Extraordinary Minds: Portraits of Exceptional Individuals and an Examination of Our Extraordinariness

Howard Gardner's work has concentrated on the varieties of human intelligence, a rejection of simplistic models that rely on IQ tests, and the nature of human genius. In this book, he brings together these concerns to explore the development of human intelligence and creativity in children and how the childhoods and lives of four exceptional individuals (Mozart, Freud, Virginia Woolf and Mahatma Gandhi) can show us both how exceptional achievement can emerge and how we can all learn from such exmapled in understanding the potential of ordinary minds, whether our own or those of our children.