The body and the brain are tightly coupled
340271
The main issue of this book is that mental and physical development of a baby are tightly coupled. Physically perfect body gives more blood, oxygen and energy to the brain which reinforces the development of the body, which is most obvious for ages up to 36 months.

The author splits the development of the brain and the body to seven stages depending on age, and gives methods and joyful exercises for a baby to be physically superb.
4632834
Dr. Eagleman tells us a lot about our brains,  previously not known.  For example the fact that our conscious brain consumes only 7% of it's capacity, while our subconscious brain consumes the rest. We have basically no idea what the subconscious is doing or why.

This may have relevance to the recent horrific shooting in Las Vegas.  That little voice in killer's subconscious telling him what to do and he has no control - until the end when he realizes what he's done and commits suicide. The same may be said for many of these mass shootings - or driving trucks into people. Stuff that any "normal" person would never do.

The brain is by far our most complicated organ taking over 25% of our energy.  Contrary again to what was once believed, the brain is constantly developing according to our lifetime experiences - not staying what it was when we were around 21.  New medical science is beginning to know how it works - and therefore how it could be adjusted to avoid the common failures we all have. Some of the writers explanations are hard to understand - but he often gives examples which you may find familiar. Well worth the money - and taking notes.
251748
In this book, Wallis explores the inner workings of the brain, particularly how its perception of time interfaces with the true passage of time.  He does this by establishing a case for an internal "time function" which is composed of all the sensory and memory components of the brain and leads to our interpretation of reality.  Dr. Wallis also makes extensive use of comparisons between the brain and electronic/computer systems to help facilitate understanding of their function and the integration of the neurological components, and he also demonstrates how different `malfunctions' of the time function can help explain assorted neurotic and psychotic states.

The reason I rank this book so highly is because, even though I have very limited knowledge in neurobiology, the material is still accessible and insightful.
478507
I like this book because it makes the neuroscience understandable and applicable. I enjoy books that are based on hard science backed by examples and stories that bring it home at the layman's level.

I found this book fascinating on many fronts. It takes a deep look at how what we focus on tends to be more of what we get and goes in depth on adaptive focus.

The two chapters I found most interesting were the chapters on work and productivity and Nurture: This is your brain on attention.

The author makes a strong argument about the superficial amount of focus children give due to technology overwhelm. Where hours of focused practice made for successful mastery of subjects, today's youth (and increasingly, many adults) are unable to focus long enough to complete tasks requiring intellectual rigor or deep thought. Or in the words of the author: "when you're finally forced to confront intellectually demanding situations in high school or college, you may find that you've traded depth of knowledge for breadth and stunted your capacity for serious thought."

In a time of information overwhelm, this is the one book that everyone should read, thoroughly.
3425130
The author is great at explaining these topics so the average person can understand the content. The book is fascinating and motivated me to find more books about the body/mind connection.
4351816
This book is an up to date review of anatomy and related
biochemistry and physiology of the central nervous system.
Indeed, it was the first textbook to show the association
of neurotransmitters to nuclei in the brain stem.
Extremely useful illustrations. Easy readable.
Highly recomended.
1577001
Wow! What a great resource. The brain is such an awesome part of us and yet we know so little. Dr. Ravicz sheds light on just how incredible our brains are and imparts methods/exercises to utilize its power to enable us to optimize our brain-mind-body connection.
943830
In the book you first learn basics of the concept of the lizard brain which somewhat functions like a robot. If we let it rule our emotions, we easily get stuck in unproductive emotional states. We no longer react like adults should. Instead we are trapped in our projections and fail to perceive the reality of NOW. The author offers exercises to gain mature emotional control over our primitive lizard brain.
127532
As a neuropsychiatrist, I treat people who have problems with the way they  think and learn. As a neuroscientist, I study how the brain and mind  perceives, pays attention, and learns about things in the inner and outer  world. And as a medical intuitive, I help people learn how to access  intuition through their bodies symptoms of health and disease. In his  extra-ordinary book, Michael Gelb teaches us in a practical way, the steps  to do all of this...he teaches us how to use all of our body and brain's  capacity for perception,thought and intuition. Grazie! Grazie molto! Grazie  mille!
3352232
In this book, Damasio, a neurologist by training, reformulates that which we call the mind.  He expresses the conviction that in modern-day neuroscience, the mind is often seen as a direct product of the brain.  Whereas Damasio agrees that the mind is in large part produced by the brain, he also asserts that body states are a crucial propronent of the mind.  This determination leads to the premise for this book: that reason does not rest on intellect alone but on emotions as well.  We have often made "gut feeling" decisions that Damasio would consider a huge proponent of reasoning.  He, like other great neuroscientists, is drawing neuroscience away from localization and more towards associations.  He uses excellent example of Phineas Gage and other clinical viginettes to accentuate his point.

It is refreshing to see clinicians intersted in the basic sciences.  Even more encouraging is the recent trend of scientists, such as Damasio and LeDoux, who are in essence re-envisioning the self and drawing a theory of mind from this abstraction.  I believe this is the direction that theory of mind and consciousness will head, espcially with such intimate technological advances.  With all the spectacular advances in neuroscience, people in the field often need to be reminded that the brain exists in the context of a living body.

The downfall of this book is that I do not think it necessarily brings anything new to the table.  It highlights theories that many great thinkers already hold.  In addition to its lack of novelty it also is not a wonderfully written book.  At times, the writing is awkward and I feel that the organization could also be improved upon.  As is often the case in neuroscience literature, the ending makes a leap of faith from basic science facts and theories to very generalized abstract concepts.

