Booklist The Minds of Boys September, 2005 In THE MINDS OF BOYS, Michael Gurian and Kathy Stevens, begin by detailing the crisis faced by boys--lower grades, greater discipline problems, higher dropout rates. They then explore research on the differences between the male and the female brain that account for their differences in conforming to current teaching methods. Throughout the book, Gurian and Stevens offer advice to parents and teachers on how to encourage learning based on the particular strengths of boys, from bursts of attention and physical play with infant boys to appropriate discipline as they grow older to developing a more boy-friendly curriculum at schools. The authors emphasize that their strategies are aimed at boosting the learning and academic performance of boys without disadvantaging girls in any way. Parents and teachers concerned about teaching and disciplining boys will appreciate this thought-provoking perspective.  Click to return to the top.

	Library Journal The Minds of Boys August, 2005 In this follow-up to his best-selling The Wonder of Boys, therapist and "social philosopher" Gurian, along with Stevens, a specialist in education and child development, makes a strong case for an educational crisis. The nature of "boy energy" and boys' general needs require mentoring and hands-on learning, but the typical classroom setting is still that of a lone teacher lecturing to a large group of students. This mismatch, according to the authors, leads to a frustrating educational experience for many boys, overdiagnosis of ADD and ADHD in others, and even lifelong repercussions for some. Thankfully, solutions are offered: advocacy and modifications to traditional educational methods by parents and teachers that in no way threaten the progress made recently in the education of girls. Gurian covered similar ground in Boys and Girls Learn Differently!: A Guide for Teachers and Parents, but this book stresses how boys are lagging behind girls in the classroom. Logically organized, readable, and meticulously documented, it would make a useful addition to parenting and education collections in any library. — Kay Hogan Smith, Univ. of Alabama at Birmingham Lib., Lister Hill  Click to return to the top.

	Boost Your Son in School USA Weekend August 5 - 7, 2005 Contributing Editor Soledad O'Brien is co-anchor of CNN's "American Morning." Parents perplexed by their bright sons who constantly struggle in school will find hope in a new book, "The Minds of Boys: Saving Our Sons From Falling Behind in School and Life," by best-selling author Michael Gurian. In his research at the Gurian Institute, an educational training organization, "I started noticing that more boys seemed to be having trouble in school than girls," he says. If your son is struggling in school, it might not be the boy but rather the way he is learning that needs to change, Gurian says. Boys learn differently from girls and are not as well suited to sit still in a place like school. He recommends parents do the following: CREATE A PARENT-LED TEAM. Pull together five people (relatives, friends, acquaintances) who can help you raise your child -- people you trust. Boys learn better through projects and tasks with a mentor, whether it's a relative, a coach or a family friend. DO HOMEWORK TOGETHER. Sit together at the kitchen table every night to go through his homework. Your son might complain at first, but Gurian says most boys crave the one-on-one time and attention. WATCH WHAT HE EATS. The ability to focus is directly linked to nutrition. Most kids come home from school and have soda and a salty snack. Move away from sugar and carbs, Gurian says, and get your son more protein (like a tuna sandwich), which will help him concentrate. "The brain does better when it has the right nutrition."  Click to return to the top.

	Boys, Girls Learn in Different Ways: Parents, Teachers Hear How to Reach Each Group By Janet Sugameli / Special to The Detroit News - September 20, 2004 BLOOMFIELD HILLS — Michael Gurian, a social philosopher, therapist and author, will give two presentations on Oct. 6, courtesy of the Birmingham Bloomfield Families in Action. Gurian's research in neurobiology and how the brain works in both genders will be the topic of his discussions: The Wonder of Boys and Girls: Understanding the Hidden Nature of Our Sons and Daughters and What Could He Be Thinking: Understanding the Nature of Our Boys. The discussions are intended to teach professionals, as well as parents, how boys and girls learn differently and how to better bond with each gender. Prevention of substance abuse will grow from understanding how to communicate with the different genders, said Gurian, author of The Wonder of Boysand The Wonder of Girls. Right now, a lot of prevention is generalized, like the DARE program, he said. I want to enhance that to show what specifically works for girls and what specifically works for boys. Gurian also noted many differences in the way that boys and girls digest information. For example, for boys, don't sit them down and verbalize and lecture them for 10 to 20 minutes, he said. The male brain doesn't take in as many words as the female brain. Girls have twice the verbal centers as boys do. So boys don't process as much being lectured to. The boy brain needs to reset itself. Girls, on the other hand, make a more emotional connection to mentors, he said. Some area schools, such as Everest Academy in Clarkston, separate boys and girls to hone in on their different learning styles. The Rev. Alfonse Nazzaro, executive director of Everest, says his school separates boys and girls in third grade when they become more conscientious of their differences. "Not only do we split the genders, but we also try to give them role models so that they can strive to be the same way as the teachers," he said. It's not about what you teach, it's how you teach it, Nazzaro said. The curriculum and the textbooks are the same; it's just different in the way the materials are presented," he said. "For the girls, we are concentrating on self-respect, self-esteem and self-confidence. And with the boys, it's about keeping their principles and never lowering their dignity." For Cranbrook Kingswood math teacher Jane Williams, teaching middle school girls allows her to pick strategies that her students can relate to, she said. "They feel very comfortable in the classroom, and what I think helps them the most is that they are not afraid to volunteer," Williams said. Alex Park, an eighth-grader at Derby Middle School in Birmingham, says she isn't taking any segregated classes but understands there is a difference in how girls and boys interact. "The boys that I know talk very different as compared to me and my friends," she said. "I joke around a lot with my guy friends as opposed to my girlfriends — we have deep conversations. I don't think I've ever had a deep conversation with a boy." "If parents and teachers understand the differences between the genders, it would be a lot easier to work problems out," she added. Birmingham resident Leslie Benser Luciani plans to attend both sessions to gain insight on why boys make certain choices. "I read "The Wonder of Boys," and I found it very interesting and helpful for me as a mother raising three boys," she said.  Click to return to the top.

