 Anyone can benefit from this book |
| Review Date: May 15, 2006 |
| Reviewer: John Chancellor, New Orleans |
Unless you are a hermit, you can definitely benefit from this book. For those interested in improving their lives,their parenting skills, their leadership skills, their teaching skills and their relationship skills, this is a must read.
Napoleon Hill, in Think and Grow Rich, stressed the importance of a positive mental attitude. Normal Vincent Peale, in The Power of a Positive Mental Attitude, stressed the importance of a positive mental attitude.
Dweck picks up where both of these very famous works fell short. Both Hill and Peale understood the importance of a positive mental attitude. But Dweck shows us how we develop fixed mindset attitudes in many areas of our lives and the damage our attitude inflicts on us and on those we interact with. Instead of dwelling on positive or negative attitude, Dweck used the term fixed mindset and growth mindset.
The book is not just theory. Dweck explains how the fixed mindset was in part responsible for the downfall of Enron. She also contrast the fixed mindset of basketball coach Bobby Knight with that of the growth mindset of legendary coach John Wooden (UCLA). The contrast and the results are startling.
As far as parenting and teaching skills, there are some very valuable lessons. We should learn to praise work and not talent. No one ever failed by striving for constant learning. History is littered with failures who relied on their God given talent.
The book is a real eye-opener. The fixed mindset verses growth mindset is not an either or situation. We can possess a growth mindset in certain areas but a fixed mindset in other areas of our lives. If you are honest, you will do some "Ahha" when you discover some fixed mindsets traits about yourself.
If you are a teacher, you will be challenged to ask yourself are you doing the best job you can do. There are some very inspiring stories about teachers doing outstanding jobs with childern everyone else had written off.
Lastly, Dweck tells how we can develop a growth mindset and improve our lives and the lives of those around us.
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The importance of seeing intelligence as changeable
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| Review Date: September 19, 2006 |
| Reviewer: Coert Visser, Driebergen Netherlands |
That the way we look upon phenomena can have drastic consequences has been known for a long time. It has now been demonstrated that the same goes for intelligence.
This book by Carol Dweck demonstrates, on the basis of good research, that what people think about their own intelligence has far-reaching consequences. Dweck shows that people with a so-called FIXED MINDSET, who see intelligence as unchangeable, develop a tendency to focus on proving that they have that characteristic instead of focusing on the process of learning. They tend to avoid difficult challenges because failing on these could cause them to lose their intelligent appearance. This disregard of challenge and learning hinders them in the development of their learning and in their performance. So it actually hinders them in developing their knowledge, skills and abilities.
However, when people view intelligence as a potential that can be developed, this is called the GROWTH MINDSET, this leads to the tendency to put effort into learning and performing and into developing strategies that enhance learning and long term accomplishments. An implication is that it pays off to help children and students invest in a view of intelligence as something that can be developed. Carol Dweck does not deny that people differ in their natural abilities but she stresses that it is continued effort which makes abilities blossom. Children who have learned to develop a growth mindset know that effort is the main key to creating knowledge and skills.
Fortunately the growth mindset can be taught to people. People who were trapped in a fixed mindset can be freed from it and start building their intelligence. If you are a teacher or a parent you would be wise to take good notice of this message and maybe buy this book. the book contains some good examples of how to help children learn how important it is to work and learn. But really anyone could learn from it. |
Science, not self-help
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| Review Date: April 9, 2007 |
| Reviewer: Ambrose Tuscano, Truckee, CA 96161 |
Let me keep this brief by sorting out for potential buyers why they should consider buying this book despite some negative reviews.
1. This is not a self-help book. It is a summary of a body of research in a scientific field. It is not SUPPOSED to tell you how to achieve riches or social popularity or zen, like self-help works.
2. The ideas expressed in this book are not necessarily totally new. Dr. Dweck has been doing research in this field for a long time, and many of the people she cites as growth-minded thinkers were doing it long before she came up with these ideas. However, the reason to buy and read this book is that it lays out for readers the beginnings of a unified theory of how humans learn. Specifically, it focuses on two very general approaches to learning. Yes, the anecodotes seem very simple and repetitive, but they all work to support this theory.
3. I don't want to overstate the importance of the ideas Mindset presents, but in my mind, there's not a person I've ever met (including me) who couldn't improve their own life just by reading, understanding and applying the ideas in this book. Not surprisingly, those who come away from this book complaining that it didn't tell them how to apply the ideas it contains are missing the forest for the trees. It's very difficult to admit when one's faults are exposed . As I said earlier, we all have fixed mindsets about something or other in our lives. Consequently, someone who thinks too much in a fixed mindset hears all the ways that their life could be better if they embraced the idea that they can learn and do anything with the appropriate amount of work, their inate response is: "How?" The problem is that the solution is too simple for them to admit that they've been missing it their whole lives. There is no real big secret to this book. It simply provides evidence (and anecdotal support) for the idea that a growth mindset can enrich people's lives in a multitude of ways.
