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The Disciplined Mind: Beyond Facts Standardized Tests K 12 Educ That Every Child Deserves
by Howard Gardner<P>Howard Gardner's concept of multiple intelligences has been hailed as perhaps the most profound insight into education since the work of Jerome Bruner, Jean Piaget, and, even earlier, John Dewey.<P> Now in The Disciplined Mind, Gardner pulls together the threads of his previous works in a major new synthesis aimed at parents, educators, and the general public alike.<P> The Disciplined Mind looks beyond such parochial issues as charters, vouchers, unions, and affirmative action in order to explore the larger questions of what an educated person should be and how such an education can be achieved for all students.<P> Gardner eloquently argues that the purpose of K-12 education should be to enhance students' deep understanding of truth (and falsity), beauty (and ugliness), and goodness (and evil) as defined by their various cultures. With this stance, Gardner transforms the tired debate between "traditionalists" and "progressives.".
Extraordinary Minds: Portraits of Exceptional Individuals and an Examination of Our Extraordinariness
by Howard GardnerFifteen years ago, psychologist and educator Howard Gardner introduced the idea of multiple intelligences, challenging the presumption that intelligence consists of verbal or analytic abilities only-those intelligences that schools tend to measure. He argued for a broader understanding of the intelligent mind, one that embraces creation in the arts and music, spatial reasoning, and the ability to understand ourselves and others. Today, Gardner’s ideas have become widely accepted-indeed, they have changed how we think about intelligence, genius, creativity, and even leadership, and he is widely regarded as one of the most important voices writing on these subjects. Now, in Extraordinary Minds, a book as riveting as it is new, Gardner poses an important question: Is there a set of traits shared by all truly great achievers-those we deem extraordinary-no matter their field or the time period within which they did their important work?In an attempt to answer this question, Gardner first examines how most of us mature into more or less competent adults. He then examines closely four persons who lived unquestionably extraordinary lives-Mozart, Freud, Woolf, and Gandhi-using each as an exemplar of a different kind of extraordinariness: Mozart as the master of a discipline, Freud as the innovative founder of a new discipline, Woolf as the great introspector, and Gandhi as the influencer. What can we learn about ourselves from the experiences of the extraordinary? Interestingly, Gardner finds that an excess of raw power is not the most impressive characteristic shared by superachievers; rather, these extraordinary individuals all have had a special talent for identifying their own strengths and weaknesses, for accurately analyzing the events of their own lives, and for converting into future successes those inevitable setbacks that mark every life. Gardner provides answers to a number of provocative questions, among them: How do we explain extraordinary times-Athens in the fifth century B. C. , the T’ang Dynasty in the eighth century, Islamic Society in the late Middle Ages, and New York at the middle of the century? What is the relation among genius, creativity, fame, success, and moral extraordinariness? Does extraordinariness make for a happier, more fulfilling life, or does it simply create a special onus?
Five Minds for the Future
by Howard GardnerWe live in a time of relentless change. The only thing that?s certain is that new challenges and opportunities will emerge that are virtually unimaginable today. How can we know which skills will be required to succeed?In Five Minds for the Future, bestselling author Howard Gardner shows how we will each need to master "five minds" that the fast-paced future will demand:· The disciplined mind, to learn at least one profession, as well as the major thinking (science, math, history, etc.) behind it· The synthesizing mind, to organize the massive amounts of information and communicate effectively to others· The creating mind, to revel in unasked questions - and uncover new phenomena and insightful apt answers· The respectful mind, to appreciate the differences between human beings - and understand and work with all persons· The ethical mind, to fulfill one's responsibilities as both a worker and a citizenWithout these "minds," we risk being overwhelmed by information, unable to succeed in the workplace, and incapable of the judgment needed to thrive both personally and professionally.Complete with a substantial new introduction, Five Minds for the Future provides valuable tools for those looking ahead to the next generation of leaders - and for all of us striving to excel in a complex world.Howard Gardner-cited by Foreign Policy magazine as one of the one hundred most influential public intellectuals in the world, and a MacArthur Fellowship recipient-is the Hobbs Professor of Cognition and Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Intelligence Reframed: Multiple Intelligences for the 21st Century
by Howard GardnerGardner (cognition and education, Harvard U.) broadens his theory of multiple intelligences first posited in 1983 to include intelligences of the existential and naturalist types and multiple forms of creativity. The McArthur genius award recipient advises on applications of his theory, responds to critics, and provides global contacts on MI theory.
