Bringing order and relevance to the cascade of recent brain findings, Dr John Ratey explains the brain's most important systems, the role they play in determining how we interact with the world and ways in which we can influence their operations for the better. Throughout, he illustrates his points with vivid and often surprising examples drawn from his own practice, research and everyday life. Ratey answers such compelling questions as: What does it mean to be linguistically ambidextrous? How does a mother's cradling of her child on her left shoulder relate to the development of language skills? Why does listening to music while doing homework improve accuracy? Why do people like spicy foods? He also analyses the ways in which things can go wrong, detailing causes and treatments for diseases such as autism, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's, as well as numerous neurological disorders. As Dr. Ratey demonstrates throughout the book, the brain is astonishingly flexible, able to be retrained and reprogrammed. Like a muscle, it responds to use, adapting to new demands and conditions, allowing, as the title of the book suggests, the guidance of the user.
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Before consulting with customer service, it's always a good idea to read the manual. Psychiatrist John Ratey has condensed years of research on one of the most intimidating yet ubiquitous pieces of hardware in the world into the ever-handy User's Guide to the Brain. More intellectually stimulating than day-to-day practical, the Guide uses tales from Ratey's practice and other clinical venues, titbits from neuroscientific research, and plain common sense to suggest how the brain develops and manifests personality and behaviour. With section titles like "Free Will and the Anterior Cingulate Gyrus" many readers will feel intimidated, but Ratey is careful to direct his explanations to all--even those without PhD's in neuroanatomy. His four-theatre theory of mental function is interesting and the most directly practical section of the book, incorporating the author's years of experience with patients into a sensible framework that readers can use to better tune their own systems. Describing the changing of the guard from psychoanalysis to a more biological paradigm, Ratey writes:
Neuroscientists have, in a sense, simply taken over the elite, almost clerical office once held by analysts. The language used to describe the brain is, if any thing, more opaque than any of the old psychoanalytic terminology, which was itself so obscure that only trained professionals could wade through the literature. Most people never even bother to learn such terminology, deeming that, like the language of the computer scientists of the early 1970s, it is better left to the nerds.Determined to help us overcome our sense of helplessness in matters cranial, he has shown that we can understand ourselves better and can learn quite a bit from the nerds. --Rob Lightner --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
Compelling ... If you're only going to buy one brain book ever, you could do worse than investing in this one (FOCUS )
Make way for the thinking man's gym, where the brain is the new biceps and sculpting your grey matter rather than downsizing your backside is the ultimate aim of those who sign up for membership. (SUNDAY TIMES )
Before consulting with customer service, it's always a good idea to read the manual. Psychiatrist John Ratey has condensed years of research on one of the most intimidating yet ubiquitous pieces of hardware in the world into the ever-handy User's Guide to the Brain. More intellectually stimulating than day-to-day practical, the Guide uses tales from Ratey's practice and other clinical venues, titbits from neuroscientific research, and plain common sense to suggest how the brain develops and manifests personality and behaviour. With section titles like "Free Will and the Anterior Cingulate Gyrus" many readers will feel intimidated, but Ratey is careful to direct his explanations to all--even those without PhD's in neuroanatomy. His four-theatre theory of mental function is interesting and the most directly practical section of the book, incorporating the author's years of experience with patients into a sensible framework that readers can use to better tune their own systems. Describing the changing of the guard from psychoanalysis to a more biological paradigm, Ratey writes: (Neuroscientists have, in a sense, simply taken over the elite, almost clerical office once held by analysts. The language used to describe the brain is, if any thing, more opaque than any of the old psychoanalytic terminology, which was itself so obscure )
Determined to help us overcome our sense of helplessness in matters cranial, he has shown that we can understand ourselves better and can learn quite a bit from the nerds. (Rob Lightner, AMAZON.CO.UK REVIEW )
Make way for the thinking man's gym, where the brain is the new biceps and sculpting your grey matter rather than downsizing your backside is the ultimate aim of those who sign up for membership. (SUNDAY TIMES )
Before consulting with customer service, it's always a good idea to read the manual. Psychiatrist John Ratey has condensed years of research on one of the most intimidating yet ubiquitous pieces of hardware in the world into the ever-handy User's Guide to the Brain. More intellectually stimulating than day-to-day practical, the Guide uses tales from Ratey's practice and other clinical venues, titbits from neuroscientific research, and plain common sense to suggest how the brain develops and manifests personality and behaviour. With section titles like "Free Will and the Anterior Cingulate Gyrus" many readers will feel intimidated, but Ratey is careful to direct his explanations to all--even those without PhD's in neuroanatomy. His four-theatre theory of mental function is interesting and the most directly practical section of the book, incorporating the author's years of experience with patients into a sensible framework that readers can use to better tune their own systems. Describing the changing of the guard from psychoanalysis to a more biological paradigm, Ratey writes: (Neuroscientists have, in a sense, simply taken over the elite, almost clerical office once held by analysts. The language used to describe the brain is, if any thing, more opaque than any of the old psychoanalytic terminology, which was itself so obscure )
Determined to help us overcome our sense of helplessness in matters cranial, he has shown that we can understand ourselves better and can learn quite a bit from the nerds. (Rob Lightner, AMAZON.CO.UK REVIEW )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
I bought this book expecting it to be a light hearted look at how the brain works. Instead it was a very in depth review of the current state of research into brain function. It was fascinating but quite hard going for a non-specialist like myself. If you are prepared to put in the effort, this book is a very informative read.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By Richard Griffiths
VINE™ VOICE
I recommend this in my Listmania "Teach yourself Neuroscience" :). After The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science I recommend this.
