Drawing upon the burgeoning research in neurology, as well as stories of real children, this book charts the brain's development, from conception through the critical first 5 years of life. In examining the many factors that play crucial roles in that process, the book explores the evolution of the senses, motor skills, social and emotional behaviors, and mental functions such as attention, language memory, reasoning, and intelligence. The book's chapters are: (1) "Nature or Nurture? It's All in the Brain"; (2) "The Basic Biology of Brain Development"; (3) "Prenatal Influences on the Developing Brain"; (4) "How Birth Affects the Brain"; (5) "The Importance of Touch"; (6) "Why Babies Love To Be Bounced: The Precocious Sense of Balance and Motion"; (7) "The Early World of Smell"; (8) "Taste, Milk, and the Origins of Food Preference"; (9) "Wiring Up the Visual Brain"; (10) "How Hearing Evolves"; (11) "Motor Milestones"; (12) "Social-Emotional Growth"; (13) "The Emergence of Memory"; (14) "Language and the Developing Brain"; (15) "How Intelligence Grows in the Brain"; (16) "Nature, Nurture, and Sex Differences in Intellectual Development"; and (17) "How To Raise a Smarter Child." The book concludes with extensive notes organized by chapter. (HTH)