Do you ever wonder where greatness comes from? Are all these amazing people born gifted or is it something else? Well, I am hoping that the book Cradles of Eminence, first published in 1964, will provide me some much-needed insight.

Cradles of Eminence is the result of a study completed by Victor and Mildred Goertzel. They researched the childhood experiences of more than 400 individuals that they deemed eminent which produced intriguing, and often surprising, revelations about the childhood experiences of these amazing people. So what makes someone great?

Well, the book is on its way to me now—thank you Amazon.com—but here are some insights: of the 413 people, 392 had to overcome very difficult obstacles to become who they were. Parenting played a very important role, as did a respectfor learning and education. So if you thought greatness was a direct result of giftedness, you too might want to reach out to Amazon.com! Just sayin’.

With Gratitude,
Beth
P.S. For my NJ people, the Goertzel’s wrote this book while living in Montclair, NJ and did their researched in the Montclair public library.