A review by nakedsushi
The Self-Driven Child: The Science and Sense of Giving Your Kids More Control Over Their Lives by William Stixrud, Ned Johnson

3.0

This guide on helping your child become more independent, self-confident, and driven spoke to the way I want to parent my kid, but I like most other parenting books I read, I was annoyed half of the time. I finished most of the book but skimmed the later chapters about college entrance exams and college in general. I did like that the authors emphasized that college was a privilege to be earned and not a given.

I found enough tips and information in this book that not only applied to my kid, but also applied to myself, so it's definitely worth reading.

First, the good parts:
* lots of conclusions from studies about how the brain actually works
* offers a variety of paths for different types of brains
* nice summary at the end of chapters for those of us who like to skim

The not so good parts:
* definitely comes from a privileged point of view. For example, finding a school that works for your child is great if you have the money for options, but not great if the only thing you can do is send your kid to the closest public school.
* The different voices or points of view of "Bill says blah blah" and "When Ned had a client..." was confusing without much context.