The Primal Teen: What the New Discoveries About the Teenage Brain Tell Us About Our Kids

Read an Excerpt

Chapter 1: Crazy by Design
The New Science of the Teenage Brain. Teen. Brain. Brain. Teen. The words, I concede, go more tongue in cheek than hand in hand. Utter them out loud-mention even that you're writing a book on the teenage brain-and the jokes come popping out, like pimples

Chapter 2: The Passion Within
Nora loped through the clinic door, her long brown hair with a wide purple streak flowing behind her. In recent years, Nora Berenstain had survived a move from Sacramento to Washington, D.C., her parents' divorce, and a horrific seventh grade when her

Reader's Guide
1. For many years, most people thought the adolescent brain was finished, cooked, just sitting there waiting for all that Chaucer, all that calculus, all that parental caution to pour in. Now, as Strauch writes, we are finding that's not the case.

For anyone who has ever puzzled over the mysterious and often infuriating behavior of a teenager comes a groundbreaking look at the teenage brain written by the medical science and health editor for The New York Times. While many members of the scientific community have long held that the growing pains of adolescence are primarily psychological, Barbara Strauch highlights the physical nature of the transformation, offering parents and educators a new perspective on erratic teenage behavior. Using plain language, Strauch draws upon the latest scientific discoveries to make the case that the changes the brain goes through during adolescence are as dramatic and crucial as those that take place in the first two years of life, and that teenagers are not entirely responsible for their sullen, rebellious, and moody ways. Featuring interviews with scientists, teenagers, parents, and teachers, The Primal Teen explores common challenges-why teens go from articulate and mature one day to morose and unreachable the next, why they engage in risky behavior-and offers practical strategies to help manage these formative and often difficult years.

Barbara Strauch is the medical science and health editor of the New York Times. She previously covered science and medical issues in Boston and Houston and directed Pulitzer Prize-winning news at Newsday. She is the mother of two teenagers and lives in Westchester County, New York..

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