"This definitive handbook has collected an assemblage of the best scholars and practitioners in the field. It will be a necessary reference for all in the gifted field." Robert J. Sternberg, Tufts University, USA "This new and comprehensive international Handbook provides a valuable complement to the existing literature in several ways. It updates research summaries with new material of the current decade, particularly welcome in those few areas in which the field has perceptibly moved forward, such as neuropsychology and the provision of on-line resources. It re-examines conceptions of giftedness, with an emphasis on lifespan development. It provides fresh looks at a variety of domains, several of them previously neglected in the standard literature on giftedness, such as talent in cinema, entrepreneurial giftedness, computer technology, managerial talent, and children's inventions of imaginary worlds. Finally, it describes the impact of giftedness on society and the economy and encourages revision of strategies and policies that impact gifted individuals all over the globe. Every reader will find familiar and unfamiliar territory here." Nancy M. Robinson, Professor Emerita of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington, USA "If giftedness, talent, and creativity could be plotted on a large map, the International Handbook on Giftedness would show up as a vibrant collection of expeditions spreading out in all directions, passing through settled terrain and then reaching out into unexplored valleys and mountain ranges. It fills in some empty spaces and stretches the boundaries of our understanding. With a broad-scope, interdisciplinary and international approach, it vigorously augments and extends the work contributed by other large collections of research and theory. Encompassing most of the leading expertise in the field, it explores high ability from multiple levels of analysis, from psychological dynamics, to natural-science insights about the brain-mind system, to classroom and family influences, to the nuances of knowledge domains, to the impact of large-scale socioeconomic, political, and cultural contexts." Don Ambrose, Editor, Roeper Review "Larisa Shavinina has produced an ambitious book in the International Handbook on Giftedness. It is an extension of the important information advanced in Monks et al. This text contains re-visitations by authors of earlier work, new syntheses on topics not seen in other texts, and original contributions to the literature. Shavinina has given authors the latitude to present their thoughts on a wide array of topics. The result is their voices are heard. Viewpoints in one chapter may be contrary to those expressed in another chapter. This unusual feature gives life to a scholarly text. The International Handbook on Giftedness illustrates how breadth of the field and the intersections across many fields. Readers with interests in neurology, sports, emotions, cognition, music, policy, international educational practices, disabilities, computer hacking and more will find informative chapters. Complex theoretical pieces as well as straightforward discussions of educational practices are evident. Giftedness is examined as it is today and as it might be in the future. A stimulating feature of the book are chapters written on and around certain issues, such as personality, neurology, emotionality, definitions, motivation, talent development, and creativity. Particularly impressive were ideas, original to me, that I discovered in chapters on polymathy, sports, motivation, domain-specific talents, and details about the development of various innovative programs." Professor Laurence J. Coleman, Daso Herb Chair in Gifted Studies, University of Toledo, USA
