I’ve been reading Grand Theft Childhood of late and thoroughly enjoying it. The refreshing new look into the relationship amoung game violence and children is authored by Cheryl K. Olson, ScD and Lawrence Kutner, PhD of the Harvard Medical School Center for Mental Health and Media.

Adam Thierer has obviously been reading too, and posts a comprehensive review on the Technology Liberation Front:

I must confess that when I first saw the title and cover of Grand Theft Childhood: The Surprising Truth About Violent Video Games and What Parents Can Do, I rolled my eyes and thought to myself, “here we go again.” I figured that I was in for another tedious anti-gaming screed full of myths and hysteria about games and gamers. Boy, was I wrong. Massively wrong.

[The authors]

have written the most thoroughly balanced and refreshingly open-minded book about video games ever penned. They cut through the stereotypes and fear-mongering that have thus far pervaded the debate by the impact of video games and offer parents and policymakers common-sense advice…

I highly recommend Kutner and Olson’s Grand Theft Childhood. It is must-reading for anyone who is serious about studying the debate by video games, child development and the public policy surrounding them. It is the most sensible thing ever penned on the subject.

Check out Adam’s full review.

GP: I particularly enjoyed the way that Olson and Kutner skewered some of the more well-known video game critics. I’ll have additional coverage on that aspect of the book later that week.

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