Cutting edge scientific research has shown that exposure to the right kind of environment during the first years of life actually affects the physical structure of a child's brain, vastly increasing the number of neuron branches--the "magic trees of the mind"--that help us to learn, think, and remember. At each stage of development, the brain's ability to gain new skills and process information is refined.

As a leading researcher at the University of California at Berkeley, Marion Diamond has been a pioneer in this field of research. Now, Diamond and award-winning science writer...