Intelligence Reframed: Multiple Intelligences for the 21st Century
by Howard GardnerHarvard psychologist Howard Gardner has been acclaimed as the most influential educational theorist since John Dewey. His ideas about intelligence and creativity - explicated in such bestselling books as Frames of Mind and Multiple Intelligences (over 200,000 copies in print combined) - have revolutionized our thinking. In his groundbreaking 1983 book Frames of Mind, Howard Gardner first introduced the theory of multiple intelligences, which posits that intelligence is more than a single property of the human mind. That theory has become widely accepted as one of the seminal ideas of the twentieth century and continues to attract attention all over the world. Now in Intelligence Reframed, Gardner provides a much-needed report on the theory, its evolution and revisions. He offers practical guidance on the educational uses of the theory and responds to the critiques leveled against him. He also introduces two new intelligences (existential intelligence and naturalist intelligence) and argues that the concept of intelligence should be broadened, but not so absurdly that it includes every human virtue and value. Ultimately, argues Gardner, possessing a basic set of seven or eight intelligences is not only a unique trademark of the human species, but also perhaps even a working definition of the species. Gardner also offers provocative ideas about creativity, leadership, and moral excellence, and speculates about the relationship between multiple intelligences and the world of work in the future.
The Mind's New Science: A History of the Cognitive Revolution
by Howard GardnerThe first full-scale history of cognitive science, this work addresses a central issue: What is the nature of knowledge?
A Synthesizing Mind: A Memoir from the Creator of Multiple Intelligences Theory
by Howard GardnerThe influential author and eminent authority on the human mind reflects on his groundbreaking work and the many forms of intelligence--including his own.Howard Gardner's Frames of Mind was that rare publishing phenomenon--a mind-changer. Widely read by the general public as well as by educators, this influential book laid out Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences. It debunked the primacy of the IQ test and inspired new approaches to education; entire curricula, schools, museums, and parents' guides were dedicated to the nurturing of the several intelligences. In his new book, A Synthesizing Mind, Gardner reflects on his intellectual development and his groundbreaking work, tracing his evolution from bookish child to eager college student to disengaged graduate student to Harvard professor.
Averting Global War: Regional Challenges, Overextension, And Options For American Strategy
by Hall GardnerAverting Global War examines major regional disputes and conflicts throughout the world as they impact upon both American domestic and foreign policy. These include: The ongoing _war on terrorism_; NATO enlargement to Russian borders; US intervention in Iraq; US confrontation with Iran; the feud between Israel and the Palestinians; the widening _zone of conflict_ from Central Asia to sub-Saharan Africa; the global ramifications of North Korea_s nuclear program and China_s claims to Taiwan; Venezuela_s _Bolivarian Revolution_ and the _war on drugs_ in Latin America, the domestic socio-political effects of Latin American immigration upon the US. The book_s goal is to articulate an irenic American strategy intended to resolve, or at least transform, a number of these disputes and conflicts so as to prevent them from further _deepening_ or _widening__and to avert the real possibility of major power confrontation involving both clandestine and overt methods of warfare.
Contextual Anger Regulation Therapy for the Treatment of Clinical Anger: A Mindfulness and Acceptance-Based Behavioral Approach (Practical Clinical Guidebooks)
by Frank L. Gardner Zella E. MooreAnger is a natural human emotion that can serve important survival functions, but the excessive presence of anger and its associated negative outcomes—such as aggression and violence—can lead to significant interpersonal, intrapersonal, occupational, legal, familial, societal, and physical health problems. Unfortunately, clinical anger clients haven’t historically been helped in truly sustainable ways, and loved ones and society at large are often left to simply watch as these individuals struggle to overcome their anger and the noxious behaviors that often emanate from this troubling condition. Contextual Anger Regulation Therapy gives clinicians the power to change this. The book presents an exciting nine-module mindfulness and acceptance-based behavioral treatment program that has been effectively utilized in formal clinical settings with clinical anger clients, including those mandated for treatment following both non-domestic and domestic violence. Treatment success has not only been demonstrated in observable ways, including significant reductions in violence recidivism and marked improvements in quality of life; it has also been seen in scientific data both in the laboratory and with large numbers of mandated clinical anger clients.
