The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science...

The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science (James H. ... | Norman Doidge | Rewire YOUR Brain and Read This Book

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The Brain That Cha...

	The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science (James H. ... Norman Doidge Penguin (Non-Classics), 2007 - 448 pages average customer review:based on 98 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Every time we consciously focus our attention .....

I was surprised by how interesting I found this book about neuroplasticity. It grabbed my interest right away with a desciption of the work by Paul Bach-y-Rita, a great pioneer in the field of the neuroplasticity. He has demonstrated many times the process of SENSORY SUBSTITUTION: when one of our senses is damaged, another one can sometimes take it over for it. Bach-y-Rita claims that any part of the cortex should be able to process whatever electrical signals that were sent to it and that our brain modules are not as specialized as we have long thought at all. There are different types of application of the principle of sensory subsitution. For instance, Bach-y-Rita has provided people with devices that deliver sensory information to the brain so that they regained there senses (for instance sight). Another example is, when a certain part of the brain is damaged, to lead sensory information to another part of the brain and let that part process that information (for instance to led visual sensory input be processed by the auditory cortex).
Chapter 2, Building herself a better brain, is perhaps the most inspiring chapter of the book. It is the story of Barbara Arrowsmith Young. As a child she suffered from a brain dysfunction. The part of the brain that helps us understand relationships between symbols did not work well. The chapter tells about how she struggled to perform normally and how she eventually invented a treatment that helped her overcome her cognitive difficulties. After that, she has developed many specific exercises for each of the 19 brain areas that under-perform in people with learning disabilities.
Then the book moves on to another pioneer of the field, Michael Merzenich, who has made many important contributions. Through a series of experiments he proved the pasticity of the brain. It was interesting to read how his research was not taken very seriously at the time but is now, a few decades later, considered the norm. One of the important points made by Merzenich is that paying close attention is a prerequisite to long-term plastic change. The findings by Merzenich and his colleagues have many pratical implications. One is that we may improve and maintain memory at old age by actively staying in a learning mode (for instance by learning a new language) so that our control system for plasticity stays in good shape (read the chapter for the details).
The rest of the book also contains some very interesting material but the first three chapters were the best according to me. The least convincing and interesting part I found the part about Freud, but maybe that says more about me than about the book?
All in all, I highly recommend this book. More and more, a hopeful perspective on human development is emerging. Our characteristics are less carved in stone than we tend to think. Dysfunctions are often less definitive than we have long thought. We can consciously keep on developing our brain and our functioning in general. And we do. Everything we do and think shapes how we further develop. Everytime we consciously focus our attention, we change structurally. Just think of the possibilities.... and the responsibilities...

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Rewire YOUR Brain and Read This Book

This book really was revelatory for me. Facing mid-age (I'm now 54), it was inspiring to learn about new developments in neuroplasticity that change the way we look at the mind-brain-body connection and what's possible when hereditary or environmental forces affect the brain's neuronal system.

The author, Dr. Norman Doidge, has a lucid writing style and does an excellent job of making complex experiments and new therapeutic approaches accessible to the lay reader. These pioneering scientists are putting rehabilitative medicine on its tail. If you think you knew what's going on in this field, think again. The creative leap in Dr. Moseley's use of illusion and imagination, or the epic difference that even a slight change in a physical therapy exercise can make in rewiring the motor map of the brain are astounding. It also says volumes on how we approach education as well as emotional and personality disorders.

Everyone should read this book while they still have the capacity to understand and appreciate its import. In the increasingly likely event in an aging population that you or a family member may be the unfortunate victim of a stroke, degenerative brain disease, or sudden accident, it may well mean the difference between a near-full recovery and the assisted living door.

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Highly impressive

Simply put, this is one of the most informative, intelligent, easy to understand and highly beneficial books I have ever read in my entire lifetime. The reviews summarize the important points, I can only add that you will be thankful from the very first moment you pick up this book and hold it in your hands until you read the very last word.

Powerful mind

Norman Doidge , zelf psychoanalist, psychiater, onderzoeker, schrijver en dichter beschrijft in The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science de laatste inzichten uit de school van neuro or brain plasticity . Met deterministische en Darwinistische inzichten over de hard wired aard van onze hersenen wordt afgerekend met veel praktijkvoorbeelden, gekoppeld aan spraakmakende onderzoeken. De jarenlang gepropageerde paradigma's rondom de stricte indeling van de hersenen in gebieden die vastomlijnde taken (gehoor, spraak, visueel geheugen, motoriek, plezier, etc.) uitvoeren of 'waarnemen', blijken niet langer houdbaar. Het boek brengt je bij vrouwen met verstoorde evenwichtsorganen, kwieke senioren, een schaakspelede Nathan Sharansky in Russische gevangenissen, sexuele aantrekkingskracht en liefde. Uitgebreid staat Doidge stil bij hoe een pornografische verslaving echt werkt, en waarom cold turkey afkicken daarvan helpt. Mensen die na uitvalsverschijnselen, hersenbloedingen of verlammingen weer leren spreken en bewegen. Wonderen, verricht door de neuronen, zenuwbanen en elektrische circuits in ons lichaam en voornamelijk hersenen, daarbij geholpen door bijzondere therapieën met spiegels, alternatieve toediening van elektrische pulsen. Het blijkt mogelijk zorgen, obsessies, dwangmatige handelingen en slechte gewoonten te verminderen of geheel opzij te zetten zonder magie of repressie.

Pijn, ons voorstellingsvermogen, maar ook leervermogen en een bijzondere vrouw die opgroeide met slechts haar rechterhersenhelft. Twee appendices beschrijven de wederkerigheid tussen cultuur en hersenen en plasticiteit versus de vooruitgangsleer. The Brain that Changes itself heeft terecht veel lovende kritieken gekregen en nodigt uit tot hernieuwd lezen.

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Exciting new understanding of the brain written by 'true believer'

This is a book that my men's book club enjoyed. I also enjoyed the book, but found the author to be a bit of true believer - if what he claims is true most every case of autism, paralysis, tinitis, and other neurological disorders can be fixed by taking advantage of the new understanding that the brain can create new routes and perhaps new nerves. The range of impact of this approach is staggering and will have implications for many years to come. The topics covered include sexual attraction, social skills, 'itches' of amputated limbs, fetishism, spatial reasoning, stroke recovery, feelings from phantom limbs, pain of phantom limbs, pornography addiction, cognitive decline, OCD, and even blindness. As you can tell, I found the information of various cases exciting and offering great promise, but I also found the lack of a balanced presentation by the author to be disconcerting.

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