Gifted Grownups: The Mixed Blessings of Extraordinary Potential

What is it like to be smarter than 95% of the people you meet?Fifty-four-year-old Alison says They told me I was smart and Icried. I wanted to be sexy or glamorous! Jean 38 laments Ilearned the whole job in six weeks and now I'm bored. Gifted Grownups Marylou Kelly Streznewski's unprecedented 10-yearstudy of 100 gifted adults examines how being identified as asmart kid early on affects career choices friendships andromantic pairings later in life. Why do some talented and giftedpeople become Mozarts and Einsteins or corporate chieftains whileothers drop out of school struggle to hold down jobs or turn toself-destructive behavior? What are the signs of giftedness itspitfalls and its promise? Marylou Streznewski provides answers tothese and other questions and creates an intriguing picture ofwhat it is like to have an accelerated mind in a slow-movingworld. Traditionally the gifted were measured in terms of intelligenceonly and anyone with an IQ score higher than 130 was automaticallygrouped in with that misunderstood minority. Recently giftednesshas been redefined to include qualities like extraordinarycreative leadership or physical skills. Heightened perceptionsensitivity humor and the ability to put complex ideas togetherquickly are also aspects of giftedness. These gifts affect the waytalented adults react to their friends families jobs and lifechallenges. Doing for gifted grownups what the bestselling Drivento Distraction did for adults with attention deficit GiftedGrownups traces many types of gifted adults including thehigh-testing power-achieving Striver; the popular scholar orathlete Superstar; and the creative intellectual free-spiritIndependent. Here for the first time and in their own words 100gifted grownups from ages 18 to 90 and a variety of family andeducational backgrounds occupations social classes and racescount the blessings and tally the costs of a high-powered mind.Highly informative and interesting.--Alice Miller author of TheDrama of the Gifted Child This book was a delight. It affirmed my own experiences andobservations. The author makes her study come alive . . . throughthe voices of real people talking about their experiences. . . . Ihighly recommend this book.i--Joanne Rand Whitmore PhD Professorand Dean College and Graduate School of Education Kent StateUniversity Many readers will recognize their own experiences.--Lita LinzerSchwartz PhD ABPP Distinguished Professor Emerita PennsylvaniaState University. This thoughtful book . . . has taken us one step further in ourunderstanding of how and why some talented individuals realizetheir potential while others do not.--Dr. Sally M. Reis Professorof Educational Psychology The University of Connecticut. Gifted Grownups meets a long-awaited need. This book would be ofinterest not only to gifted education professionals but also toparents teachers in general and to gifted individuals of allages.--E. Paul Torrance Georgia Studies of Creative Behaviorauthor of Gifted and Talented Children in the Regular Classroom.ISBN 0-471-29580-9

Hardcover: 292 pages

Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (March 15 1999)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 9780471295808

ISBN-13: 978-0471295808

ASIN: 0471295809

Product Dimensions: 6.3 x 1.1 x 9.4 inches

Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds