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丕賱丿賲丕睾 賵賰賷賮 賷胤賵乇 亘賳賷鬲賴 賵兀丿丕亍賴
"賷鬲丨丿孬 賴匕丕 丕賱賰鬲丕亘 毓賳 丕賱丕賰鬲卮丕賮 丕賱孬賵乇賷 亘兀賳 丕賱丿賲丕睾 丕賱亘卮乇賷 賷賲賰賳 兀賳 賷睾賾賷乇 賳賮爻賴"貙 賵賰賲丕 毓賱賾賯鬲 毓賱賷賴 氐丨賷賮丞 丕賱賳賷賵賷賵乇賰 鬲丕賷賲夭: "鬲賮賵夭 賯賵丞 丕賱鬲賮賰賷乇 丕賱廿賷噩丕亘賷 兀禺賷乇丕賸 亘丕賱賲氐丿丕賯賷丞 丕賱毓賱賲賷丞. 廿禺囟丕毓 丕賱丿賲丕睾. 賵氐賳毓 丕賱賲毓噩夭丕鬲貙 賵鬲乇賵賷囟 丕賱丨賯賷賯丞..賰鬲丕亘 賷噩爻乇 丕賱孬睾乇丞 亘賷賳 丕賱毓賱賲 賵賲爻丕毓丿丞 丕賱賳賮爻".
賱賯丿 爻丕丿 賮賷 丕賱兀賵爻丕胤 丕賱毓賱賲賷丞貙 賵亘毓丿 毓丿丞 鬲噩丕乇亘 賱賲 鬲丐丿 廿賱賶 丕賱賳噩丕丨 丕賱賲胤賱賵亘貙 兀賵 賰丕賳 賳噩丕丨賴丕 賲丨丿賵丿 夭賲賳賷丕賸貙 兀賳 "丕賱毓賱丕噩 賱賱毓丿賷丿 賲賳 丕賱賲卮丕賰賱 丕賱丿賲丕睾賷丞 賴賵 睾賷乇 賮毓賾丕賱 賵丨鬲賶 睾賷乇 賲亘乇賾乇"貙 賵兀賳 "丕賱丿賲丕睾 賱丕 賷賲賰賳 兀賳 賷鬲睾賷乇"貙 賵亘丕賱鬲丕賱賷 "賮廿賳 丕賱胤亘賷毓丞 丕賱亘卮乇賷丞 丕賱賲賳亘孬賯丞 賲賳賴 亘丿鬲 亘丕賱囟乇賵乇丞 孬丕亘鬲丞 賵睾賷乇 賯丕亘賱丞 賱賱鬲睾賷賷乇 兀賷囟丕賸". 賷亘賷賾賳 賲丐賱賮 賴匕丕 丕賱賰鬲丕亘 毓賰爻 匕賱賰 鬲賲丕賲丕賸貙 毓亘乇 賴匕賴 丕賱丿乇丕爻丞 丕賱毓賱賲賷丞 賵丕賱亘丨孬 丕賱賲賷丿丕賳賷 賵毓亘乇 丕賱賳鬲丕卅噩 丕賱廿賷噩丕亘賷丞 丕賱賲丿賴卮丞 丕賱鬲賷 兀丨乇夭賴丕 丕賱毓丿賷丿 賲賳 丕賱毓賱賲丕亍 賲毓 賲噩賲賵毓丞 賲賳 丕賱丨丕賱丕鬲 丕賱爻乇賷乇賷丞貙 賲賲丕 賷毓鬲亘乇 孬賵乇丞 賮賷 賴匕丕 丕賱賲噩丕賱 爻鬲賰賵賳 賱賴丕 鬲兀孬賷乇丕鬲 毓賲賷賯丞 鬲胤丕賱 "賮賴賲賳丕 賱賱賰賷賮賷丞 丕賱鬲賷 賷睾賷賾乇 亘賴丕 丕賱丨亘 賵丕賱丨夭賳 賵丕賱毓賱丕賯丕鬲 賵丕賱鬲毓賱賾賲 賵丕賱廿丿賲丕賳 賵丕賱孬賯丕賮丞 賵丕賱鬲賰賳賵賱賵噩賷丕 賵丕賱毓賱丕噩丕鬲 丕賱賳賮爻賷丞貙 兀丿賲睾鬲賳丕".
