Ungifted ─ Intelligence Redefined

Child prodigies. Gifted and Talented Programs. Perfect 2,400s on the SAT. Sometimes it feels like the world is conspiring to make the rest of us feel inadequate, that we’ll never achieve anything great. In Ungifted, cognitive psychologist Scott Barry Kaufman?who was told as a child that he wasn’t smart enough to graduate from high school?sets out to prove traditional metrics wrong, questioning everything we know about the childhood predictors of adult greatness. Kaufman explores the latest research in genetics and neuroscience, as well as evolutionary, developmental, positive, and cognitive psychology, to uncover the truth about human potential. He reveals the diversity of paths to success and promotes a more holistic approach to achievement that takes into account each young person’s individual psychology. Combining research, anecdotes, and a singular compassion, Ungifted proves that anyone?even those without observable gifts?can become great.

Scott Barry Kaufman is adjunct assistant professor of psychology at New York University. He completed his doctorate at Yale, received an M.Phil. from the University of Cambridge under a Gates Cambridge Scholarship, and completed his undergraduate degree at Carnegie Mellon University. He is co-founder of The Creativity Post, and writes the blog Beautiful Minds for Scientific American Mind. He lives in New York City.