Five Minds for the Future

By: Howard Gardner

Narrated by: Mark Adam

Length: 6 hrs and 15 mins

Publisher's summary

We live in a time of vast changes that include accelerating globalization, mounting quantities of information, the growing hegemony of science and technology, and the clash of civilizations. Those changes call for new ways of learning and thinking in school, business, and the professions. Listen as psychologist Howard Gardner defines the cognitive abilities that will command a premium in the years ahead:

• The disciplinary mind: mastery of major schools of thought
• The synthesizing mind: ability to integrate ideas
• The creating mind: capacity to uncover and clarify problems, questions, and phenomena
• The respectful mind: awareness of and appreciation for differences among human beings
• The ethical mind: fulfillment of one's responsibilities

Armed with these well-honed capacities, a person will be equipped to deal with what is expected in the future, as well as what cannot be anticipated. Without these "minds", individuals will be at the mercy of forces they can't understand: overwhelmed by information, unable to succeed in the workplace, and incapable of making judicious decisions about personal and professional matters.

Renowned worldwide for his theory of multiple intelligences, Gardner takes that thinking to the next level. Concise and engaging, this audiobook will inspire lifelong learning and provide valuable insights for those charged with training and developing organizational leaders - today and tomorrow.

©2007 Howard Gardner (P)2007 Gildan Media Corp

Critic reviews

"One of the most influential psychologists of his generation." ( The Economist)

hard to listen to

probably good content if you can stomach the narrator's delivery. not my cup of tea

Helpful book, very poor reader

As someone who is in the midst of wrestling with what general education in 21st century higher education is all about, I found the concepts embedded in the five minds very familiar. In fact, everything from the disciplined mind with its "non-intuitive" ways of thinking to respectful and ethical minds is being emphasized and expanded in a number of institutions across the country, as well as my own. Gardner's organization of these complex ideas into five categories not only validated much of current thinking, but added clarity as well. Anyone with an interest in what our students should be taught and what it will mean to the future of our society if they are not will find this book of interest.

Unlike a previous reviewer I did not expect more about multiple intelligences, so I was not disappointed in that respect--I read reviews elsewhere before buying the book, so I was prepared for what was there.

Having expressed a positive opinion of the content I must express a strong negative opinion of the reader. I have not heard as many mispronunciations in all the audible books I have listened to over the years as there are in this one book. It is especially disappointing because this is the work of a well-known scholar. There are no pauses between sections--all the section headers (recognizable only as incomplete sentences)are read in the same run-on manner as the paragraphs. Not good. Do not let this reader near another book until he knows the difference between patios (as in dialect) and patios (as in those hard surfaced things in your back yards).

Informational

This book is very informational but is a little hard to read. I was able to get what the author was trying to get to the audience. If you're interested in education and a new perspective on teaching this is a good book for you!

Buy it on paper

Gardner has great ideas but it not a great writer and the narrator makes it worse, not better. The prose is hard to parse on paper and becomes even harder in this audio format. However, the book's ideas are worth the read.

Bad editing of a good book.

This was a good book from the content. The chapters were grouped in about 1 hours duration. This is contrary to the actual chapters by the original author. If you are planning to listen to this audiobook with planning it is very uncomfortable.

The contents are rather good. The concept although not totally revolutionary, is a new and interesting.

Awesom insightful informations

I learned a lot from this audiobook. I know that I will listen to it again.

Very good details on what to do everyday to add more value in your life.

There was a good combination of information and things to put into practice in your personal life.

This is a classic, must-read for all our students.

The author, well-narrated, has a view on civilization that, if read and studied by all, may well be the deciding factor in whether we find ourselves in total global war, or not.

Excellent book marred by mispronunciations

If you could sum up Five Minds for the Future in three words, what would they be?

Tools for tomorrow

Who was your favorite character and why?

n/a. This is nonfiction.

What didn’t you like about Mark Adam’s performance?

He mispronounced too many words. Specifically, he mispronounced the names of the composers Bach, Mozart and Wagner, the philosopher Kant, Stravinsky's ballet Le Sacre du Printemps, and, worst of all, he pronounced Keynesian (as in John Maynard Keynes) as Kuh-NEE-shun. There were others, but these were the ones that come to mind.

This is a quality control problem, as these errors should have be caught before the recording went out the door. Dr. Gardner would be mortified if he knew about this.

I'm a tolerant fellow, but all these mispronounciations marred an otherwise competent reading of an excellent text.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

The book is an excellent book. The character traits that Gardner names clearly are essential to human progress.

Very Useful

I love Howard Gardner's work. I think he does a great job overviewing the five minds for the future and ways to nurture and encourage them. I would have loved more specific exercises to do as an individual, and within an organization.