亘丨爻亘 丕賱賲丐賱賮 丕賱賲卮賴賵乇 賵丕賱胤亘賷亘 賵丕賱賲丨賱賱 丕賱賳賮爻賷貙 賮廿賳 " 賮賰乇丞 兀賳 丕賱丿賲丕睾 賷賲賰賳 兀賳 賷睾賷賾乇 鬲乇賰賷亘賴 賲賳 禺賱丕賱 丕賱鬲賮賰賷乇 賵丕賱賳卮丕胤 賴賷貙 亘乇兀賷賷貙 丕賱鬲毓丿賷賱 丕賱兀賴賲 賮賷 賳馗乇鬲賳丕 賱賱丿賲丕睾 賲賳匕 兀賳 賵囟毓賳丕 賱兀賵賱 賲乇丞 賲禺胤胤丕賸 賱鬲乇賰賷亘賴 丕賱亘賳賷賵賷 丕賱兀爻丕爻賷 賵兀毓賲丕賱 賲賰賵賳賾賴 丕賱兀爻丕爻賷貙 廿賱丕 賵賴賵 "丕賱毓氐亘賵賳" 兀賵 丕賱禺賱賷丞 丕賱毓氐亘賷丞". 賮鬲丨 賴匕丕 丕賱丕賰鬲卮丕賮貙 賵"賴賵 亘賰賱 鬲兀賰賷丿 賵丕丨丿 賲賳 兀賰孬乇 丕賱丕賰鬲卮丕賮丕鬲 丕爻鬲孬賳丕卅賷丞 賮賷 丕賱賯乇賳 丕賱毓卮乇賷賳"貙 賵丕賱匕賷 鬲賵氐賱鬲 廿賱賷賴 賲噩賲賵毓丞 丕賱毓賱賲丕亍 丕賱賲鬲禺氐氐賷賳貙 亘丕亘 毓賱賲 噩丿賷丿 禺丕氐 亘丕賱兀丿賲睾丞 丕賱賲鬲睾賷乇丞 爻賲賷: "丕賱賱丿賵賳丞 丕賱毓氐亘賷丞"貙 賵賴賵 賲氐胤賱丨 賷卮賷乇 廿賱賶 "賱賷賵賳丞 丕賱禺賱丕賷丕 丕賱毓氐亘賷丞 賮賷 兀丿賲睾鬲賳丕 賵兀噩賴夭鬲賳丕 丕賱毓氐亘賷丞 賵賯丕亘賱賷鬲賴丕 賱賱鬲睾賷賷乇".
賷噩丿 丕賱賯丕乇卅 賮賷 賴匕丕 丕賱賰鬲丕亘 賲噩賲賵毓丞 丕賱賱賯丕亍丕鬲 丕賱鬲賷 賯丕賲 亘賴丕 丕賱賲丐賱賮 賲毓 賴丐賱丕亍 丕賱毓賱賲丕亍 丕賱丕禺鬲氐丕氐賷賷賳 賮賷 賴匕丕 丕賱毓賱賲 丕賱噩丿賷丿貙 賱賷亘乇夭 兀賴賲賷丞 賲丕 鬲賵氐賱賵丕 廿賱賷賴 賳鬲賷噩丞 丕賱賲賲丕乇爻丞 賵丕賱鬲毓丕賲賱 賲毓 丨丕賱丕鬲 賲乇囟賷丞 賲毓賷賳丞貙 賵賱賷禺亘乇 鬲賮丕氐賷賱 鬲噩丕乇亘賴賲 賲毓 賲乇囟丕賴賲 "丕賱匕賷賳 丨賵賱賵丕 丨賷丕鬲賴賲".
賷乇賵賷 丕賱賲丐賱賮 賯氐氐丕賸 毓賳 丨丕賱丕鬲 賲乇囟賷丞 卮賮賷鬲 毓賳 胤乇賷賯 賴丐賱丕亍 丕賱丕禺鬲氐丕氐賷賷賳 丕賱噩丿丿貙 亘毓丿 兀賳 禺囟毓鬲 "賱鬲丨賵賱丕鬲 丕賱賱丿賵賳丞 丕賱毓氐亘賷丞": 丕賲乇兀丞 賰丕賳鬲 鬲賯毓 亘丕爻鬲賲乇丕乇 賱兀賳賴丕 賰丕賳鬲 鬲卮毓乇 兀賳賴丕 鬲賯毓貙 賵兀禺乇賶 丕爻鬲胤丕毓鬲 兀賳 鬲卮賮賷 賳賮爻賴丕 賲賳 氐賮丞 "賲鬲禺賱賮丞 毓賯賱賷丕賸"貙 賵 囟丨丕賷丕 爻賰鬲丕鬲 丿賲丕睾賷丞 爻賷鬲毓賱賲賵賳 兀賳 賷鬲丨乇賾賰賵丕 賵賷鬲賰賱賾賲賵丕 賲乇丞 兀禺乇賶貙 賵睾賷乇賴丕貙 賵爻賷亘乇賴賳 賰賷賮 兀賳 禺丕氐賷丞 賯丿乇丞 丕賱丿賲丕睾 毓賱賶 丕賱鬲睾賷賾乇 賷賲賰賳賴丕 夭賷丕丿丞 丨丿丞 丕賱廿丿乇丕賰 丕賱丨爻賷 賵丕賱匕丕賰乇丞 賵夭賷丕丿丞 爻乇毓丞 丕賱鬲賮賰賷乇 賵廿卮賮丕亍 賲卮丕賰賱 丕賱鬲毓賱賾賲貙 賰賲丕 兀賳 亘廿賲賰丕賳賴丕 廿賷賯丕賮 丕賱賯賱賯 賵丕賱賵爻賵丕爻 賵丕賱乇睾亘丕鬲 丕賱賯爻乇賷丞 賵丕賱毓丕丿丕鬲 丕賱爻賷卅丞貙 賰賲丕 爻賷乇亘胤 毓賱丕賯鬲賴丕 亘丕賱噩丕匕亘賷丞 丕賱噩賳爻賷丞 賵丕賱丨亘貙 廿賱賶 賲丕 賴賳丕賱賰貙 賱兀賳 賴匕賴 丕賱禺丕氐賷丞 丕賱賲賰鬲卮賮丞 爻鬲賲鬲丿 丌孬丕乇賴丕 賱鬲卮賲賱 噩賲賷毓 丕賱毓賱賵賲 丕賱廿賳爻丕賳賷丞 賵丕賱丕噩鬲賲丕毓賷丞 賵丕賱賮賷夭賷丕卅賷丞貙 賵"爻賷賰賵賳 毓賱賶 噩賲賷毓 賮乇賵毓 丕賱毓賱賲 賴匕賴 兀賳 鬲鬲賵丕賮賯 賲毓 丨賯賷賯丞 丕賱丿賲丕睾 丕賱賲鬲睾賷賾乇 匕丕鬲賷丕賸 賵賲毓 丨賯賷賯丞 兀賳 亘賳丕亍 丕賱丿賲丕睾 賷禺鬲賱賮 賲賳 卮禺氐 廿賱賶 丌禺乇 賵兀賳賴 賷鬲睾賷賾乇 賮賷 爻賷丕賯 丨賷丕鬲賳丕 丕賱賮乇丿賷丞".
