The Absorbent Mind Paperback – Illustrated, October 15, 1995

Maria Montessori was a leader in the field, and her schools have become a fave in America. A friend of mine was curious about what's a good alternative for his kid's education, so I bought him this book. Granted, a lot of the kids in these schools now are among the privileged few whose parents can afford private education, and some of the kids these schools graduate make you realize why the heavens invented birth control, but the book is great stuff.

This book lays the foundation for Dr. Montessori's approach to educating the young child. She argues that the very capable infant absorbs its environment in a very natural process that results in the stupendous achievements of locomotion, language and acculturation into whatever social mileiu the child has been born into with no direct teaching required. The child's inner drive for mastery and independence propels its efforts to achievement. The adult's role is to expose the child to a wide variety l of experiences in the infant's first few years so that he or she can interact with his or her environment. Dr. Montessori's point is that the child learns critically important skills such as the mastery of language without direct adult instruction, that within the child is a mechanism that self-directs astonishing achievement through.contact with the environment. These observations laid the foundation for developing a system of education that harnesses the young child's inner drives to mastery and independence through interaction with a carefully prepared environment.

This reads sort of like Einstein's Dreams as Montessori puzzles out why things are as they are and why we haven't notice the child is born to learn if we allow it to happen by providing the right environment and materials and teaching methods. This is an excerpt to show the kind of thinking in the book. Highly interesting! Deep! "Supposing we put a little levity into this weighty subject and tell a little story. A certain young man wished to marry and recounted all the praises of the lady of his choice. An elder guide responded in writing and this is what happened: The young man praises her beauty; the guide writes a zero. The young man finding beauty is not enough, states that she is rich; the guide writes zero. The young man says, she is learned, but the guide again writes zero. The young man says: “All this means nothing, well, she is athletic, she rides, swims, plays tennis.” Again the guide writes zero. The young man goes on describing all sorts of qualities which his lady-love possesses and the guide continues to write zero against them. Then the young man says: “She is of good character,” and the guide says: “That is something,” and writes a figure one in front of all the zeros. All the other merits acquire their value from this one quality and with that one in front of all the zeros her total value increases a thousandfold. So it is with civilization, all the achievements are naught and lead to destruction, but if love is there they all acquire a great value."

Minus 1 star for poor editing.wow! this author is brilliant and her ideas well conceived. This is inspirational and will reset your mind with regard to how you see children.The actual book is poorly edited so there are many grammar and spelling errors. If you can get along with these, you will find an amazing read that you will not be able to process all at once. Give yourself plenty of time to get through this book, and stop and absorb the ideas along the way.

This is Montessori's last book, and the most in-depth discussion of her theory based on decades of scientific observation of children. It discusses the special mind of the child, and how nurturing the special potentialities that only children have is the only way to change (and save) humanity. Montessori's theories are particularly interesting today in light of recent neurological discoveries, especially those related to critical periods and language.This is a very dense book, and requires a good deal of concentration and time to read. I would recommmend The Child in the Family as the first book for one wanting an overview of Montessori ideas.

This book was written a long time ago and some things are out dated but how the child's mind works and their needs are very much the same today. As a mother with some back ground in education, I have found the concepts and ideas thought provoking. My 20month old loves to work by helping me as much as she can, this is a great sense of accomplishment and self esteem for her which helps me to know how to teach her in ways such as, work ethic.I'd recommend this book to anyone who is a child's care giver or thinking of placing the child in a Montessori school. I also found wonderful learning toys for my baby and toddelor.

I first read this book at age 17 just because it seemed like a different take on childhood. Reading it led me to read more of Montessori's books, and then to become a Montessori teacher, center director, and, much later in life, to author an eBook on doing Montessori at home. Maria Montessori was an inspiring genius who changed everything about how we view young children. I truly believe that the world has not fully caught up with her, and probably won't for another hundred years or so. You think one person can't make a difference? Montessori offered a totally new take on human development and how to support it in an optimal way. This book is one you must read to fully understand her vision. Every parent and teacher needs to read it, IMO.