Researching, Reflecting and Writing about Work: Guidance on Training Course Assignments and Research for Psychotherapists and Counsellors
by Fiona Gardner Steven J. CoombsResearching, Reflecting and Writing about Work provides a guide to the research skills and critical thinking required to complete a research project for professional learning courses in counselling and psychotherapy. Written at a level easily accessible to those enrolled on a work-based qualification as well as those considering postgraduate research at master's level, this book includes: how we reflect on our work discussion on preparation and structuring of a case study how to present work in supervision with advice on process recording essay plan structures and appropriate methodologies for research ethical considerations and critical linking dilemmas and tensions involved in ‘research at work’. Key learning points and reflective exercises are included throughout and theory is supported by contributions detailing specific learning experiences from a variety of work settings, including the public sector, an organisation, in the community, and as an independent counsellor in a voluntary agency. There is also a section on how to prepare your research for consideration for publication and how to present your findings to colleagues. Researching, Reflecting and Writing about Work will be of interest to all those on counselling courses, or training as psychotherapists, as well as people involved in professional learning linked to the helping professions, including those interested in work-based research linked to therapy in any setting.
Self-Harm: A Psychotherapeutic Approach
by Fiona GardnerSelf-harm is worryingly common in young women, and is often used as a way of easing emotional suffering. Self-Harm: A Psychotherapeutic Approach explores the issues involved from the perspective of a psychoanalytical psychotherapist. Fiona Gardner examines these issues through extensive clinical material and an analysis of the social and cultural influences behind self-harm. This book will be of interest to all those working with those who are harming themselves, including psychotherapists, school counsellors, social workers and mental health clinicians.
Girl on the Line
by Faith GardnerA story that begins where too many others end, this stunningly written and unflinchingly authentic tale of love, loss, and hope will touch fans of All the Bright Places and Girl in Pieces.Life’s tough when you didn’t expect to be living it. But now that Journey has a future, she apparently also has to figure out what that future’s supposed to look like.Some days the pain feels as fresh as that day: the day she attempted suicide. Her parents don’t know how to speak to her. Her best friend cracks all the wrong jokes. Her bipolar II disorder feels like it swallows her completely.But other days—they feel like revelations. Like meeting the dazzling Etta, a city college student who is a world unto herself. Or walking into the office of the volunteer hotline, and discovering a community as simultaneously strong and broken as she is.Or uncovering the light within herself that she didn’t know existed.Praise for Faith Gardner's The Second Life of Ava Rivers:"A beautiful, moving, and thoughtful story about how far we're willing to go for family." —Kathleen Glasgow, New York Times bestselling author of Girl in Pieces“This remarkable novel reproduces the personal and family trauma associated with the loss and recovery of a missing child. The Second Life of Ava Rivers is an enthralling tale.” —Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA) (starred review)"Gardner’s unforgettable voice blends Jodi Picoult’s emotional, ripped-from-the-headlines storytelling with Mindy McGinnis’s unflinchingly honest protagonists." —Booklist (starred review)“Gardner brings a unique tenderness focused on the human dynamics of creating family and individual identity in the face of tragedy.” —Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books (starred review)
How We Ricochet
by Faith GardnerFor readers of This Is How It Ends and All the Bright Places, How We Ricochet takes an intimate and unflinching look into the devastating consequences of a mass shooting for one girl and her close-knit family, from Faith Gardner, acclaimed author of Girl on the Line. It seems sometimes a charade that we continue celebrating in the face of relentless tragedy. How dare we? But then . . . what else is there to do?Betty’s mom needed new pants for her job.That was why Betty was at the mall with her mom and sister when the shooting started.Afterward, nothing is the same.There are no easy answers to be found, and Betty’s search for them leads her to Michael, the brother of the shooter. But this path only shows Betty one thing: that everything she thought she knew—about herself, about the world around her—can change in a heartbeat.A moving, powerful journey of life after tragedy, How We Ricochet is a fearless and necessary story for our time that will resonate with readers everywhere.
Excellence: Can We Be Equal And Excellent Too?
by Dr John W. GardnerThis is a book about excellence, more particularly about the conditions under which excellence is possible in our kind of society; but it is also--inevitably--a book about equality, about the kinds of equality that can and must be honored, and the kinds that cannot be forced.Such a book must raise some questions which Americans have shown little inclination to discuss rationally.What are the characteristic difficulties a democracy encounters in pursuing excellence? Is there a way out of these difficulties?How equal do we want to be? How equal can we be?What do we mean when we say, "Let the best man win"? Can an equalitarian society tolerate winners?Are we overproducing highly educated people? How much talent can the society absorb? Does society owe a living to talent? Does talent invariably have a chance to exhibit itself in our society?Does every young American have a "right" to a college education?Are we headed toward domination by an intellectual elite?Is it possible for a people to achieve excellence if they don't believe in anything? Have the American people lost their sense of purpose and the drive which would make it possible for them to achieve excellence?
