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What our customer's say!

"The book that changes the brain that reads it", This book looks like a solid sort of semi academic-y pot-boiler but in fact it is a hugely engaging, eye-popping even,take on how wrong the long held belief of 'localizationism' was (the view that the brain is made up mostly of hard-wired areas fit for only one purpose) for example, claims like, the auditory cortex is only for hearing, the visual cortex is only for seeing and such like.
it turns out that the brain is highly plastic (able to rewire itself over time) given the appropriate stimulus, and when disasters occur in the body or the brain, other parts can be recruited in to do the processing work.

It's a basic truism that we learn far more from failure than success. The health disasters that befall people turn out to be very instructive and beneficial for future sufferers when a seemingly intractable case is handled by an inspired doctor/scientist improvising unorthodox methods to attempt a cure or at least alleviation of the symptoms considered by orthodoxy to be irreversible.

Brain plasticity is the coherent theme of the whole book and it is always the focus of every chapter in ever more novel and surprising ways.

I cannot begin to do justice to how Doidge explains this, because he is quite simply brilliant at writing.

Each chapter concentrates on a particular narrative or story of how plastic the brain is, the chapters are like high quality Vanity Fair articles and would even stand on their own, expect that there is a sense of progression in the book and later chapters recapitulate findings from earlier ones.

I have a sense that Doidge (who is a psychiatrist I believe) would have spent an enormous amount of time refining this book as it beautifully crafted, hearteningly articulate and deserves to win a prestigious prize.

my favourites saying from the book is about how plasticity comes about:
"neurons that fire together wire together"

Read it, you're in for a massive treat.

"This is an important, groundbreaking and fascinating book. For another, written by another brilliant psychiatrist, I recommend", That's How the Light Gets In: Memoir of a Psychiatrist by Susan Rako, M.D. The title comes from a song by Leonard Cohen: "There is a crack, a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in." Rako's book is remarkably candid, insightful, and wonderfully well-written. The writing just flows.

"Setting New Goals", I was impressed by the various examples presented of the plasticity of the brain and realized that this carefully written book would be helpful to anyone challenged by the effects of aging on one's capabilities. I have benefited from Posit Science's Brain Fitness and Cortex Insight programs and this book encouraged me to continue to exercise my brain to enjoy improvement that comes in small steps.

"Very exciting and hopeful research", Fascinating possibilities outlined in this book give hope for people with brain challenges. I couldn't put it down and am excited about the hope it offers for so many.

"You can learn, teach, and heal better", This book contains all kinds of fascinating theoretical information about the human brain, and how it works and can change itself. But its greatest value for me lies in all the practical ideas it offers on how to learn and teach better. It also extends hope and motivation to anybody who is trying to recover from a loss of body function due to brain damage caused by illness or injury. We have so much more potential for self-healing than we realize, if only we go about it in the right way, and persist, against all odds.

Read this reviews before You buy...

"Good Book but Definitely Not an Intro to Neuroscience", For decades now there has been a longstanding feud between biologists and psychologists on how the human brain forms and develops -- otherwise known as the nature versus nurture debate. Evolutionary biology teaches us that genes is destiny, and with his book the Canadian psychiatrist Norman Doidge makes his case for individual agency and cultural influences.

Like Jared Diamond's "Guns, Germs, & Steel" Dr. Doidge's book is not original research but rather a synthesis and summary from the frontiers of brain science. Supplemented with case studies "The Brain that Changes Itself" is about neuroplasticity, which argues that the brain is "plastic," or organic and malleable. For hundreds of years, thanks to thinkers like Rene Descartes, scientists have thought of the brain as mechanical, certain functions localized to certain sectors in this machine -- over time it rusts, with no chance of regeneration. Thanks to decades of research by a brave few who dared to defy their mainstream bethren and to the invention of brain scans neuroplasticity is now the accepted view.

The good news about neuroplasticity is that the brain you have is the brain you make it. New external stimuli (such as learning a new language) causes new neural connections in the brain (the "neurons that fire together wire together" rule of neuroplasticity). Often when we're learning a new language or skill after some fast improvement in the early stages we reach a plateau where we seem to have no improvement at all. Then after a while we suddenly make a great leap. That's because it takes time (as measured by nights of good sleep) for these neural connections to consolidate themselves but once they do we can move onto the next level. Of course if we don't keep on practising this skill these connections will weaken (the "use it or lose it" rule of plasticity) because space in the brain is, after all, limited.

Individual agency over our brains gives great hope to those who suffer from aging and brain damage. Scientists have developed brain exercises on the computer to help the elderly maintain a sharp and alert mind, and help stroke victims restore once lost cognitive functions.

