffirms and synthesizes the many ways we can all be great in our own lives, in our own ways. And a number on a test should not dictate our greatness.
The children I teach are generally highly successful at playing the game of school. But some are not, including my own children. My oldest was very successful in public education until his sophomore year in high school when boredom and disinterest drove him to ignore his studies. He eventually, begrudgingly, rejoined the education game and is doing very well in college.
My younger two children have various learning difficulties, including learning delays and dyslexia. But they are very intelligent in the areas of their passions. My daughter, due to her super power of dyslexia, has an amazing visual memory and taught herself to ride a bike and tie her own shoes very early in life. My middle son is encyclopedic in his knowledge of college and pro sports. It hurts that he can recall every starting QB and their number in the NFL but took eighteen months to learn a dime and nickel make fifteen cents.
The one thing that Kaufman makes clear in his writing is that an IQ test will have very little determination on the future success on my students who are academically gifted and my own children who show high ability in non-academic areas. What is important is the dynamic interplay of engagement and abilities in pursuit of personal goals.
How come my son did not learn about money but had no problems assigning numbers to QB's? He didn't care about money, it didn't match with his personal goal to be involved in sports.
Why does my daughter not like to read? It's hard, frustrating. Who wants to do things that cause your brain to hurt and your self-esteem to suffer? At the same time she is great working with younger children, and volunteers helping children using hippotherapy at a local stable.
Success is not a test score. And that is important for all students to know, no matter where their dot falls on the bell curve.
The only point I disagree with is the use of the word Truth in the title. As Kaufman points out many times in his work, the truth is subjective and it changes. A century from now researches may look on his work much like we look at the work of Alfred Binet and his IQ tests. At the time, everyone thought he had unlocked the secrets of measuring intelligence, when they were just a little less bit less wrong in their thinking than before.
Ungifted is an important book for anyone who works with children. We cannot let the antiquated structure of the early 1900's still dictate what is considered successful in schools. Kaufman reaffirms and synthesizes the many ways we can all be great in our own lives, in our own ways. And a number on a test should not dictate our greatness.
dashtaisen's review
informative
medium-paced
3.5
I think it’s worth a quick skim if you’re curious about what goes into measuring “intelligence” and “talent”, and the problems with existing measures. There’s been a lot of progress since the time this book came out, so some of it hasn’t aged super well. In particular, there’s been a lot of great work recently in both disability justice and racial justice, which is very relevant to “giftedness”. So those would be excellent places to explore after giving this book a read.
lovelin28's review
3.0
It's less about his personal journey than I expected, and way more deeply into the science of intelligence. I'm sure it's a great read for any professional in that field, but I wouldn't recommend it to the average reader.
benjfleck's review
4.0
Ungifted: Intelligence Redefined: Or, Who Really is Gifted & Talented
Scott Barry Kaufman presents a very personal and well-studied analysis of what it means to be gifted and talented, and what it means to be told you're not gifted or talented. I was reading this for a project I'm working on and it gave me great insight into the different kinds of intelligence out there and how schools are always properly monitoring the different ways us human beings excel. The book shined when Mr. Kaufman was relating his thoughts via a personal story. At times, it was a bit bogged down by multiple footnotes/endnotes and too much over-analytical speak/charts/graphs. Hard to make sense of numbers and all the different tests, but ultimately his point made sense and schools still have a long way to go to figure out what's best.
#WeAreAllGiftedAndTalented
Scott Barry Kaufman presents a very personal and well-studied analysis of what it means to be gifted and talented, and what it means to be told you're not gifted or talented. I was reading this for a project I'm working on and it gave me great insight into the different kinds of intelligence out there and how schools are always properly monitoring the different ways us human beings excel. The book shined when Mr. Kaufman was relating his thoughts via a personal story. At times, it was a bit bogged down by multiple footnotes/endnotes and too much over-analytical speak/charts/graphs. Hard to make sense of numbers and all the different tests, but ultimately his point made sense and schools still have a long way to go to figure out what's best.
#WeAreAllGiftedAndTalented