| Peter Salovey and his colleague, John Mayer, were apparently the first to use the term "emotional intelligence" in their academic research. Of special interest is Salovey's new definition of the term which he offers in this book (in the first article.) The book is a collection of academic articles which each offer lots of research journal citations. This makes it easy for someone to do further research. (Very handy for college students writing papers!) Salovey only wrote two articles for the book. I would prefer to have seen more of his writing. It seems to be a bit more concise. Some of the contributors get very wordy and overly academic when they could say things much more simply. Each article is followed by a short commentary by an K-12 educator. I found these commentaries are only somewhat helpful. Even they were pretty academic. I would prefer more practical suggestions, such as those on my site (see below) If you have a masters or Ph.D. you won't have too much trouble with the book. But it is not written for the average second grade teacher. Still, it is worth the time it takes to read it, and I would agree that it is an "authoritative" book. Peter Salovey by the way, seems to be more concerned with making a positive difference in the world, while Daniel Goleman seems to be more concerned with making a fortune and a name for himself. Salovey is, for example, is working with educators while Goleman is pandering to the corporations with his new book on EQ for business. And I personally agree with most of Salovey's approach to EI in education. For example, he says teach EI lessons as the opportunity arises throughout the day. He understates the importance of the teacher's emotions and his/her own level of EI, however. Teachers have a lot of work to do on their own emotional management before they will be good instructors and, more importantly, models, of EI. Article 4 by Greenberg and Snell is the best single article I have seen on the child's brain and the importance of healthy emotional nurturing in the first few years. Other especially informative articles were 5 and 6 on regulation of emotions. Article 9 is interesting in how it suggests we apply academic research to practical educational settings. Summary A bit pricey, but full of research data and references as well as very interesting information on the brain and the child's emotional development. And as the title suggests, it does address educational implications, albeit in a somewhat theoretical manner. Overall, I would recommend it to anyone who is seriously interested in either EI or education. | 
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