teenagers
Wednesday, February 25th, 2009
Working as I do with both IRN-BRU and the Government, I pounced on David Bainbridge’s latest offering, Teenagers. Here, I was sure, would lie all the secrets about how best we could communicate with this often hard to understand audience. Many of my colleagues proclaim deep understanding of the audience as they have teenaged children of their own but here at last was my chance to offer some new breakthrough insight that would revolutionise how we spoke to them.
Of course, this book did not give me that. However, it’s a cracking read. Regular readers will know that I love to jump on these weighty tomes and tear them to unfair shreds. So I’m not exactly an undiscerning audience. But this book is biology at its plebian best. Not too complicated, not too painstakingly detailed but just thorough enough to make you feel that you’re a bit of an intellectual for having read it, long enough to make you feel that he has something to say for himself but not so long that you weary of it. A practically perfect science book in fact.
Therein lay the problem from my professional point of view. It’s all very interesting finding out about how the teenage brain only matures during the teenage years so this very time is vital to the growth and development of the adult to be. And he rattles through the usual teenage symptoms: sleep late, smell, spotty, grumpy, adventurous (drink, drugs, sex). So he answers all the obvious questions beautifully. From my point of view, you kind of know the symptoms and that affects how you talk to them and the why they’re like that isn’t really an issue. But for all of that, I wouldn’t say don’t read it.
Having said that, if you can’t be bothered with the 312 pages, there’s a column from him in The Times here. That would do you nicely. Enjoy.