Bill Crain's wonderful new book Forever Young: How Six Great Individuals Have Drawn Upon the Powers of Childhood and How We Can Follow Their Lead is one that members of our DEY community will likely enjoy and benefit from reading, as I did.
Forever Young explores the childhood experiences of six extraordinary adults: Henry David Thoreau, Charlotte Bronte, Howard Thurman, Jane Goodall, and Rachel Carson. Each of these inspiring people who contributed so much to our world had childhood experiences and traits that carried into their later lives and fueled their contributions as adults. The biographies are thoroughly engaging and accessible, yet the messages embedded in them are profound and can lead us to insights about ourselves, our life values, and childhood in general.
Through the biographies, important themes emerge that were present in the childhoods of these extraordinary people: connecting with nature, perceiving nature with fresh senses, curiosity and wonder, imagination, play, sensing the interconnectivity of all beings, feeling at one with all life. We see how these various qualities played an important role in the childhoods of the six people highlighted in the book, and how they continued to inspire and strengthen them throughout life. Their stories encourage us to reflect upon our own childhoods, how they are part of us now, and what we can do to keep these aspects of childhood alive in ourselves and foster them in the children we work and live with. (Review by Nancy Carlsson-Paige)
William Crane is professor of psychology, City College of New York, and a member of DEY's National Advisory Board.