The Education of Young Children (Routledge Revivals)
by D.E.M. GardnerFirst published in 1956, The Education of Young Children is focused on presenting the psychological needs of children within education, following several talks given by the author at conferences for teachers of young children. The book highlights the importance of meeting all aspects of a child’s needs. It demonstrates that physical, emotional, social, and intellectual needs are all intrinsically connected and fundamental to education and development. It also puts forward the significance of Nursery Schools and the training given to Nursery School teachers, as well as the influence of Nursery Schools on Infant Schools. The Education of Young Children will appeal to those with an interest in the history and psychology of education.
Susan Isaacs: The First Biography (Routledge Library Editions: Psychology of Education)
by D.E.M. GardnerOriginally published in 1969, this is the first biography of Susan Isaacs, the first attempt to estimate her incalculable contribution to the theory and practice of the education of young children. As a pioneer of new teaching methods, Susan Isaacs will be remembered mainly for her work at the Malting House School in Cambridge in the 1920s, and her contribution was such that in 1933 the Department of Child Development at the University of London, Institute of Education was specially created for her; she was Head of the Department until 1943. But Susan Isaacs was also a psychoanalyst, and D.W. Winnicott in his Foreword refers to the time when he was supplying cases for her child analysis training: ‘I watched with interest her sensitive management of the total family situation, a difficult thing when one is engaged in learning while carrying out a psycho-analytic treatment involving daily sessions over years.’ D.E.M. Gardner, who was a close friend as well as student of Susan Isaacs, begins by describing Susan’s childhood in a Lancashire cotton town, and throughout the book she helps us to feel the force of Susan’s personality and intellect – ‘she was a truly great person, one who has had a tremendous influence for good on the attitude of parents and of teachers to the children in their care’.
The Science of Fear: How the Culture of Fear Manipulates Your Brain
by Daniel GardnerAn essential guide to the hardwiring that frightens and confuses us every dayFrom terror attacks to bursting real estate bubbles, from crystal meth epidemics to online sexual predators and poisonous toys from China, our list of fears seems to be exploding. Yet we are the safest and healthiest humans in history. Why are we so worried?The Science of Fear is an introduction to the new brain science of risk, dissecting the fears that misguide and manipulate us every day. Award-winning journalist Daniel Gardner demonstrates how irrational fear springs from the ways humans miscalculate risks based on our hunter-gatherer brains. With the exclusive cooperation of risk-science pioneer Paul Slovic and other leading experts, Gardner reveals how our "gut" reactions lead us astray. Understanding our irrational fears frees us from political and corporate manipulation, and makes our choices better. Ultimately, The Science of Fear will make you brave."Excellent... Analyzes everything from the media's predilection for irrational scare stories to the cynical use of fear by politicians... [A] cheery corrective to modern paranoia. -The Economist "Elegantly weaves academic research and everyday experience... An excellent book." -Dan Ariely, author of Predictably Irrational "A terrific book, full of wonderful insights, and offering cutting-edge social science in a reader-friendly package. The life you save may be your own!" -Cass Sunstein, coauthor of NudgeFrom the Trade Paperback edition.
Superforecasting
by Dan Gardner Philip E. TetlockFrom one of the world's most highly regarded social scientists comes a seminal book on forecasting that shows, for the first time, how we can all get better at making predictions. In Superforecasting, Tetlock and coauthor Dan Gardner offer a masterwork on prediction, drawing on decades of research and the results of a massive, government-funded forecasting tournament. The Good Judgment Project involves tens of thousands of ordinary people--including a Brooklyn filmmaker, a retired pipe installer, and a former ballroom dancer--who set out to forecast global events. Some of the volunteers have turned out to be astonishingly good. They've beaten other benchmarks, competitors, and prediction markets. They've even beaten the collective judgment of intelligence analysts with access to classified information. They are "superforecasters." The authors show us how we can learn from this elite group. Weaving together stories of forecasting successes (the raid on Osama bin Laden's compound) and failures (the Bay of Pigs) and interviews with a range of high-level decision makers, from David Petraeus to Robert Rubin, they show that good forecasting doesn't require powerful computers or arcane methods. It involves gathering evidence from a variety of sources, learning to think probabilistically, working in teams, keeping score, and being willing to admit error and change course. Superforecasting offers the first demonstrably effective way to improve our ability to predict the future--whether in business, finance, politics, international affairs, or daily life--and is destined to become a modern classic.
Superforecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction
by Dan Gardner Philip E. TetlockA New York Times BestsellerAn Economist Best Book of 2015"The most important book on decision making since Daniel Kahneman's Thinking, Fast and Slow."--Jason Zweig, The Wall Street Journal Everyone would benefit from seeing further into the future, whether buying stocks, crafting policy, launching a new product, or simply planning the week's meals. Unfortunately, people tend to be terrible forecasters. As Wharton professor Philip Tetlock showed in a landmark 2005 study, even experts' predictions are only slightly better than chance. However, an important and underreported conclusion of that study was that some experts do have real foresight, and Tetlock has spent the past decade trying to figure out why. What makes some people so good? And can this talent be taught? In Superforecasting, Tetlock and coauthor Dan Gardner offer a masterwork on prediction, drawing on decades of research and the results of a massive, government-funded forecasting tournament. The Good Judgment Project involves tens of thousands of ordinary people--including a Brooklyn filmmaker, a retired pipe installer, and a former ballroom dancer--who set out to forecast global events. Some of the volunteers have turned out to be astonishingly good. They've beaten other benchmarks, competitors, and prediction markets. They've even beaten the collective judgment of intelligence analysts with access to classified information. They are "superforecasters." In this groundbreaking and accessible book, Tetlock and Gardner show us how we can learn from this elite group. Weaving together stories of forecasting successes (the raid on Osama bin Laden's compound) and failures (the Bay of Pigs) and interviews with a range of high-level decision makers, from David Petraeus to Robert Rubin, they show that good forecasting doesn't require powerful computers or arcane methods. It involves gathering evidence from a variety of sources, thinking probabilistically, working in teams, keeping score, and being willing to admit error and change course. Superforecasting offers the first demonstrably effective way to improve our ability to predict the future--whether in business, finance, politics, international affairs, or daily life--and is destined to become a modern classic.From the Hardcover edition.
Future Babble
by Dan GardnerIn 2008, as the price of oil surged above $140 a barrel, experts said it would soon hit $200; a few months later it plunged to $30. In 1967, they said the USSR would be the world’s fastest-growing economy by 2000, the USSR no longer existed. In 1908, it was pronounced that there would be no more wars in Europe; we all know how that turned out. Face it, experts are about as accurate as dart-throwing monkeys. And yet every day we ask them to predict the future—everything from the weather to the likelihood of a terrorist attack. Future Babble is the first book to examine this phenomenon, showing why our brains yearn for certainty about the future, why we are attracted to those who predict it confidently, and why it’s so easy for us to ignore the trail of outrageously wrong forecasts. In this fast-paced, example-packed, sometimes darkly hilarious book, Dan Gardner shows how seminal research by professor Philip Tetlock proved that the more famous a pundit is, the more likely they are to be right about as often as a stopped watch. Gardner also draws on current research in cognitive psychology, political science, and behavioral economics to discover something quite reassuring: The future is always uncertain, but the end is not always near.
The Pursuit of Happyness: The Life Story That Inspired the Major Motion Picture
by Chris Gardner Quincy TroupeThe astounding yet true rags-to-riches saga of a homeless father who raised and cared for his son on the mean streets of San Francisco and went on to become a crown prince of Wall StreetAt the age of twenty, Milwaukee native Chris Gardner, just out of the Navy, arrived in San Francisco to pursue a promising career in medicine. Considered a prodigy in scientific research, he surprised everyone and himself by setting his sights on the competitive world of high finance. Yet no sooner had he landed an entry-level position at a prestigious firm than Gardner found himself caught in a web of incredibly challenging circumstances that left him as part of the city's working homeless and with a toddler son. Motivated by the promise he made to himself as a fatherless child to never abandon his own children, the two spent almost a year moving among shelters, "HO-tels," soup lines, and even sleeping in the public restroom of a subway station. Never giving in to despair, Gardner made an astonishing transformation from being part of the city's invisible poor to being a powerful player in its financial district. More than a memoir of Gardner's financial success, this is the story of a man who breaks his own family's cycle of men abandoning their children. Mythic, triumphant, and unstintingly honest, The Pursuit of Happyness conjures heroes like Horatio Alger and Antwone Fisher, and appeals to the very essence of the American Dream.
