The Life Span: Human Development for Helping Professionals (4th Edition)

I'm so glad I could rent it for class. I like the way it is set up it is easy to follow. The Authors explain some difficult subjects pretty simply and that is a PLUS. I think my favorite part of the book were the journal questions at the end of each chapter. This made learning about life span personal. I learned a lot about myself and how we grow and evolve. If you need this book for a course, Amazon is where to go get it!

I am working on a second master's degree in clinical mental health and this textbook was required for developmental theory. I did not get bogged down in terminology and was actually impressed with the humor used on occasion by the author. In fact, I found this book useful as an educator when discussing psycho-educational evaluations. It is a fairly heavy book and I should have bought the loose leaf version. I will continue to use this in my practice.

This is a text book for sure: big and heavy. It starts out slow but as you read on it is full on great information. I would have never opened it if I did not have to site it every week in a reflection paper but I ended up learning a lot. I would rent it, or buy it then sell it, its not something you need to hold on too and will look at it for a future class,

Good textbook that's easy to follow. The book was in good condition when I got it.

This expensive textbook is sort of worth the money. I mean, I wish it was cheaper, but it really is full of fascinating info. I like the way it's broken down into the science of each phase, the applications for that science, a summary of the chapter and then a case study. It's very well designed.

Once again, a book that needs to be re-written instead of a quick face lift to justify the "new edition" cost to students. Good intro-level material, great graphics, but when you look at the references in some sections, they are quite dated. And I get that sometimes a classic study has to be cited. This isn't the same thing.Chapter 7 says: "much recent attention has been paid ..." and that "recent" attention? 1992. That's TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO, PEOPLE!! And later sections on "developing identity and diverse groups," the citations are likewise from the 1990s.Check this out: in the entire book, 699 pages, there are only 7 mentions of racism, 1 mention of sexism, zero of feminism. In a book about human development.Another problem: this is a SCIENCE book, a text that urges us to rely on the scientific method and not on magical thinking. Why is the refutation of the linkage of autism to vaccines so weak? There is NO linkage between autism and vaccines; there IS a linkage between outbreaks of preventable diseases and states that allow parents to easily opt out of vaccinations. The footnotes in this section date to 2007 more or less.At least they come out for evolution.

I am half-way through and have learned so much about development over the life-span. My teacher has us create fact sheets for each chapter, which helps solidify the concepts.

UPDATE: I recently re-purchased this book in kindle, after purchasing it last year in hardcover with Pearson e-access. True to form, Pearson again tries to rake customers by forcing amazon to limit access to only two devices. For me that means having to choose whether to put it on my laptop, phone, desktop, or tablet, rather than having access on any device. At least with amazon's kindle version, I can keep the ebook permanently, something that was not possible with Pearson's version.This book is very dense and full of information, it is a good resource for counselors and others interested in lifelong human development. Broderick and Blewitt do a fine job explaining the nuances of each period of the life span. It is the publisher - Pearson - who does a horrible job in providing access for clients. I don't see the Pearson ebook offered by amazon any more, which is a good thing. Of course none of the supplementary materials are available with the kindle and hard copy versions, but those materials are not necessary. I recommend this book, but only in hard copy or amazon's kindle version. Pearson can keep their etext, you - the reader - don't need it.PREVIOUS REVIEW: Buyer beware! I bought this book packaged with the e-access card thinking it would be a good text to retain for professional practice. The hard copy book is fine, however the ebook requires a proprietary app and access expires in 6 months. No where in the amazon description does it say that e-access is limited in any way. The only reason I bought the hardcopy/e-access package was so I could have and keep both. Pearson eText is poorly done, as others reviewers have said. But Amazon is usually much better than this. I am very disappointed. For this particular book, save a little bit and buy a hardcopy. The additional cost of the ebook is not worth it. A Kindle version or pdf would be much better.

contained the information I needed.