This may not be a definitive answer to the question raised by our soon-to-leave-the-country and retire in warmer climes; however, the following is a book written by a former historian who spent a considerable amount of time with Skinner during the last 5-6 years of Skinner's life and wrote the following
B.F. Skinner: A Life by Daniel W. Bjork A review: A fair-minded, insightful portrayal of the life and ideas of one of America's most controversial thinkers, by Bjork (History/St. Mary's University). Born to an undistinguished middle-class family in central Pennsylvania, Skinner survived an awkward youth. Initially keen to be a writer, he abandoned storytelling in order to pursue graduate work at Harvard, where he made his mark in a dissertation that boldly challenged prevailing trends in academic psychology. Deemed igid and fanatical but also recognized as brilliant, Skinner built a reputation as a behavioral scientist at universities in Minnesota and Indiana, where, in the postwar years, his interest in social invention first received national attention through his controlled- environment air-crib (better known as the ``baby box''). His desire to improve society through systematic behavioral control and positive reinforcement also manifested itself in two widely read books, Walden Two and Beyond Freedom and Dignit! ! ! y, the latter of which ignited a firestorm of protest, when published in 1971, for its assault on ideas dear to freedom-loving Americans. By then near the end of his career at Harvard, Skinner maintained a productive scholarly life in spite of increasing isolation, battling deafness and blindness before dying of leukemia in 1990. More engaging when discussing ideas than when probing Skinner's roots or private life, and hardly the definitive biography; but, even so, Bjork gives a clear view of an American original whom posterity could judge more kindly than did his contemporaries. I have the book somewhere but can't find it right now (we are cleaning things out in preparation to move somewhere in the near future, and it is probably in a box somewhere in our garage. Bob W. Bob Wildblood, PhD, HSPP Lecturer in Psychology Indiana University Kokomo Kokomo, IN 46904-9003 [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
