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Self-Theories: Their Role in Motivation, Personality, and Development. Carol S. Dweck. Philadelphia: Psychology Press, 1999, 195 pp., $44.95/Cloth (0-86377-570-5).
In the opening sentence of the preface to her book, Carol Dweck tells us, "I have always been deeply moved by outstanding achievement, especially in the face of adversity, and saddened by wasted potential. I have devoted my career to understanding both" (p. ix). She goes on, "Because I am first and foremost a researcher, I have tried to convey to the reader my love of the research process...research lures you down uncharted paths, with each turn revealing something new" (p. ix). At her core, Dweck is a scientist, framing a question, finding an answer through research that leads her to yet another question.
What the reader learns from Dweck is that a good scientist is similar to a good detective. Both must be keen observers, superb hypothesis producers and testers, and faithful to where the evidence takes them. For both scientists and detectives, although there are times when the hard work and perseverance canbe plodding, there also is a sense of liveliness and adventure to the process.
What we have here is no ordinary scholarly psychology volume. Ever so rarely, we are offered a psychology book that is so beautifully written, lucidly organized, and elegant in its description of ideas. Dweck takes...