In summary, this is a good book for those interested in the theory of mind and basic neurosciences, neurology, or psychiatry.  It is also a quick read.
731835
Definitively, neuroscience is a sub-area of Physiology that has been growth exponentially in the last decades. In this sense, the new edition of Fundamental Neuroscience brings new insights about how the brain works. I recommend this book.
493353
This really is an outstanding piece of work. The author is both a psychiatrist and a lawyer who argues, quite rightly, that many of our assumptions about free will and individual responsibility must be drastically revised in the light of scientific discoveries about the brain.

This is part of a larger debate that is going on within psychiatry, psychology and the legal profession. As an example, at what age should a young person be able to drive a car or be legally liable for their decisions? The driving question comes up because the brain and nervous system of a fifteen-year-old is still far from being fully mature, and may lead to poor coordination and decision-making. Can an eighteen-year-old be held liable for his or her behavior, at a time that his or her brain is not fully formed? Yet he or she is able to fight for his or her country. Our answers to those questions are likely to be a mixture of political positions and personal experience. But now we also have to factor in our burgeoning knowledge about the brain. There seems no doubt that this explosion of knowledge about the brain will be factored into some future legal decisions.

In Tancredi's book, he applies knowledge derived from recent research to such traditional moral concerns as violence, sexual infidelity, lying and physical "excess." For anybody working in the field, it is very clear that hormones, nutritional status, drugs, genetic abnormalities, injuries and traumatic experiences all have profound effects on the structure and functioning of the brain. Therefore they may all have an impact on our moral choices. Some experimental work implies that our actions are initiated by pre-conscious and unconscious processes in the brain before we are consciously aware of them. Does that mean that our sense of moral agency is a retrospective illusion? And what about free will?? Is that an illusion too?

I very much like this book, and also the recent book by Michael Gazzaniga, entitled The Ethical Brain. But for all the research, we remain bewilderingly complex creatures, and there is evidence for the existence of systems - for instance  social systems - that can interact with and over-ride some of the neurological ones. So even after reading and studying hundreds of books and scientific papers and talking to hundreds of scientists around the world, I remain convinced that free will is not an illusion, and that there really is a genuine morality which is a great deal more than the firing of neurons in the brain.

Highly recommended.
3831494
Digital age research has revealed and proven that the performance of the Brain and Mind can be improved significantly it we take time to consciously exercise it. This book is an excellent guide for such exercise.  MRI and fMRI analysis clearly illustrates that such exercise stimulates blood-flow and nourishment in critical areas of the brain resulting in improved performance. Thsi book helps us to capitalize on this important discovery. I recomment this work or anyone interested in improved brain and mind performance.
1297298
Most people realize that a fit brain is likely the most important contributor to a long, healthy and active life. "Maximum Brainpower" discusses the brain in a way that is understandable, interesting and challenging. The book provides a lifelong strategy to keep the mind active and the brain healthy.

Did you know that?
(1.)Mental stress can have more devastating impact on us than physical stress.
(2.)Experts are often less mentally agile than jack-of-all-trades.
(3.)Hope is a major healing agent.
(4.)Mental exercises such as crossword puzzles and Sudoku are of minimal help in building brainpower.
(5.)A college education can reduce the risk of Alzheimer's by two-thirds. The main benefit of college is it provides more interesting and challenging career choices. The more challenging our life work, the more stimulated our brains become and the greater the cognitive reserves we build.

Dr. Breznitz states that we can't change what happened earlier in our lives, but at any age we can begin to engage our brains. We can take college courses NOW. We can learn new skills...a musical instrument or a new language. We can engage in new activities...especially those involving physical exercise, which helps build the brain. The greater the variety of our activities, the better it is for the brain. Every different thing we do stimulates our brain in different ways.

I learned a great deal of information from this book. The book grabbed my attention in the first few chapters when it explained that it is very difficult for us to "unlearn" something that is learned from past experience. The author stated we learn early and quickly but then tend to settle into relatively fixed attitudes for the rest of our lives. The problem is that experience often teaches us the wrong lessons.

This book will be life-changing for all who read it, study it and apply the principles that are presented. It is time for us to change our thinking if we want a long and healthy life.  I recommend this book to all who are interested in complete body health and fitness.
2200322
Perfect for showing individuals what parts of the brain are in charge of what functions!
722590
David Linden is a Professor of Neuroscience, and this is is second book attempting to bring the latest knowledge to the general public on our our brain functions, and how we react to different stimulus of pleasure like drugs, food, and sex.

The chapters related to food, sex and gambling addiction are particularly interesting.  We learn that obesity is 80% related to genes and on the way people react, or not, to different level of metabolic substrate.  We also learn of the strategy of the food corporation to address our ancestral metabolic needs for fatty, salty and sugary food!

I was personally pleased to learn that one can easily recover from video game addiction, and that no other drug is more addictive ethan nicotine distributed 20 times a days at 15 second intervals per cigarette.
635227
I am interested in mindfulness and physiological - as well as the neurological and psychological - aspects of the brain.  This book is fantastic - I recommend it to anyone who is looking for insights into the mind-body connection, and how "intractable" forms of brain injuries and syndromes can be altered. Many long-held theories about the immutable, hardwired nature of the brain are debunked, or at least seriously questioned. An extremely well-written, thought- provoking and accessible book for professionals and anyone who is interested in learning about the wonderful elasticity the brain.