Basically Doidge fires off your enthusiasm with just about no technicality's. Ratey continues this but introduces some depth. You'll need some genuine interest and enthusiasm for the subject for sure. However he's writing for the interested layman. So there is some work to be done-not loads mind. I found that it's pretty easy to get into, and continue with. Only the chapter on the Four Theatres I felt I needed to really reread and concentrate hard on. The rest flowed easily.
You either come out of it ready to tackle Kandel's book In Search of Memory on my list, or something similar or you simply reread it and justifiably feel far better informed than you were before.
Either way if you've read little on the mind but want to get into the meat and potatoes of it, make this one of your first few stops.
Basically Doidge fires off your enthusiasm with just about no technicality's. Ratey continues this but introduces some depth. You'll need some genuine interest and enthusiasm for the subject for sure. However he's writing for the interested layman. So there is some work to be done-not loads mind. I found that it's pretty easy to get into, and continue with. Only the chapter on the Four Theatres I felt I needed to really reread and concentrate hard on. The rest flowed easily.
You either come out of it ready to tackle Kandel's book In Search of Memory on my list, or something similar or you simply reread it and justifiably feel far better informed than you were before.
Either way if you've read little on the mind but want to get into the meat and potatoes of it, make this one of your first few stops.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By Flamekebab
I bought this book quite some time ago and found it very informative, very deep and profoundly interesting.
However, I did feel it was quite heavy going at times and I found it gave me so much to digest that I couldn't read it straight through, I had to stop every now and then to think about what I had just read. It certainly extended the life of the book!
I wouldn't recommend this book as just light reading, but I would recommend it to anyone with some interest in the human mind and human behaviour.
The effort it takes to read it the whole of the way through is well worth it.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
very interesting
very interesting for someone who has done any proper science/ biology since A-level over 20 years ago. Read more
Published 14 days ago by chrys
5.0 out of 5 stars
Accessible, clear, and incredibly useful
I bought this book and used it as research for a novel. If you're interested in how our brains work and what goes wrong with them, I can strongly recommend it. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Christopher Wells
4.0 out of 5 stars
A fascinating journey
As suggested by the title, this is all about how the brain works. What is fascinating about it in particular are the anecdotes showing what happens when things in the brain go... Read more
Published 7 months ago by S. Meadows
5.0 out of 5 stars
A users guide to the brain
Following a very interesting lecture by a psychologist on how to help people deal with addictions and the role of the Brain in regard to this, I wanted to know more and have found... Read more
Published on 24 Feb 2011 by chloe
5.0 out of 5 stars
It flows and ends on a high note ...
This is a splendid book. Having read two brain books in a row that really engaged my attention, this third one did not let me down. Read more
Published on 1 Feb 2009 by Wiltonian
3.0 out of 5 stars
Informative but quite academic in style
I read this book as a follow-up to Robert Winston's "The Human Mind" and it's interesting to draw a comparison. Read more
Published on 5 July 2008 by jz
2.0 out of 5 stars
Reads like a textbook
I now know far more about autism and 'attention deficit disorder' that I did when I started reading, but I have to admit that I gave up half-way through. Read more
Published on 2 Jan 2005
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