The bad news is that the brain you have is the brain that you make it, and unfortunately most of us choose the path of least resistance and decide not to use it at all. As Dr. Doidge explains the plastic paradox means that exposing yourself to new stimuli can make the brain flexible but choosing to stay within your comfort zone will also make the brain rigid. Learning is fast and furious when we're kids but as we reach adulthood the brain becomes less plastic, making learning more difficult, and instead of choosing to learn most of us choose merely to rely on our current belief system. And when the world challenges this belief system we choose to ignore the world, and if forced we'll opt to fight the world. Thus, the plastic brain that allows us to learn new languages can also paradoxically make us intolerant and racist.

Indeed, as Dr. Doidge warns us, the individuals that he profiles who have managed to change themselves have done so because they make a honest and hard commitment to change themselves. Dr. Doidge's patients went into psychotherapy (which operates from the principles of neuroplasticity) to discover how trauma created unhealthy neural connections, and how through discussion, self-analysis, and will-power to create new neural connections. But this process is painful and costly and takes many years.

And it's so hard because the brain is so adept at protecting us. When we suffer a physical injury the brain will actually decide on what the appropriate level of pain we feel is. And when we're traumatized when we're young (for example, our mother dies or we're sexually abused) the brain will often decide to not convert this experience into long-term memory, and build defenses to disassociate ourselves from the possible pain of further trauma. The net effect is that our hippocampus -- the area of our frontal lobe that transfers experience into long-term memory, and thus what governs our ability to learn -- will shrink, thereby giving a scientific explanation to why adult victims of childhood trauma seem so adolescent and immature.

Neuroplasticity offers hope though: love. It seems that our neural network will automatically become more flexible in two critical periods of our adulthood: when we fall in love, and when we have children. Presumably it's because in both instances we need to urgently learn a new skillset to match the two most important circumstances we could find ourselves in. So being in love with someone does allow you to change who you are. Of course, being the circumspect doctor, Dr. Doidge reminds us that if we find ourselves in love with the wrong person we can change for the worst as well, seeing our confidence and healthy attitude suddenly shatter.

I'm not sure how Dr. Doidge would view my summary of his book, because I've taken great liberty in summarizing it. It's a pithy book and there's really a lot of refreshing and insightful material in the book but I'm not happy about the writing style -- which seems rushed and choppy to me -- and the organization, which hurts the clarity and effectiveness of the book. I've read quite a lot on the workings of the brain so I could follow through most chapters but I think a novice will have a particularly hard time reading this book. For a great introduction to how the mind works I suggest watching the BBC documentary series "The Human Series," hosted by Robert Winston -- possibly the greatest documentary series ever made.

"The Brain that Changes Itself", This is a fantastic book - well written and easy to read and understand; great case studies;a must for anyone with any interest in the brain; anyone who has aged parents or friends and is looking for some help in understanding how to keep the brain alert or even how to reconfigure it!

"Important about the brain", Very interesting and instructing about the wonderful brain we've got.
A must for all therapists around the world.

"Fascinating topic, dull book", I'm a big fan of Oliver Sacks, and a fellow Sacks fan recommended this book. But in my humble opinion, Doidge makes his fascinating subject amazingly dull. I agree with another reviewer who said this book reads like a sales pitch. The personal stories are rambling, repetitive, and unscientific. I left my half-read copy on an airplane to lighten my carry-on luggage.

"appears to be a sales pitch", I am, and always have been, fascinated by the brain, and the plasticity of the brain is nothing new. This idea has come up in many books about the brain over the past several years, and is pretty much common knowledge. I find the author contradicts himself in several places, making the point of the plasticity of the brain in one part, then stating the old behaviorists' mantra, basically, you are the product of your upbringing (I think this is contradictory because people are flexible enough to become the person they choose to become, not that they are destined to become something because they had a bad childhood). I'm halfway through the book, and it seems to me the author has the goal of pushing Fast ForWord and the products from Posit Science. With a little research, one can find both companies were founded by Dr. Merzenich, and they are very costly. The Fast ForWord program is only available to schools for a hefty sum, and the brain exercises by Posit Science cost $400 for one user (that was the least expensive version). If people suffering from autism, Asberger's, and other spectrum disorders, could be helped by these kinds of programs, don't you think they would be made more affordable in order to help as many families as possible? I think the book, The Mind and the Brain: Neuroplasticity and the Power of Mental Force, sums it up (although unintentionally)on page 234: "...the month after the Science publication (in 1996), Merzenich (et al)...raised enough private financing to form Scientific Learning Corp., the first company dedicated to making money from neuroplasticity." Merzenich-and his research and products- is nearly the main focus of the book. That is why I think this book is just another sales pitch for a high-priced program. Apparently only the wealthy should be helped, perhaps? Or maybe this is another way to prey on the fears of the elderly, those who fear dementia.