Howard Gardner’s Frames of Mind was that rare publishing phenomenon–a mind-changer. Widely read by the
general public as well as by educators, this influential book laid out Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences. It
debunked the primacy of the IQ test and inspired new approaches to education; entire curricula, schools, museums,
and parents’ guides were dedicated to the nurturing of the several intelligences. In his new book, A Synthesizing Mind,
Gardner reflects on his intellectual development and his groundbreaking work, tracing his evolution from bookish
child to eager college student to disengaged graduate student to Harvard professor.

Gardner discusses his mentors (including Erik Erikson and Jerome Bruner) and his collaborators (Mihaly
Csikszentmihalyi, William Damon, and others). Comedian Groucho Marx makes a surprise (non-)appearance,
declining Gardner’s invitation to chat with Harvard College students, in favor of “making a living.”

Throughout his career, Gardner has focused on human minds in general, or on the minds of particular creators
and leaders. Reflecting now on his own mind, he concludes that his is a “synthesizing mind”–with the ability to
survey experiences and data across a wide range of disciplines and perspectives. The thinkers he most admires–
including historian Richard Hofstadter, biologist Charles Darwin, and literary critic Edmund Wilson–are exemplary
synthesizers. Gardner contends that the synthesizing mind is particularly valuable at this time and proposes ways to
cultivate a possibly unique human capacity

We live in a time of vast changes that include accelerating globalization, mounting quantities of information, the growing hegemony of science and technology, and the clash of civilizations. Those changes call for new ways of learning and thinking in school, business, and the professions. Listen as psychologist Howard Gardner defines the cognitive abilities that will command a premium in the years ahead:
The disciplinary mind: mastery of major schools of thought
The synthesizing mind: ability to integrate ideas
The creating mind: capacity to uncover and clarify problems, questions, and phenomena
The respectful mind: awareness of and appreciation for differences among human beings
The ethical mind: fulfillment of one’s responsibilities
Armed with these well-honed capacities, a person will be equipped to deal with what is expected in the future, as well as what cannot be anticipated. Without these “minds”, individuals will be at the mercy of forces they can’t understand: overwhelmed by information, unable to succeed in the workplace, and incapable of making judicious decisions about personal and professional matters.
Renowned worldwide for his theory of multiple intelligences, Gardner takes that thinking to the next level. Concise and engaging, this audiobook will inspire lifelong learning and provide valuable insights for those charged with training and developing organizational leaders – today and tomorrow.

The True, the Good, and the Beautiful are as timeless a trio of concepts as Western culture has to offer. Since before Socrates, humankind has explored these virtues in an attempt to describe and categorize them. Our definitions of these concepts, moreover, have unceasingly changed over the ages and across continents. Every known civilization has developed its own interpretations of them and so has confronted difficult questions: Is truthfulness inherent or inculcated? Is beauty achieved or a gift bestowed by the gods? Is goodness a birthright or determined by society?

In Truth, Beauty, and Goodness Reframed, Howard Gardner explores the meaning of these virtues in a contemporary world of vast technological change and relativistic understandings of human nature. Today’s technologically saturated era poses profound challenges to once uncontroversial assertions of what is good. Our search for truth is besieged by a miasma of blogs, forums, and open-source references that obscure the origins of information, and tabloids, cable news, and talk radio that proffer the most convenient, popular, and profitable truths. Our understanding of beauty is bombarded by air-brushed advertisements and photoshopped portrayals of perfection. And the concept of the good is increasingly politicized and debated as we determine who is a terrorist and who is a freedom fighter, which liberties are inexorable and which are negotiable in the name of national security.

In this incisive and elucidating study, Gardner reveals that while the concepts of truth, beauty, and the good are changing faster than ever, they are—and will remain—cornerstones of our society. These virtues, though in flux and under attack, are essential to the human experience. While they may be obscured and exploited, we must continue to pursue truth, beauty, and goodness to ever-greater heights. This insightful, illuminating analysis provides an approachable primer on the foundations of ethics and virtue in this modern age.