Alison Gopnik, Ph.D., is a professor of psychology at the University of California at Berkeley, a leading cognitive scientist, and mother of three. She is past president of the Society for Philosophy and Psychology and is the author of more than 70 papers. She has written for The New York Review of Books and The Times Literary Supplement. Andrew N. Meltzoff, Ph.D., revolutionized the field of child psycology with his discoveries about how much infants know, learn, and remember. He is a professor of psychology at the University of Washington, and his research has been featured in Time, The New York Times, and museum exhibits worldwide. Patricia K. Kuhl, Ph.D., is the world's leading authority on speech development and is a professor of speechand hearing at the University of Washington. She was one of 6 scientists invited to present her research at the White House Conference on Early Learning and the Brain in 1997. Her recent findings on why parents speak "motherese" to children made national headlines. She and her husband, Dr. Meltzoff, have one daughter

An important book of science every parent should read, revealing new understandings about the extraordinary intellectual leaps made by babies and children in the first few years of life.

This exciting book by three pioneers in the new field of cognitive science discusses important discoveries about how much babies and young children know and learn, and how much parents naturally teach them. It argues that evolution designed us both to teach and learn, and that the drive to learn is our most important instinct. It also reveals as fascinating insights about our adult capacities and how even young children -- as well as adults -- use some of the same methods that allow scientists to learn so much about the world. Filled with surprise at every turn, this vivid, lucid, and often funny book gives us a new view of the inner life of children and the mysteries of the mind.