The Wolf-Man and Sigmund Freud
by Muriel GardinerIt is a well known that the Wolf-Man was the subject of what James Strachey described as 'the most elaborate and no doubt the most important of all Freud's case histories'. It is less well known that he was still living in Vienna more than half a century since his analysis with Freud. In this remarkable biographical account, the Wolf-Man comes alive not only through Freud's case history, which is reprinted in full, and Ruth Mack Brunswick's account of the follow-up analysis which she conducted, but also through his own autobiographical memoirs covering his childhood in Russia, his recollections of Freud, his marriage, and the circumstances of his life in Vienna after the First World War. The story of the Wolf-Man's later years is told by the editor of this volume, the author, who kept in close touch with him following the shattering suicide of his wife in 1938.
Cognition, Education, and Communication Technology
by Peter Gärdenfors Petter JohanssonCognition, Education, and Communication Technology presents some of the recent theoretical developments in the cognitive and educational sciences and implications for the use of information and communication technology (ICT) in the organization of school and university education. Internationally renowned researchers present theoretical perspectives with proposals for and evaluations of educational practices. Each chapter discusses different aspects of the use of ICT in education, including:*the role of perceptual processes in learning;*external cognition as support for interactive learning;*the role of meta-cognition;*simulation learning environments as cognitive tools;*the role of science controversy for knowledge integration;*the use of ICT in the development of educators; and*the role of narratives in education.ICT has great potential for revolutionizing education. Large investments of resources are being made, often without a strong understanding of how ICT will or should be implemented. The expectation is that students will show immediate improvements in terms of their motivation to learn and their learning achievements, but reality is different. Progress of ICT in education requires more than just computers in the classroom. It demands an understanding of the complex processes contributing to human learning and how they interact with new technologies. This text provides theoretical perspectives on the learning processes that can be used as a foundation for constructing pedagogically valuable tools based on ICT.The combination of results--from cognitive science and pedagogy, with more practically oriented suggestions for how ICT can be used in various forms of education--makes this book suitable for researchers and students in the cognitive and educational sciences, as well as for practitioners and planners of education.
The Geometry of Meaning
by Peter GärdenforsIn The Geometry of Meaning, Peter Gärdenfors proposes a theory of semantics that bridges cognitive science and linguistics and shows how theories of cognitive processes, in particular concept formation, can be exploited in a general semantic model. He argues that our minds organize the information involved in communicative acts in a format that can be modeled in geometric or topological terms -- in what he terms conceptual spaces, extending the theory he presented in an earlier book by that name. Many semantic theories consider the meanings of words as relatively stable and independent of the communicative context. Gärdenfors focuses instead on how various forms of communication establish a system of meanings that becomes shared between interlocutors. He argues that these "meetings of mind" depend on the underlying geometric structures, and that these structures facilitate language learning. Turning to lexical semantics, Gärdenfors argues that a unified theory of word meaning can be developed by using conceptual spaces. He shows that the meaning of different word classes can be given a cognitive grounding, and offers semantic analyses of nouns, adjectives, verbs, and prepositions. He also presents models of how the meanings of words are composed to form new meanings and of the basic semantic role of sentences. Finally, he considers the future implications of his theory for robot semantics and the Semantic Web.
The Geometry of Meaning: Semantics Based on Conceptual Spaces
by Peter GardenforsA novel cognitive theory of semantics that proposes that the meanings of words can be described in terms of geometric structures. In The Geometry of Meaning, Peter Gärdenfors proposes a theory of semantics that bridges cognitive science and linguistics and shows how theories of cognitive processes, in particular concept formation, can be exploited in a general semantic model. He argues that our minds organize the information involved in communicative acts in a format that can be modeled in geometric or topological terms—in what he terms conceptual spaces, extending the theory he presented in an earlier book by that name. Many semantic theories consider the meanings of words as relatively stable and independent of the communicative context. Gärdenfors focuses instead on how various forms of communication establish a system of meanings that becomes shared between interlocutors. He argues that these “meetings of mind” depend on the underlying geometric structures, and that these structures facilitate language learning. Turning to lexical semantics, Gärdenfors argues that a unified theory of word meaning can be developed by using conceptual spaces. He shows that the meaning of different word classes can be given a cognitive grounding, and offers semantic analyses of nouns, adjectives, verbs, and prepositions. He also presents models of how the meanings of words are composed to form new meanings and of the basic semantic role of sentences. Finally, he considers the future implications of his theory for robot semantics and the Semantic Web.