The Gardener and the Carpenter
What the New Science of Child Development Tells Us About the Relationship Between Parents and Children
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The Gardener and the Carpenter
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Narrated by:
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Erin Bennett
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By:
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Alison Gopnik
About this listen
Caring deeply about our children is part of what makes us human. Yet the thing we call "parenting" is a surprisingly new invention. In the past 30 years, the concept of parenting and the multibillion-dollar industry surrounding it have transformed child care into obsessive, controlling, and goal-oriented labor intended to create a particular kind of child and therefore a particular kind of adult.
In The Gardener and the Carpenter, pioneering developmental psychologist and philosopher Alison Gopnik argues that the familiar 21st-century picture of parents and children is profoundly wrong - it's not just based on bad science, it's bad for kids and parents, too. Drawing on the study of human evolution and her own cutting-edge scientific research into how children learn, Gopnik shows that although caring for children is profoundly important, it is not a matter of shaping them to turn out a particular way. Children are designed to be messy and unpredictable, playful and imaginative, and very different both from their parents and from each other. The variability and flexibility of childhood lets them innovate, create, and survive in an unpredictable world. "Parenting" won't make children learn - but caring parents let children learn by creating secure, loving environments.
©2016 Alison Gopnik (P)2016 Audible, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
Critic reviews
What listeners say about The Gardener and the Carpenter
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Megan
- 31-12-17
One of the best books I have listened too
Whilst I agree with other reviews that the title doesn't sum up the book well, the book was much better than I had anticipated from the title! Tons of scientific information, from all areas of science e.g. genetics, behavioural, written in accessible language. Gopnik is not patronising and is critical of her own arguments - two qualities which made this book a very enjoyable listen. The topics are fascinating too, and cover arguments I have not read about elsewhere (and I have read alot on child development.) If I was to give the book a more suiting title it would be; an overview on the past present and future of childhood and child raising. Note: this is not a parenting book as such, rather a interesting viewpoint on childhood, which is nonetheless relevant and accessible to parents - just don't expect any solutions to your parenting worries!
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Carina Simonsen Demirkan
- 27-06-24
How to deal with a child in difficult situations.
I liked that you were given some tools to deal with a child’s feeling. And you were taught reflect over different situations.
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Bianca
- 18-06-18
Well read but not the content you might think...
The narration is clear but the content is very theoretical with no practical guidance or advice. I was hoping for some ideas for the application of what the author has gleaned from all her experience and research. If I had expected to listen to this as an exploration of current theories and the reasons for them, I might have enjoyed it more. It was quite dense, though, and as I was listening out for what I can do or expect as a new parent, I found it quite slow-going (and disappointing). I am still in search of a more practically useful book on how babies and children develop and how I can offer the best of me to support my children.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Afshin Iraninejad
- 04-11-16
Poor story, well read
Although the title suggests telling us about scientific side of child and parent relationship and it does while annoyingly mixing facts with lots of personal individual experiences of the writer.
This book enchanted me when I read the introduction, when explaining about carpenter and gardner parents, difference of parenting and being a part, when she elegantly put pieces together why we have children in this age, in this world.
But the more I read, the less she explained the reason of having children and simply stoped after one simple fact that we have children because we love them. Almost entire book is about science of having baby and less and less carpenter and gardner parents.
I think the writer was lost from the very subject of book, from very enchanting, smart introduction through out the whole book.
It is a good book to realise new findings in science related to babies and how they grow up BUT extremely poor to make any original point about parenting and being a parent.
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2 people found this helpful