Young Minds in Social Worlds

“Katherine Nelson’s Young Minds in Social Worlds is an immensely rich, fascinating, and exciting book that describes development from infancy as the evolution of a ‘private mind’ that is different from every other private mind and that gradually unfolds as the child enters the meaning-sharing of a ‘community of minds’ through the first five years of life… This book evokes feelings of exuberance and vitality in the reader… Anyone interested in the unfolding of the developmental processes will appreciate her writing and the rich information that she provides.”—Ira Glovinsky, Journal of Developmental Processes

“Nelson’s book is thought-provoking and likely to stimulate discussion. Although the focus of the book makes it most appropriate for researchers and graduate students in child development, it should also interest cognitive psychologists who are not experts in development.”—Marie Balaban, PsychCritiques

“Takes a pragmatic, experiential perspective on the process of early development to reveal how children obtain a sense of self and an understanding of the world around them through social interactions. Emphasizing that each child finds a different path through this developmental process, she argues that those studying children must assume a process orientation to address how the mind-culture symbiosis occurs for normally developing children… [Nelson] makes a cogent case for adopting a developmental-systems approach in which systems, conceptualized as undergoing continuous dynamic change, need to maintain a coherence across change, a continuity of the whole over time, and a flexibility in the face of strong individual differences. This allows one to view children not as little scientists working to understand domain-specific issues but as emerging members of ‘communities of minds’ striving to make sense of the world around them and to share that meaning with others.”—R.B. Stewart, Choice