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In writing a review one becomes, in essence, a teacher. If the reviewer could emulate the style of the writer in this case and stimulate the same ideas, the same questions, the same doubts, he or she would surely teach the reader of the review what to expect from the book.
Those who are familiar with Gardner's elegant prose from reading his earlier gem, Self Inquiry, will know what a tall order this would be. It would require an impish sense of humour conveyed with that same elegance, avoiding the imitation that Gardner deplores.
The anecdotal style of the book conveys the image of a warm, witty. and self-observant writer, with a love of family, grandchildren, sports, life, and learning To read Gardner is to question all one's preconceived notions, priorities, and prejudices, especially as they relate to the task of teaching and learning. It is a book not just about psychoanalysis, but about teaching and learning and how a psychoanalytic theory of mind can facilitate that teaching and learning.
Gardner concluded early in life that teachers taught what they wanted to teach, not what he wanted to learn. From this soil grew a conviction of the importance in effective teaching, of searching for the student's hidden questions.
The book is divided into two parts Book 1, entitled “The School of Soft Knocks,” is in the main a brief history of teaching, both pre-Gardner and early Gardner. Through this medium Gardner asks, “Is dogmatism a good basis for teaching?” and “Is open-mindedness just indecisive and leading nowhere?”
In discussing dogmatism he reflects on the rigidity of the artist Sorolla, who taught that “art has no business dealing with anything ugly or sad.” Sorolla persistently converted his preferences into principles. Such a stance ignores the position of those we wish to teach and “puts us more at the mercy of our furor to teach”
Gardner elaborates further with a delightful personal anecdote Long a fan of Annie Dillard of the New York Times Book Review,