160;In response to the current buzz surrounding such books as Emotional Intelligence and The Bell Curve , Yale University professor Robert Sternberg challenges the age-long debate over nature vs. nurture. Proposing that nurture is far more important than nature in determining success in life, he challenges this critical debate about how to best evaluate and teach America's youth. Sternberg argues that traditional IQ tests and standardized tests measure only 'inert' intelligence, and are therefore poor predictors of how students will do in life. SATs and other standardized tests only evaluate our ability to memorize material and perpetuate the labeling of students based on often irrelevant criteria. Successful Intelligence offers: Specific ways to develop practical and creative intelligence. Demonstrates how accomplished people make successful intelligence work for them. Shows how members of various ethnic groups who typically do not do as well on tests of academic intelligence can compete successfully on creative and practical intelligence.

Tells readers that the willingness to take risks and overcome obstacles is a key attribute for achieving intelligence. Sternberg provides us with a new definition of intelligence that predicts how students will fare in problem-solving in both their personal and professional lives. With the keys on how to achieve life's more important goals, Successful Intelligence will change the way we regard aptitude and intelligence.