Welcome to Your Child's Brain How the Mind Grows from Conception to College

How children think is one of the most enduring mysteries--and difficulties--of parenthood. The marketplace is full of gadgets and tools that claim to make your child smarter, happier, or learn languages faster, all built on the premise that manufacturers know something about your child's brain that you don't. These products are easy to sell, because good information about how children's minds really work is hard to come by. In their new book, neuroscientists Sandra Aamodt and Sam Wang separate fact from fiction about the inner workings of young minds. Martialing results from new studies and classic research, Aamodt and Wang provide the most complete answers out there on this subject. It liberates readers from superstitions and speculation, such as Freud's idea that all relationships are modeled on one's mother, or that it's not safe to eat sushi while pregnant. And it will reveal new truths about everything from how to make your baby sleep, to why we love to snuggle, to how children learn, forget, play, talk, walk, and feel. Welcome to Your Child's Brainis eye-opening and necessary, soon to become a staple for parents and children alike.

Sandra Aamodt, Ph.D, is the former editor in chief of Nature Neuroscience, the leading scientific journal in the field of brain research. During her career, she has read over 5000 neuroscience papers, given lectures at many universities, and attended over fort scientific meetings in ten countries. Her science writing has been published in the New York Times, Washington Post, El Mundo and the London Times. She lives in Northern California with her husband, one cat, and three chickens. Sam Wang, Ph.D, is an associate professor of neuroscience at Princeton University. He has published fifty articles on the brain in leading scientific journals and received numerous awards. His research and analysis has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times and on National Public Radio, and he has made numerous television and radio appearances. He lives in Princeton, NJ with his wife and their two-year-old daughter.

"Dr. Wang and Dr. Aamodt playfully and engagingly introduce us to the hidden talents of our children’s brains." —Dr. Mehmet Oz, host of The Dr. Oz Show "Few humans are as neurotic as parents, frantic about the disastrous lifelong consequences of every errant hiccup. In this smart, funny, accessible, and supremely sane book, Aamodt and Wang explain that our supposed knowledge in this realm is riddled with urban myths and that a child’s brain is tough and resilient in the face of adversity. This is a terrific, fun, educational book." —Robert Sapolsky, Ph.D., author of Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers  "Fact-filled and fascinating, Welcome to Your Child’s Brain will answer many of parents’ most urgent questions. Neuroscientists Sandra Aamodt and Sam Wang present the real data that will help parents understand and nurture their children of all ages." —Dr. Lise Eliot, associate professor of neuroscience at Rosalind Franklin University and author of What’s Going On in There? and Pink Brain, Blue Brain