So go out and buy this book if you think that there's something in you life that you'd like to change or if you'd like your children to have a chance to maximize their potential. However, if you recognize yourself as a know-it-all who's willing to suppress your own and other people's potential with strict ideas about what can't be done, don't bother wasting your time. |
Not just self-help, but a great insight into public failures and successes
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| Review Date: March 29, 2006 |
| Reviewer: Chris Berthelsen, Tarzana, CA |
I was fortunate to have read the author's previous work, Self-theories, a collection of essays exploring her research into motivational patterns and achievement, and while I found her prose wonderfully accessible and lucid, especially for an academician and researcher, I wondered how she would fare in Mindset, which goes head-to-head with books in the pop-psychology mainstream. I was delighted to find that she has fleshed out the theories and conclusions from Self-theories in a light, fast-moving and enthusiastic style that makes for a compulsive read.
My son goes to a recently-formed progressive school where students have a lot of input into the class offerings and teaching styles are quite varied and adventurous. If enough want a course, the school strives to make it available within the mandatory class requirements. So languages, for instance, include French, Russian, Hebrew, Arabic and American Sign Language. I gave a copy of Self-theories to the founder and driving force of the school and he devoured it, claiming he now had a powerful academic foundation to answer those curious about and critical of the school's approach. I think he will find Mindset an even more persuasive tool, since it shows in example-laden manner how mindsets developed early in life can dictate our potential and our limitations - and what we can do about it at any stage in our lives.
What makes Mindset particularly compelling is the avalanche of vivid stories from lives of the ordinary and the celebrated in the worlds of business, science, education and sports. (Some readers may be surprised, as I was, to find a respected professor of psychology to be almost exhaustively knowledgeable about sports and its superstars, as well as the ins and outs of the corporate world.) Each chapter is filled with anecdotes from everyday people as well as names still making headlines today, demonstrating how a fixed mindset can constrict a life while a growth mindset can liberate and empower one. And Dweck is refreshingly fearless in taking some of our major icons of public life to task, in often tart prose, for their failures and stubborn blunders. John McEnroe, Lee Iacocca, Bobby Knight and others come under her knife. There's a certain wicked satisfaction to be found in puncturing the self-importance of the rich and fatuous. She even turns the lens of her criticism to her own life, reviewing not only her successes but also the failings and her struggles to apply the insights she's exploring.
While each chapter also ends with a checklist for evaluating one's own mindset and its life consequences and there's something of a primer for shifting mindsets at the end, this is not merely a how-to manual. It's the cumulative effect of the individual stories that makes the most persuasive argument for Dweck's theories. I find myself coming up with my own examples of dueling mindsets among family, friends and co-workers, so apparently merely reading the book (and it's a quick 255 pages) begins building the recognition skills the author stresses as an important first step to making changes in one's own life. And as she carefully points out, it's never too late to change a mindset that is limiting one's potential and accomplishment in any aspect of life, including love and relationships.
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If you affect someone's life, or want to improve your own, you've got to read this book!
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| Review Date: March 27, 2006 |
| Reviewer: Phyllis Newman, Roseville, CA |
If you are a parent, teacher, student, coach, employer, employee, looking for a job, or in a relationship (did I leave anyone out?) you have to read this book. As a parent, I truly believe this book should be mandatory reading for any teacher, education major, or coach, because it made me realize that the feedback our children are given from teachers and coaches can have a harmful or beneficial impact on them for the rest of their lives (unless they read this book later in life and decide to change their mindset). Teachers need to realize how what they say, even if it appears positive, can stunt the intellectual, emotional, and even the creative growth of a child or student of any age. This book showed me how certain things I may say to my children to praise them, actually may hurt their continued growth--and it taught me a better way to give praise. This book is very helpful in teaching a person what to focus on when giving praise or criticism, whether to a student, son or daughter, employee, etc.
As a business owner, I hope I can take what I learned from this book and not only use it to help my business grow, but also help my employees grow by helping them achieve a "growth mindset". As a parent, I hope to help cultivate my children into "growth mindset" oriented individuals, and as a wife, this book will help my relationship continue to grow.
Once you start reading it, you won't want to put it down. It would make a great teacher's gift-but give it to them at the beginning of the year, so that your child will benefit from their newfound knowledge!
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