© Howard Gardner 2026 Widely and mostly positively reviewed, Helen Lewis’s book The Genius Myth seeks to debunk the notion of genius—at least the view of genius as a person who possesses special—perhaps indeed unique —powers, abilities, capacities, insights, achievements, legacies. Lewis has made a persuasive claim that the label of “genius” has been bandied about too much; it needs to be…
© Howard Gardner 2026 In my life, I’ve read a lot of books. Not sure how many…but when my wife and I moved some years ago from a house to an apartment, we gave away approximately 5,000 of them—and I am confident I’d read many of them. More on that later. Occasionally, I’m asked to recommend a book. I don’t find that an easy task—I skim too many books and have largely given up the reading of…
© Howard Gardner 2026 Williams College sculpture of Mark Hopkins on one end of a log and a student on the other Though I’d be considered conservative on many educational matters, that would not accurately describe my views about the role in education of AI (artificial intelligence) and AGI (Artificial General Intelligence). Not only do I think that—going forward—AI will play a very large role in…
© Howard Gardner 2026 Harvard Yard It’s the beginning of my 66th year at Harvard. Before the advent of computer records, I used to quip that I had the largest cache of medical records at the university—seven volumes of written notes and medical tests. My family were immigrants from Nazi Germany—they escaped in the nick of time, arriving in New York on November 9, 1938, the night of the infamous…
© Howard Gardner 2026 When I was a beginning doctoral student in psychology—sixty years ago—there was a relatively sharp line between two kinds of research. One was strictly experimental: carefully selected and controlled samples and conditions, data readily analyzed, and often revealing clear cut, hopefully replicable results. The other approach was “softer”—focused on observation,…
© Howard Gardner 2026 “Opa,” my ten-year-old granddaughter Faye said, in a questioning tone. “What is it like to be colorblind? What do you see? Can you learn to see colors?” The question itself did not surprise me, because we had talked about colorblindness in the past. Like numerous other children whom I’ve encountered over the decades, Faye had more than once tried to teach me to see and…
A Case Study of Research in Education © Ellen Winner and Howard Gardner 2026 In ordinary communication, impact has two principal connotations: from physics , the force of a collision of two bodies; from human relations , how words or expressions affect our beliefs and emotions. Both of these connotations prove relevant to the philanthropic sector. In philanthropy, an organization, a set of…
© Howard Gardner 2026 I’ve casually asserted that one could build an entire curriculum around Finding Your Roots —the title and theme of Henry Louis Gates’ well-received series on PBS. Gates interviews luminaries from various fields and, conversing with them and examining their genetic heritage, discovers surprising information about their families, often dating back centuries. Let’s say that…
© Howard Gardner 2026 Perhaps in every era—or at least in many eras—reflective individuals wonder whether their era is special—disruptive, and if so, in which benign or malevolent ways. Ours is no exception. Indeed, in the era of nuclear power (which can be mobilized for constructive or annihilatory ends), mass communication of all manner (salutary or destructive), powerful medical interventions…
© Howard Gardner 2026 Over the last few years, I have written and posted hundreds of blogs, covering a very wide range of topics. This one is different—it’s personal…and it’s political. Here’s the context: I am the son of German-Jewish parents who emigrated to the United States just in time. Indeed, Hilde and Rudolph Gaertner arrived in New York on November 9, 1938. This was Kristallnacht—the…
© Howard Gardner 2025 Around 1975, I fell in love with children’s museums. Of course, they had been around for a while—but it was the Boston Children’s Museum —as conceived and curated by Michael Spock (the son of illustrious pediatrician Benjamin Spock)—that captured my heart. First located in a rambling house in Jamaica Plain, later in its own far more generous (even grand) quarters on the…
© Howard Gardner 2025 If you know the name Marshall McLuhan it’s likely for one of two reasons: He coined the powerful phrase, “the medium in the message.” He appears in a hilarious scene in Woody Allen’s award-winning movie, Annie Hall . (Please see Footnote #1 .) But in fact, half a century ago, McLuhan was arguably one of the most famous—and likely one of the most quoted—scholars in the world.…
An Ambitious Contemporary Effort © Howard Gardner 2025 If you want a list of all the things that I am not good at, I can launch it…and my family and friends can add to it generously. But I may have a few talents. One of these is spotting promising trends and—with luck and a smattering of skill—nudging the trends in the right direction. Indeed, my first “popular” book, The Quest for Mind explicated…
© Howard Gardner 2025 I don’t travel anymore. Or, more precisely, my wife Ellen and I don’t take airplanes anymore. Our last flight (in September 2022) was to honor the memory of a treasured friend. We still drive and take various forms of public transportation, but we spend upwards of 90% of our time at our home in Cambridge. We work there at our own pace, see family and friends, and go…
Mention the year 1945 to an historically-knowledgeable person—it’s likely immediately to evoke thoughts of “war” as well as “peace”. On May 8, 1945, following a successful bombing and ground assault on German-occupied lands, the Axis powers surrendered to the Allies. Then, months later, on September 2, 1945, following the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Japanese leadership…
Howard Gardner © 2025 Some necessary background Harvard Magazine Cover, September - October, 1990. Caption: “Brown with re research associates Benjamin Gardner, Wolfgang, and Ernie.” It’s well over half a century ago—in 1969—since I, a budding psychologist, first became interested in the question: Does the human BRAIN have anything to tell us about the human MIND? With the benefit of hindsight,…
When I was growing up in Scranton, Pennsylvania in the 1950s, Dwight David Eisenhower—universally known as “Ike”—was the two-term president (1953-1961). I had nothing against Ike. I knew him as the General who had presided over the invasion of Normandy and been a hero in the Second World War, and that he had an appealing personality. But my parents were dyed-in-the-wool Democrats—as refugees from…
I was very pleased that my recent blog, “ Five Minds…Rethinking Education in the Era of AI General Intelligence ” elicited comments and—with me largely in the background—a rather vigorous exchange among three individuals: my wife Ellen Winner (Emerita Professor at Boston College, and lifelong member of Harvard Project Zero) and longtime friends and colleagues Mindy Kornhaber (Emerita Professor at…
© Howard Gardner 2025 I am known principally as an author of books. While one may quarrel with the number usually cited—it’s safe to say that I’ve authored or co-authored over thirty of them. And I’ve lived long enough and written enough about my books that I can and should let them speak for themselves. (Please refer to my memoir and other titles under References below.) But in this essay, I…
© Howard Gardner 2025 As compared to other sectors of our world, education changes very slowly. And that is not necessarily problematic. Our educational approaches—from kindergarten through university—have evolved over many decades; educators (schoolteachers, professors) tend to remain in their positions; and it is not easy to change buildings, recreational areas, daily schedules, annual…