The Heart of the Mind

Michael Clay Thompson approaches the topic of giftedness from a variety of angles in the 39 essays of this book. Many of the essays focus on advocacy for appropriate educational experiences for gifted children, with discussions ranging from curricular content to depth, grammar, leadership, grouping, acceleration, and student choice in assignments. Some of them are satirical in nature, revealing truths by deliberately looking at falsehoods. Michael investigates gifted minorities and those with learning disabilities. He also provides a nice range of essays that simply describe some of the world’s greatest gifted thinkers and talents, such as Rembrandt, Carl Sagan, Isaac Newton, Archimedes, Victor Jara, Rachel Carson, and the artist Gaudi, among others. Together, the essays offer a multifaceted look at giftedness in a way that no single essay could do. It is an exploration of the heart of the gifted mind.