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Bibliography: Child prodigies

This article by Kathi Kearney identifies the research that is available on prodigies. This is an excellent list of resources that will allow you to understand more about how these extremely gifted individuals think and learn.
  • Topics
    • Books: Reading Lists
    • Life Span Development: Adolescent Dev.
  • Author
    Kearney, K.

Books & Book Chapters

Baumgarten, F. (1930). Wunderkinder psychologische Untersuchungen. Leipzig: Johann Ambrosius Barth.

Cox, C. M. (1926). The early mental traits of three hundred geniuses. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

Feldman, D. H., & Goldsmith, L. T. (1986). Nature's gambit. New York: Basic Books.

Goertzel, V., & Goertzel, M. G. (1 962). Cradles of eminence. Boston: Little, Brown and Company.

Grost, A. (1970). Genius in residence. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

McCurdy, H. G., with Follett, H. (1966). Barbara: The unconscious autobiography of a child genius. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.

Morelock, M. J., & Feldman, D. H. (1992). Extreme precocity. In N. Colangelo & G. Davis (Eds.), The handbook of gifted education (pp. 347-364). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

Morelock, M. J., & Feldman, D. H. (1993). Prodigies and savants: What they tell us about giftedness and talent. In K. A. Heller, F.J. Monks, & A. H. Passow (Eds.), International handbook for research on giftedness and talent (pp. 161-181). Oxford: Pergamon Press.

Radford, J. (1990). Child prodigies and exceptional early achievers. New York: The Free Press.

Revesz, G. (1 925). The psychology of a musical prodigy. New York: Harcourt, Brace & Company.

Smith, S. B. (1983). The great mental calculators: The psychology, methods, and lives of calculating prodigies, past and present. New York: Columbia University Press.

Waitzkin, F. (1984). Searching for Bobby Fisher. New York: Penguin Books.

Wallace, A. (1986). The prodigy: A biography of William James Sidis, America's greatest child prodigy. New York: E. P. Dutton.

Wiener, N. (1953). Ex-prodigy: My childhood and youth. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Journal Articles

Lehndorff, H., & Falkenstein, L. (1955). Christian Heinrich Heinekin: The miracle baby from Lubeck. Archives of Pediatrics, 72, pp. 360-377.

MacLeish, R. (1984, March). Gifted by nature, prodigies are still mysteries to man. Smithsonian Magazine, p. 71-79.

Weiner, N. (1957, June 7). Analysis of the child prodigy. The New York Times Magazine, p. 15, 30, 32, 34.

Permission Statement

Permission to reprint this bibliography was granted by Kathi Kearney.

This article is provided as a service of the Davidson Institute for Talent Development, a 501(c)3 nonprofit dedicated to supporting profoundly gifted young people 18 and under. To learn more about the Davidson Institute’s programs, please visit www.DavidsonGifted.org.

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The appearance of any information in the Davidson Institute's Database does not imply an endorsement by, or any affiliation with, the Davidson Institute. All information presented is for informational purposes only and is solely the opinion of and the responsibility of the author. Although reasonable effort is made to present accurate information, the Davidson Institute makes no guarantees of any kind, including as to accuracy or completeness. Use of such information is at the sole risk of the reader.

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