Summarizes Bruer's work, which questions the prevailing emphasis on the first 3 years as most critical to brain development. Notes that the book both elucidates a "blueprint" for mounting an effective public awareness campaign, and provides an excellent synopsis of implications of contemporary neuroscience for early childhood education…

Asserts that this book, drawn from a 1993 conference on memory development, accurately reflects the contemporary status of the field in two ways: (1) its research is matured and specialized; and (2) there are no major theoretical disputes, nor a widely shared new approach, although using microgenetic designs to study cognitive strategy choice…