"Deep Brain Learning" by Larry K. Brendtro, PhD, Martin L. Mitchell, EdD, and Herman J. McCall, EdD

"Deep Brain Learning: Pathways to Potential with Challenging Youth" by Larry K. Brendtro, PhD, Martin L. Mitchell, EdD, and Herman J. McCall, EdD is a remarkably professional and researched book. With much psychological and neuro-scientific data, the authors present their information in a most astute yet easy-to-understand manner. There are sections that go over the young brain, how it works, what develops where, and what happens to it in troubled youths. These parts can get very perfunctory, but readers are relieved by the extensive bibliographies included. Several principles are outlined for getting through to troubled youngsters, some of which have educational diagrams alongside them. The authors discuss misdemeanours, acting out, being in jail, losing parents, undergoing change, being abused, being put on drugs, and other problems that troubled kids face. There is also an emphasis on distrust and learning from bad experiences that affects children's behavior. At times, it seems as though the authors are pushing for their own "transformational programs / centers" for kids, but, for the most part, the book aims to inform adults as to why kids act the way they do and how they can change. This book has the goal of adults understanding troubled youth more than being a step-by-step guide for changing them. However, hopefully, by the end of the book, adults will feel knowledgeable enough to face their troubled children with a new perspective--both that of sympathy and science, as proposed by this glossy-paged, hardcover book.