	Brain Science Reveals What Men Are Really Thinking From Reuters & CNN - (October, 2003)     It's the universal question on many women's lips. "What could he be thinking?" she shrieks, or sighs or sulks at her husband, boyfriend or son.    What is it with men and cars? Why doesn't he notice how much housework needs to be done? Why does he need to keep a grip on the remote control? And the most bewildering one of all -- why won't he just talk to me?     The answers, says social philosopher and author Michael Gurian, lie not in laziness, sexism or sheer pigheadedness but in profound differences between the male and female brain -- and scientists now have the technology to prove it.    "What Could He Be Thinking? How a Man's Mind Really Works," combines two decades of neurobiological research with anecdotes from everyday life and Gurian's experience as a family therapist to present a new vision of the male psyche.     It's a vision that Gurian hopes will help promote a better understanding of men and reverse what he sees as the dangerous assumption born of the past 40 years of radical feminism that men have simply become redundant.     "As a culture, we've made profound mistakes in the last few decades by assuming that men were unnecessary. Many people have even gone so far as to negate or dismiss what is at the core of a man," Gurian writes.    Gurian, author of the 1996 groundbreaking book "The Wonder of Boys" and its follow-up "The Wonder of Girls," is no anti-feminist. He is married with two daughters, and his book mines the field of brain science to help improve relations between couples.     Culture plays a part, but Gurian argues that biology matters much more than previously realized.     "The science has been crucial. Wherever I go, I start by showing PET scans and people can see for themselves the differences between the male and female brain. I think that alters life and marriages," Gurian told Reuters. The Science Part:   Such are the advances in technology and understanding that PET radioactive-imaging and MRI magnetic-imaging scans can now show whether a man and a woman are truly in love by measuring the amount of activity in the cingulate gyrus, an emotion center in the brain, Gurian says.    Like a guide through a secret forest, his book leads the nonscientist through the complex world of brain science and relates it to some of the most frustrating sources of conflict between men and women in long-term relationships.    The male brain secretes less of the powerful primary bonding chemical oxytocin and less of the calming chemical serotonin than the female brain.     So while women find emotional conversations a good way to chill out at the end of the day, the tired male brain needs to zone out all that touchy-feely chatter in order to relax -- which is why he wants the remote control to zap through "mindless" sport or action movies.     His brain takes in less sensory detail than a woman's, so he doesn't see or even feel the dust and household mess in the same way. Anyhow, the male brain attaches less personal identity to the inside of a home and more to the workplace or the yard -- which is why he doesn't get worked up about housework.    Male hormones such as testosterone and vasopressin set the male brain up to seek competitive, hierarchical groups in its constant quest to prove self-worth and identity. That is why men, paradoxically (from a hormonally altered new mother's point of view), become even more workaholic once they have kids, to whom they must also prove their worth. Back to Nature:    Gurian says his book is aimed mainly at women. "Men get this already. They are living this brain but they don't have the conscious language to explain it. Women are not living it.    "If they are relating to a man, I hope they will be touched, informed and entertained and will have a new vision of the way they can make their relationship work.     "I beg people to go back to nature, look at the PET scans, look at the brain differences and see if it makes sense."    If it does, the consequences are profound for a generation of "liberated" women brought up to believe it is men who have to change, and men who must respond to a female way of relating in order for marriage to succeed.    Gurian says men can learn new skills and alter their behavior but they will not be able to meet all of women's expectations.    "Popular culture focuses so much on trying to get people closer. Most people believe that marriages break up because men and women are not close enough. But what I am learning about the brain leads to the idea of intimate separateness, in which the brain seeks less intimacy at times," Gurian said.    "People want to love each other. If we can learn who we might be -- not what IS he thinking, but what COULD he be thinking -- then I am optimistic."  Click to return to the top.

	Publisher's Weekly (May, 2003) "The Miracle" Psychotherapist Gurian, the bestselling author of numerous parenting and psychology books (The Wonder of Girls; The Soul of the Child), has written a riveting supernatural suspense novel that tracks the efforts of a psychic to find a serial killer in Spokane, Washington. The novel begins when a clairvoyant, cancer-stricken boy is run down by a car. At the accident scene where he dies, an other-worldly light hovers over his body and suffuses the neighborhood. Soon afterward, his nurse, Beth Carey, has visions of children being murdered. Her hallucinations turn out to be premonitions; a serial murderer who calls himself the Light Killer begins to terrorize Spokane, killing several children and sending letters to the local paper explaining his garbled philosophy ("The Creator inhales darkness and exhales light. This is how I feel when I hold the [dying] child in