The Philosophical Baby

Well, in sticking to my goals for 2010, I started my year off with a book, that I hoped to finish by the end of this week.  Okay, so I cheated a bit, I started reading The Philosophical Baby by Alison Gopnik, the middle of last week.  Before reading further, know that I only made it to page 80 before giving up.  So my review is my review, but it is incomplete.

When Matthew was born, I found myself wondering all of the time, "I wonder what he is thinking".  He has had such strong facial expressions since he was about a week old.

Obviously, many of these looks were looks of wonder and confusion (or gas).  Even now, as he babbles, I just want to know what it is that he is trying to say.  Matthew has so many stories, and when we can all understand them, they will probably bring tears of laughter to our eyes.

So, shortly after Matthew was born I ran across an article about The Philosophical Baby and all of the new found studies about the capabilities of infant minds.  I started reading the article and thought to myself "duh" as it described how babies minds are capable of more than once thought.  If you have ever cared for a small child, it is so obvious that their little wheels are constantly spinning.  Constantly.  As adults, I think we give our wheels a rest way to often.  We miss the little details and we don't ask questions.  Infant minds don't seem to miss a beat.  Just because they don't know that a circle is a circle or that red is red, doesn't mean their minds aren't big and so capable of profound thought (and isn't profound relative anyway).

As I began reading this book, I may have had my hopes too high. But, every time I started to read, whether middle of the afternoon or at night, or even mid-morning, I found my eyes getting very heavy and my interest lacking. The book read, to me, as a very dry textbook. And, usually, I find psychology very interesting. Gopnik spends a great deal of time talking about how our minds process counterfactual events and the physical versus the psychological maps and how babies and toddlers begin to learn about how other people react and their feelings.

While it is interesting - it just seemed obvious. Things I already had figured out but didn't know the "technical terms" for. The book was due back to the library tomorrow, I was going to be out that way today, and the book wasn't worth renewing. I tried, I really did, but I have to move on...