Magical Child

Rating:
Summary: not for the lay man
Review: I'm sure this book has a great message, but I couldn't understand it. From Pierce's use of language I might have had an easier time understanding it had it been written in Egyptian heiroglyphics. I hear how amazing this book is and I'm sure it is. Just be wearing your xtra smart hat. I suggest a book by Hygeia Halfmoon instead.

Rating:
Summary: What is to be a child?
Review: A very important book, especially for those with children or expecting them. In a very reasoned manner reflecting a great deal of knowledge and research, Pearce discusses the phases every child goes through as it matures. He describes it as a succession of matrices, beginning with the womb-matrix, then the mother-matrix, the earth-matrix and so on. What it boils down to is the there is a time for everything, and we need to support the child's natural unfolding as much as we can. This means not 'abandoning' the infant in the crib, not pushing the pre-schooler too learn to read (ultimately a harmful thing), limiting television viewing and encouraging fantasy and play.

There seems to be so much misunderstanding and ignorance with regard to children these days, from tv overload to little league pressure to accelerated academic preparation--all harmful activities because they block a child's healthy development. Wake up everybody!

In the final chapters, Pearce goes beyond childhood to explore the possibilities of the human mind per se and give us a glimpse of what lies beyond the self-imposed limits of our reality. A deeply significant work. I also recommend Betty Staley's Between Form and Freedom for a look at what awaits in the adolescent years.

Rating:
Summary: An amazing book -
Review: I'm only halfway done with this book and I love it. Similar to the Continuum Concept, only so much more in depth. Parts are alomt mystical. I found myself reading aloud to my husband because I found it so fascinating. Not just for parents.

Rating:
Summary: Every parent should read it!
Review: In Magical Child, Joseph Chilton Pearce presents the idea that our current medical practices around childbirth and our education systems subvert the natural and healthy growth of our greatest human capacities. Pearce builds on the work on the French developmental psychologist Piaget to delineate five stages of human growth, outlining the "natural" biological and psychological processes that help people reach the apex of each of these stages. Unfortunately, he maintains, our modern medical birthing methods and education systems tend to work against these natural processes and trip us up far short of our true human potential. He goes on to cite the work of a number of researchers that suggest better ways of birthing, parenting, and educating.

There are some keen insights here, but unfortunately they are buried within an intellectually muddled and scientifically dishonest presentation. For example, in the introductory chapters, Pearce speaks about human development from a very materialistic (and atheistic) view of human evolution, while often in the same paragraph praising Nature the wonderful "designer" of our human growth, a very theistic view. The significance of the book's central themes -- realization one's full humanity and potential -- is very different in each of these worldviews, and Pearce avoids revealing which side of the fence he sits on. He is similarly dishonest in his use of scientific research. He likes to quote from researchers -- when they agree with his theories. Contradictory scientific evidence isnt mentioned, except in a few cases where he merely dismisses it without discussion. This is unfortunate, because it's the weighing of seemingly contractictory evidence that science has tended to make its greatest leaps. Too bad Pearce wasnt brave enough to put his own theories to that test.

Rating:
Summary: True Magic
Review: Magical Child does have its moments but these are few and far between. One has to wade through overwrought hyperbole and constant repetition to get at the few insights Mr. Pearce does have. His comments on childbirth are poignant and do illustrate just how far we have allowed technology and modern medical practice to distort what should be a joyous and natural process. This book is laced with annoying terminology and proffers claims of clairvoyant capabilities that would shame a supermarket tabloid. Had the author concentrated more on child development and less on developing a polemic, a more insightful and useful book would have been the result

Rating:
Summary: Some readers will love this book
Review: The overall message of this book is important for parents and babies; we need to let babies and children grow and develop. We need to provide stimulation and new experiences. We need to keep the little ones close, provide them security and not force Western-style "independence" on them. This keeping close means a natural birth, breastfeeding, holding and talking to- not getting our children attached to things.

I'm just not certain the author reached his conclusions in a way that I endorse since he says many things I absolutely disagree with. In the first chapter, he says about our brains and grey matter, "the amount we have is just what we need for certain goals nature has in mind, such as our dominion over the earth."! I really have a hard time believing that evolution is goal directed, and that humans should have "dominion" over the earth. We have no right to that, and we are destroying the earth as a result of trying to be in control of this planet.

The chapter on "maintaining the matrix", or how to birth babies naturally, is taken right out of LeBoyer's work "Birth without Violence"- a fine book but not without it's flaws. This chapter also explores the development of the naturally birthed and nurtured infant, or at least the ones the author observed in Uganda. These babies are developmentally ahead of the medically birthed babies in Western society, so he says. They push up at birth, sit up at a couple months, run (not just walk!) at 7 months of age. Humph! Amazing babies, right? My baby born by c-section walked and talked much earlier than my naturally born-at-home babies. What happened?!

I don't particularly like the language of this book, but it will work for a lot of people. Many of us in breastfeeding advocacy work learn that people don't always learn intellectually, but they do learn *emotionally*. If some mothers learn to nurture their babies in a hands-on way because of the emotional discussion in this book, more power to them. For those of us who learn differently, "So That's what they're For!" or "Attachment Parenting" might do the trick.

Rating:
Summary: Some readers will love this book
Review: The overall message of this book is important for parents and babies; we need to let babies and children grow and develop. We need to provide stimulation and new experiences. We need to keep the little ones close, provide them security and not force Western-style "independence" on them. This keeping close means a natural birth, breastfeeding, holding and talking to- not getting our children attached to things.

I'm just not certain the author reached his conclusions in a way that I endorse since he says many things I absolutely disagree with. In the first chapter, he says about our brains and grey matter, "the amount we have is just what we need for certain goals nature has in mind, such as our dominion over the earth."! I really have a hard time believing that evolution is goal directed, and that humans should have "dominion" over the earth. We have no right to that, and we are destroying the earth as a result of trying to be in control of this planet.

The chapter on "maintaining the matrix", or how to birth babies naturally, is taken right out of LeBoyer's work "Birth without Violence"- a fine book but not without it's flaws. This chapter also explores the development of the naturally birthed and nurtured infant, or at least the ones the author observed in Uganda. These babies are developmentally ahead of the medically birthed babies in Western society, so he says. They push up at birth, sit up at a couple months, run (not just walk!) at 7 months of age. Humph! Amazing babies, right? My baby born by c-section walked and talked much earlier than my naturally born-at-home babies. What happened?!

I don't particularly like the language of this book, but it will work for a lot of people. Many of us in breastfeeding advocacy work learn that people don't always learn intellectually, but they do learn *emotionally*. If some mothers learn to nurture their babies in a hands-on way because of the emotional discussion in this book, more power to them. For those of us who learn differently, "So That's what they're For!" or "Attachment Parenting" might do the trick.