The Brain that Changes Itself (Unabridged) [Audio Download]

This is an interesting and readable book, and it clearly has created a lot of interest in the subject. It covers a range of topics relating to neural plasticity, which is not quite such a new topic as the author would have us believe. The strength of the book is the writing style and how accessible it is.

However, I would urge readers to approach this book with a degree of caution, or dare I say take it with a pinch of salt. What the author fails to do is apply any real level of critical appraisal to the material he covers. Some of the material covered has a substantial evidence base, some of it has a shaky evidence base, some has no evidence base whatsoever and is pure conjecture. If I take the example of constraint-induced therapy, originating from a psychologist called Taub, which I went away and read up on quite extensively following the claims made in this book. This is a treament for hemiplegia following stroke, whereby the good arm is constrained for several hours each day, thus forcing the person to use their bad arm. The logic behind this is that this will prevent learned non-use and also facilitate some cortical remapping, so that that control of that arm is taken over by in-tact brain areas. When you look at the evidence, a lot of which is pretty good quality research, this is not anything like the panacea that Doidge presents it to be. There are only a proportion of patients this works for, it is still unclear what the best protocol for its use is, and there is a lack of evidence for it producing lasting, long-term gains. A recent Cochrane review concluded that there was not enough evidence to say clearly whether it was effective or not, so the jury is still out.

Some of the education-related material was based on one particular programme. When looking at the references, all the evidence seemed to come from one source, and was not published in peer-reviewed journals (i.e. had not been scrutinised by the scientific community). About the highest level of publication appeared to be a poster presented at a conference.

As another reviewer mentioned, the chapter on sexuality seemed to be pure conjecture.

Do I regret reading it? No, it entertained me, and annoyed me in equal measure, but consequently prompted me to do further reading. So I have to say I benefitted from reading it, and would probably recommend it to others. But please approach it with a critical mind.

Norman Doidge has written an eminently readable and interesting book about advances in the understanding of brain function, perception, learning, and response to injury. He also illustrates how these advances are informing the development of more effective treatments and interventions for conditions as diverse as strokes and addiction.

However, the book is somewhat spoiled by the over-congratulatory tenor of the prose, and the over-enthusiastic application of these ideas to every aspect of human behaviour. It is ironic that he spends so much time lambasting the 'localizationalists' (bizarrely portrayed as a kind of establishment mafia hell-bent on stifling research) for over-extending their ideas whilst he undertakes similar mental gymnastics in his attempts to demonstrate that every condition - from autism to pornography addiction - can be wholly explained by brain plasticity.

And this is where the book ultimately falls down as a science book. In many cases he asserts 'facts' to support his hypotheses which are simply wrong - facts which the rather poorly referenced and constructed end-notes are silent on. The chapter on sexuality is particularly cringeworthy, as he trots out a number of bizarre assertions, social commentary and outdated Freudian concepts to build his arguments, apparently unaware of the rich depth and detail of research in this area which in some cases contradicts his hypotheses.

Is this an interesting book worth reading? Yes. But that comes with a warning that it contains the over-generalisations and unwarranted assumptions that, so often, are found in sloppy science - both 'popular' and academic.

This is a terrific book. I highly recommend it.

The book focuses on neuroplasticity (the terrific functional flexibility of the brain), and very often is able to tell the story of the latest ideas in that field whilst relating them to particular human stories. It is written in a clear, thoughtful, engaging way. It's an important book because it is popularising important new ideas. I rather agree with the reviewer who says that Doidge overstates his case and tends to explain everything in terms of neuroplasticity, ... but I am very impressed by the quality and clarity of the book as a whole.

I have had a stroke, and I read with interest chapter 5 (which deals with stroke). I felt it was well written and convincing. I found the basic message (that the brain's ability to recover from injury is enormously greater than conventionally understood) tremendously encouraging. That is not to say that my problems of hemiplegia have been solved, but my understanding of the potential for recovery, and how to achieve it, has been improved.

As I read the book, I felt that important insights and clues to research were sometimes introduced briefly with little fanfare. E.g. 1) I think the discussion about neuroplastic change and evolution should lead us to question further the orthodoxy about how species evolve, that is natural selection is not the only force at work; and 2) isn't it a puzzlement that in a plastic environment anything is stable and solid? I wonder if the plastic brain is analogous to a fly-by-wire aircraft?