This outstanding volume is a true tour de force. It tackles some of the most important and fundamental questions about how we develop as unique individuals in early childhood, around the globe and in our varied cultures. Written and edited by the world’s leading scientists of childhood temperament, the book describes in rich detail the rationale and major findings of their unique and methodologically rigorous collaborative study of toddlers in 14 countries spanning Asia, Europe, and the Americas. The reasoning about the findings is guided by and integrated through a conceptual model that generates new knowledge and new hypotheses. It is a must-read for scholars and students of temperament and personality, individual differences, and cultural influences on human development. Kirby Deater-Deckard, PhD, Professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Massachusetts Amherst (USA)