Table of Contents

FOREWORD
Re-affirming the Value of All Human Beings by Michael Popkin

PREFACE
From Minimal Brain Damage to Hyperactivity to ADHD

INTRODUCTION
Hunters and Farmers Twenty Years Later

PART ONE
UNDERSTANDING HUNTERS AND FARMERS

ONE
ADHD as a State of Mind

TWO
How to Recognize Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

THREE
Hunters in Our Schools and Offices: The Origin of ADHD

FOUR
“Normal” People: The Origins of Agriculture

FIVE
Baseline States of Consciousness

SIX
Could Someone with ADHD Have Survivedin a Primitive Hunting Society?

SEVEN
Hunters and Farmers Vindicated by Science

EIGHT
What Maslow Overlooked: The Need to Feel Alive

NINE
Can Parents’ Smoking Cause Childhood Behavior Problems?

PART TWO
LIVING AND THRIVING IN THE FARMER’S WORLD

TEN
How to Turn a “Disorder” Back into a Skill: A Survival Guide for ADHD Adults

ELEVEN
The Hunter’s Struggle: Impulse and Its Control

TWELVE
How to Work with a Hunter: Practical Advice for Managers, Parents, and Teachers

THIRTEEN
Studying and Paying Attention

FOURTEEN
Creativity and ADHD: A Brilliant and Flexible Mind

FIFTEEN
ADHD and Sleep

SIXTEEN
Hunters on Drugs

SEVENTEEN
Halfway to the Stars:How Unrealized ADHD Can Limit an Apparently Successful Life

EIGHTEEN
A Disorganized Collection of “Hunter in a Farmer’s World” Anecdotes

NINETEEN
The Edison Trait: Hunters Who Have Changed the World

EPILOGUE
Older and Younger Cultures: Further Thoughts on Cultural Anthropology and Our Future Acknowledgments

AFTERWORD
A Legacy of Hope
by Ellen B. Littman

About the Author
by Dave deBronkart

Also by Thom Hartmann

Bibliography

Index

About the Author

Thom Hartmann is the host of the internationally syndicated talkshow The Thom Hartmann Program and the TV show The Big Picture on the Free Speech TV network. He is the award-winning New York Times bestselling author of 24 books, including Adult ADHD, ADHD and the Edison Gene, and The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight. A former psychotherapist and founder of the Hunter School, a residential and day school for children with ADHD, he lives in Portland, Oregon.

Reviews

“In this groundbreaking book, Thom Hartmann makes a unique contribution to our understanding of ADHD. In considering ADHD in an evolutionary context, Thom was the first to point out the survival advantages of ADHD in hunter-gatherer societies and also the first to identify the link between ADHD and creativity. As such, Thom will be recognized as a pioneer contributing to the reconceptualization of ADHD from being considered only a ‘disorder’ to being viewed as a ‘mode of thought’ characterized by enhanced flexibility and creativity.”
*Richard Silberstein, professor emeritus of cognitive neuroscience at Swinburne University*

“It is refreshing to find a book that places ADHD in a framework that does not imply dysfunction. . . . The metaphor of a ‘hunter in a farmer’s world’ fits so many of the ADHD youngsters and adults with whom I have worked.”
*Margaret (Peg) Dawson, Ed.D., NCSP, codirector of the Center for Learning and Attention Disorders*

“Why are attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and related conditions so common? Could they in some way be advantageous? These questions and some possible answers are woven through this book, providing basic factual information about ADHD with a twist that helps readers recognize the value--sometimes quite special--of people who have it.”
*Dale E. Hammerschmidt, M.D., FACP, emeritus professor of medicine at the University of Minnesota*

“This book did for our family what years of being in and out of therapy failed to accomplish. It helped us to understand and appreciate each other’s unique way of doing and seeing.”
*Janie Bowman, mother of an ADHD adolescent*

“A clear and positive view of our remarkable children with practical tips for the parent.”
*Stephen C. Davidson, M.Ed., founding member of “Safe Kids” of Georgia*

“I highly recommend this book to parents and educators.”
*Jack Neerincx, Ph.D., supervising psychologist of Gaston County Schools, North Carolina*

“This book helped me better understand ADHD and gave me practical strategies on how to deal with these children in the classroom.”
*Anne Bennett, special education teacher, grades K-8*

“ADHDers aren’t abnormal; they are uniquely gifted individuals in their own right. Thom Hartmann describes these ideas in a book that belongs in the hands of every educator, counselor, doctor, and parent.”
*Learning Disabilities Newsletter*