Teenagers: A Natural History

by David Bainbridge, Gordon Neufeld (Foreword by)

Overview

This book will change how you think about teenagers.

In David Bainbridge's fascinating study, the teenager emerges as a phenomenon deserving of reverence and wonder. Taking a zoological approach, Bainbridge-a veterinarian and anatomist-suggests that the second decade of life is the most important in the human cycle. In lively prose, he explains the science behind the events occurring in the teenage body and brain-from lanky limbs and unpredictable skin to falling in love and surly grumpiness to the irresistible allure of sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll. Bainbridge also explains how, in evolutionary terms, this dynamic period is key to the survival of our species, and why the teenage years are the most dramatic and exciting of our lives.

If you live or work with a teenager, or ever were one, you will want to read this book. And you'll be convinced that the teenager is the most amazing, and most necessary, creature on the planet.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781926685410
Publisher:	Greystone Books
Publication date:	07/01/2009
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	368
File size:	481 KB

Read an Excerpt

from the Introduction

We all know the teenage mind. It experiences overwhelming sensations, strong, sudden emotions and dramatic, unpredictable moods. It flits between intense sociability, complete introversion and apparent thoughtlessness. Always searching for its place in the world and honing its intellect, it is untrammelled and uninhibited, reaching peaks of creativity unmatched in adults. It is almost as if there is too much mind inside a teenager's head.

The adolescent brain differs from the adult in almost every conceivable way. It is not just a brain that has recently discovered sex and hormones, or a simple transitional stage between child and adult: it is larger than at any other age, and its appearance in our evolutionary history directly preceded our species' attainment of incredible intellectual powers. I believe that the teenage brain is the central phenomenon of the human race.

That is all very well, but what real, tangible evidence do we have of what is going on inside the adolescent cranium? Until ten years ago, the evidence was very thin and was based on dissection of the occasional dead teenagers' brains which found their way onto the neuroanatomist's slab. The brains available for comparison were few, and obviously only gave a 'snapshot' of brain anatomy at a single, fatal, moment in time. What was needed was a way to follow the brain development of many healthy people throughout their first few decades of life — without having to kill them. And the ability to do this came in the form of a huge magnet and some radio antennas . . .

Table of Contents

Introduction: A silver lining

1. Aches and Gripes and Lumps and Bumps:
Why growing up is hard to do
Where did the teenagers come from?
What flips our sexy switch?
Why all the bodily unpleasantness?
Why do teenage girls and boys look different?
Why are girls more mature?

2. Thinking, Risk and Rock 'n'Roll: Why teenage brains are different
Why are teenagers brainier than everyone else?
Are teenagers driven by their hormones?
Why are teenagers' brains different?
Why all the sleep, risk and anger?
Why do teenagers start to think in new ways?

3. Out of the Ordinary: The truth about alcohol, nicotine and other diversions
Where did all the drugs come from?
Why do drugs affect teenagers differently?
So is teenage drug use really a bad thing?

4. Love and Loss: Why teenage relationships can be the best and worst things in the world
Why do teenagers get so sad?
Why do teenagers get so confused?
Why do teenagers get so worried?
And what is love?

5. Teenage Kicks: The ifs, whens and whys of sex
Why do teenagers have sex?
When are teenagers meant to have sex?
Why do teenagers get sexually transmitted diseases?
Why is teenage pregnancy different?
Why are teenagers meant to have sex?

Epilogue: The long game