High Cognitive Minds

I've been thinking about a series of book reviews for this blog, but I hate writing book reviews, so it's a project that will exist more in my mind than in reality, even though I'll churn one out every now and then. I had thought of starting with the two books that seem most appropriate, since they're the only two that even acknowledge the existence of gifted adults—Gifted Grownups, and Liberating Everyday Genius. But my dislike for both of them and my resistance to reviewing them is so overwhelming that writing about that would probably be more useful.

At the time I read Gifted Grownups I was a member of a forum for older gifted women. Among all those who had read the book, the general consensus was that it didn't contribute much to an understanding of giftedness, and seemed more focused on making everybody feel good about themselves. The very title of the book had set my teeth on edge, since referring to adults as grownups is almost exclusively reserved for times when adults feel the need to talk down to children. Ultimately, I wound up being so disgusted with the book that I got rid of it. So, if I reviewed it, I would have to resort to refreshing my memory with online reviews. Apparently, none of the libraries in my county's library system considered it worth buying, so borrowing it was out, and I certainly wasn't going to buy another copy.

This excerpt from an Amazon review pretty much sums up my feelings about it. "...as I finished reading, it all struck me as being somewhat long on opinion and too focused on the fact "that" gifted adults face certain challenges, while too short on scientific research, explanations and "why" those difficulties occur. And it is also long on somewhat self-congratulatory "feel good" vignettes, but short on real-life solutions, help and applications for those Gifted Adults who find life to be a struggle. Finally, I found Streznewski to step somewhat lightly over the psychological issues facing the gifted."

On to Liberating Everyday Genius: A Revolutionary Guide for Identifying and Mastering Your Exceptional Gifts, which has recently come out with a new name—The Gifted Adult: A Revolutionary Guide for Liberating Everyday Genius. Like Gifted Grownups, this is long on generalizations, and feel-good  cliches, and short on addressing important issues. In fact, one Amazon reviewer summed it up quite succinctly: "If you buy it, expect to be reading a Tony Robbins type self-esteem booster...do not expect to find real answers."

By now, you may be wondering what's so bad about books whose goal is to make you feel better about being gifted. Understanding the psychological aspects of giftedness is important, but not to the neglect of the basics, which is intellectual functioning—something that these two books, and most books about gifted children, fail to address. These books also rely on sweeping generalizations, and in Jacobsen's case, invented definitions and terms which seem to inform, but have no actual content. "Everyday genius" is simply a term which seeks to include as many people as possible, regardless of what talents and abilities they may or may not have. Genius has a specific meaning, and distorting that meaning to make it as inclusive as possible does no one any favors, and merely serves to degrade the language. "Evolutionary IQ" may make her readers feel good, but it has no foundation in psychology or any other branch of reality-based science. And the same can be said for Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences, on which she depends so heavily.

Considering how many of the Amazon reviewers express their delight with both book because they appeal to emotional needs, and the pairing of the newer edition of Liberating Everyday Genius with Invisible Heroes: Survivors of Trauma and How They Heal for an additional discount on your purchase, I have no trouble holding to my view that an accurate, fact-based book of real use to gifted adults has yet to be written. As additions to America's pop psychology therapy culture, they fit right in.