ENG 111

Fall 2002

READING GUIDE: Extraordinary Minds, chapter 9—Lessons

Vocabulary . . .

Travail (p. 140)	Estranged (p. 141)	Leaven (p. 141)
Don (p. 143)	Garb (p. 143)	Iconoclastic (p. 145)
Explicit (p. 147)	Conundrum (p. 148)	Sine qua non (p. 152)
Finitude (p. 155)	Disillusion (p. 161)	Concomitant (p. 159)

Notes . . .

In this final chapter, Gardner returns to the third goal of his book: to “look to the lives of extraordinary individuals for specific insights about how others—put bluntly, the rest of us mere mortals—might lead more productive and satisfying lives.”

I think most of the information is pretty straightforward and requires no additional comment from me. Here are just a few things.

• In the first section, what is Gardner’s answer to the question “is extraordinariness desirable?”

• The second section is called “Contrasting Approaches: Formula or Atmosphere?” Am I right in assuming that , in the nature/nurture dynamic of where extraordinariness comes from, formula and atmosphere are two approaches for nurture?

• The third section mentions three key elements: things we can learn from extraordinary people. Please learn what these are. How do you match up against them?

• The final section. Is Gardner returning to the theme of moral leadership that he mentioned in Chapter 8? What is humane extraordinariness?