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The Development of Children
"The Development of Children" aims to provide students with a broad framework for understanding children's development. Written by a team of experts, topics covered include infancy, early childhood, diseases, and mental development.
Hardcover
Published July 21, 2000
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About the author
Michael Cole
55 booksMICHAEL COLE is university professor of communication and psychology at the University of California, San Diego.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
December 1, 2008
This review is based on the (3rd?) edition that I read in 2001.
My main problem with this text is "Who was the intended audience?" For the general pubic? At 800+ pages of dense, technical writing this could hardly be considered something for casual reading. For the average undergraduate student? If it is meant for an intro to "child development" or "developmental psychology" (as it was in my case), then it is far too long and contains way too much information to be properly treated and explored in a semester, or even in an entire year. For the graduate student? The material is too broad (and remedial?) for a given course, and the tone too pedantic. As a reference for the professional? I hardly think so; it is not designed to work as a reference book, and definitely feels like mass education.
In sum, the book tries to cover every topic in the history of developmental psychology, giving each adequate space and description, and painstakingly documenting every single reference. Sometimes less is more. This book easily could have been five separate books and done a better job with each. In the end, this ambitious work serves no one. If other students have an experience anything like mine, the triumph here is just making it to the end, regardless of what you got out of it.
My main problem with this text is "Who was the intended audience?" For the general pubic? At 800+ pages of dense, technical writing this could hardly be considered something for casual reading. For the average undergraduate student? If it is meant for an intro to "child development" or "developmental psychology" (as it was in my case), then it is far too long and contains way too much information to be properly treated and explored in a semester, or even in an entire year. For the graduate student? The material is too broad (and remedial?) for a given course, and the tone too pedantic. As a reference for the professional? I hardly think so; it is not designed to work as a reference book, and definitely feels like mass education.
In sum, the book tries to cover every topic in the history of developmental psychology, giving each adequate space and description, and painstakingly documenting every single reference. Sometimes less is more. This book easily could have been five separate books and done a better job with each. In the end, this ambitious work serves no one. If other students have an experience anything like mine, the triumph here is just making it to the end, regardless of what you got out of it.
February 15, 2017
great book, you want to learn about developmental psychology read this book .
September 18, 2008
one of my favorite developmental textbooks. i liked it so much, i kept it as a reference and it's one that i've used in undergrad AND grad school. plus the authors are/were professors at UCSD! :)
April 5, 2011
great book i read during my social science period. standard and thorough work on the development of human beings.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews