cover image Multiple Intelligences: The Theory in Practice, a Reader

Multiple Intelligences: The Theory in Practice, a Reader

Howard E. Gardner. Basic Books, $30 (320pp) ISBN 978-0-465-01821-5

A follow-up to Gardner's Frames of Mind (which is being reissued simultaneously), this collection of mostly academic essays should appeal mainly to education observers concerned with Gardner's innovative theory of multiple intelligences. The theory that there are seven types of intelligence, (linguistic, spatial, musical and so on) is recapped in an accessible talk Gardner gave at Harvard, a more formal paper on the subject, and a technical essay defining such concepts as ``giftedness'' and ``creativity'' in the context of his theory. The book's second part includes Gardner's intriguing projection of a school that applies his theories, as well as four very dry analyses of projects that put Gardner's theories into practice. More interesting are Gardner's criticism of formal testing directed at a unitary conception of intelligence, his proposal that college admissions officers examine student projects for evidence of several intelligences and the suggestion that various topics in school can be approached in different ways that track the multiple intelligences. Reader's Subscription, Library of Science and Natural Science Book Club alternates. (Apr.)