While certain tasks or assignments may come easier for gifted students, it does not mean that they do not struggle or have setbacks. In many cases, due to the very high expectations gifted students set for themselves, they can face even greater challenges than other students. It is also a misconception that gifted students have a clear path set out for their future from a young age. Thus, it is important for these advanced learners to be able to read accounts of the challenges (academically and personally), inspirations and ultimately, triumphs of some the worlds鈥� most influential people.

Here鈥檚 a list of inspiring books about individuals who have made contributions in the areas of science, technology, literature and music:

Bill Gates is the co-founder of the Microsoft Corporation and philanthropist.

Book: Who is Bill Gates? (2013)听 by Patricia Brennan Demulth (author) and Ted Hammond (illustrator) details how a persistent and gifted young boy from Seattle became one of the leading entrepreneurs of the personal computer revolution. For younger readers.

Joshua Bell is an acclaimed violinist who made his听听debut at age 17 with the听. He has since performed with many of the world’s major orchestras and conductors and has recorded more than 30 classical albums.

Book: The Dance of the Violin (2017) by听听(author) and 听(illustrator) tells the story of a young Joshua Bell who challenges himself to play a difficult听 piece of music at an international competition. During the performance he makes a mistake, but garners the courage to start again and put forth his best effort.听 For younger readers.

Gabriel Garcia Marquez was a Columbian novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter and journalist affectionately known as Gabo or Gabito. He won the Nobel Prize winner for Literature in 1982 and is considered one of the most significant authors of the 20th century.

Book: My Name is Gabito (2007) by Monica Brown (author) and Raul Colon (illustrator) beautifully chronicles Gabriel Garcia Marquez鈥檚 life from his childhood in Columbia to his later years as a celebrated author.听 For younger readers.

Sally Ride Ph.D was an American听physicist听and听astronaut. In 1983 she became the first U.S. woman to go into space.

Book: Sally Ride: America鈥檚 First Woman in Space (2014) by听听recounts the story of the woman who broke gender barriers at NASA and went on to found Sally Ride Science, a nonprofit dedicated to promoting STEM literacy for young people. For teens and above (LGBT issues discussed).

Jane Goodall is a primatologist and听anthropologist. Considered to be the world’s foremost expert on听chimpanzees, she is best known for her over 55-year study of social and family interactions of wild chimpanzees in Tanzania.

Book: Jane Goodall: The Woman Who Redefined Man (2008) by Dale Peterson details the triumphs and setbacks of Goodall鈥檚 life, including the private quest that led to her now-famous activism. For teens and above.

Carl Sagan Ph.D was an astronomer, writer, and creator of the television series, Cosmos that helped popularize science.

Book: Carl Sagan: A Life in the Cosmos (1999) by William Poundstone recounts the life of a gifted young man whose interest in the stars and life on other planets propelled him to become science’s first authentic media superstar, making science accessible to the general public. For teens and above.

You can find more inspiring role models in the book, , Maurice E. Fisher Ph.D & Eugenia M. Fisher, Ed.D, Editors and Michael E. Walters, Ed.D & Harry T. Roman, M.S., Senior Writers.

Tell us who inspires you by sending your own book recommendations!

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I love . Whenever I need a break from my day-to-day routine, I watch a TEDTalk and lose myself in the brilliance of people and their ideas.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with TEDTalks, let me give you a brief overview of TED. TED is a private, nonprofit organization that was founded in 1984, with the objective of hosting an annual conference on Technology, Entertainment, and Design鈥攈ence the acronym, TED.

Since then, TED has grown; it now hosts global conferences and events throughout the year and has expanded its scope to include leaders from various fields and disciplines, such as medicine, education, economics, anthropology, and music. At these conferences, notable speakers like Jane Goodall, Bill Gates, and Nobel Prize winners confront audiences with issues, ideas, and phenomena that seek to inspire passion and curiosity.

TED鈥檚 goal is simple: To spread ideas. According to its mission statement, 鈥淲e believe passionately in the power of ideas to change attitudes, lives, and ultimately, the world. So we’re building here a clearinghouse that offers free knowledge and inspiration from the world’s most inspired thinkers, and also a community of curious souls to engage with ideas and each other.鈥� Thus, TED decided to release and post its 鈥渢alks鈥� online, making them free and accessible to our global community of learners. Since launching its website in 2007, TED has posted 1,356 videos online, which have been viewed almost 1 billion times worldwide.

With so many talks readily available, my efforts of selecting only five videos proved to be more difficult than I had anticipated. But for your viewing pleasure, here are my top five most powerful, informative, and stimulating TEDTalks for parents of gifted children. Enjoy!

5.
In her discussion, writer Susan Cain speaks about introversion and questions why it is undervalued in our society. She calls for a celebration of introverted-ness and offers three suggestions for changing the ways we view introversion.

Favorite quote: 鈥淭here’s zero correlation between being the best talker and having the best ideas.鈥�

4.
Professor of education Sugata Mitra describes his global 鈥淗ole in the Wall鈥� experiments, where children are given access to computers and the Internet. Through these experiments, Mitra illustrates how, when given the resources, groups of children learn from each other and become 鈥渟elf-organizing systems.鈥�

Favorite quote: 鈥淐hildren will learn to do what they want to learn to do.鈥�

3.
In this inspirational video, then twelve-year-old child prodigy Adora Svitak asks her adult audience to reexamine the ways they view children as 鈥渋rrational鈥� and 鈥渋rresponsible鈥� beings. Rather, children should be acknowledged and valued for their abilities to imagine the possibilities of tomorrow.

Favorite quote: 鈥淟earning between grown-ups and kids should be reciprocal. The reality, unfortunately, is a little different, and it has a lot to do with trust, or a lack of it.鈥�

2.
In this 20-minute talk, Temple Grandin demonstrates how autistic minds process information and urges us to nurture these varied ways of thinking as resources in our twice-exceptional youth.

Favorite quote: 鈥淣ow the thing is, the world is going to need all of the different kinds of minds to work together. We鈥檝e got to work on developing all these different kinds of minds.鈥�

1.

In this comical but informative discussion, Ken Robinson examines our education system in relation to creativity. Like Adora Svitak, he stresses that children have amazing capabilities and 鈥渃apacities for innovation.鈥� However, Robinson argues that creativity is being squandered in our classrooms, where academic abilities are placed at a higher premium than other types of intelligences.

Favorite quote: 鈥淢y contention is that creativity now is as important in education as literacy, and we should treat it with the same status.鈥�

Do you have a favorite TEDTalk? Share your favorite in the comment section below!

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