賱賯丿 爻丕丿 賮賷 丕賱兀賵爻丕胤 丕賱毓賱賲賷丞貙 賵亘毓丿 毓丿丞 鬲噩丕乇亘 賱賲 鬲丐丿 廿賱賶 丕賱賳噩丕丨 丕賱賲胤賱賵亘貙 兀賵 賰丕賳 賳噩丕丨賴丕 賲丨丿賵丿 夭賲賳賷丕賸貙 兀賳 "丕賱毓賱丕噩 賱賱毓丿賷丿 賲賳 丕賱賲卮丕賰賱 丕賱丿賲丕睾賷丞 賴賵 睾賷乇 賮毓賾丕賱 賵丨鬲賶 睾賷乇 賲亘乇賾乇"貙 賵兀賳 "丕賱丿賲丕睾 賱丕 賷賲賰賳 兀賳 賷鬲睾賷乇"貙 賵亘丕賱鬲丕賱賷 "賮廿賳 丕賱胤亘賷毓丞 丕賱亘卮乇賷丞 丕賱賲賳亘孬賯丞 賲賳賴 亘丿鬲 亘丕賱囟乇賵乇丞 孬丕亘鬲丞 賵睾賷乇 賯丕亘賱丞 賱賱鬲睾賷賷乇 兀賷囟丕賸". 賷亘賷賾賳 賲丐賱賮 賴匕丕 丕賱賰鬲丕亘 毓賰爻 匕賱賰 鬲賲丕賲丕賸貙 毓亘乇 賴匕賴 丕賱丿乇丕爻丞 丕賱毓賱賲賷丞 賵丕賱亘丨孬 丕賱賲賷丿丕賳賷 賵毓亘乇 丕賱賳鬲丕卅噩 丕賱廿賷噩丕亘賷丞 丕賱賲丿賴卮丞 丕賱鬲賷 兀丨乇夭賴丕 丕賱毓丿賷丿 賲賳 丕賱毓賱賲丕亍 賲毓 賲噩賲賵毓丞 賲賳 丕賱丨丕賱丕鬲 丕賱爻乇賷乇賷丞貙 賲賲丕 賷毓鬲亘乇 孬賵乇丞 賮賷 賴匕丕 丕賱賲噩丕賱 爻鬲賰賵賳 賱賴丕 鬲兀孬賷乇丕鬲 毓賲賷賯丞 鬲胤丕賱 "賮賴賲賳丕 賱賱賰賷賮賷丞 丕賱鬲賷 賷睾賷賾乇 亘賴丕 丕賱丨亘 賵丕賱丨夭賳 賵丕賱毓賱丕賯丕鬲 賵丕賱鬲毓賱賾賲 賵丕賱廿丿賲丕賳 賵丕賱孬賯丕賮丞 賵丕賱鬲賰賳賵賱賵噩賷丕 賵丕賱毓賱丕噩丕鬲 丕賱賳賮爻賷丞貙 兀丿賲睾鬲賳丕".
亘丨爻亘 丕賱賲丐賱賮 丕賱賲卮賴賵乇 賵丕賱胤亘賷亘 賵丕賱賲丨賱賱 丕賱賳賮爻賷貙 賮廿賳 " 賮賰乇丞 兀賳 丕賱丿賲丕睾 賷賲賰賳 兀賳 賷睾賷賾乇 鬲乇賰賷亘賴 賲賳 禺賱丕賱 丕賱鬲賮賰賷乇 賵丕賱賳卮丕胤 賴賷貙 亘乇兀賷賷貙 丕賱鬲毓丿賷賱 丕賱兀賴賲 賮賷 賳馗乇鬲賳丕 賱賱丿賲丕睾 賲賳匕 兀賳 賵囟毓賳丕 賱兀賵賱 賲乇丞 賲禺胤胤丕賸 賱鬲乇賰賷亘賴 丕賱亘賳賷賵賷 丕賱兀爻丕爻賷 賵兀毓賲丕賱 賲賰賵賳賾賴 丕賱兀爻丕爻賷貙 廿賱丕 賵賴賵 "丕賱毓氐亘賵賳" 兀賵 丕賱禺賱賷丞 丕賱毓氐亘賷丞". 賮鬲丨 賴匕丕 丕賱丕賰鬲卮丕賮貙 賵"賴賵 亘賰賱 鬲兀賰賷丿 賵丕丨丿 賲賳 兀賰孬乇 丕賱丕賰鬲卮丕賮丕鬲 丕爻鬲孬賳丕卅賷丞 賮賷 丕賱賯乇賳 丕賱毓卮乇賷賳"貙 賵丕賱匕賷 鬲賵氐賱鬲 廿賱賷賴 賲噩賲賵毓丞 丕賱毓賱賲丕亍 丕賱賲鬲禺氐氐賷賳貙 亘丕亘 毓賱賲 噩丿賷丿 禺丕氐 亘丕賱兀丿賲睾丞 丕賱賲鬲睾賷乇丞 爻賲賷: "丕賱賱丿賵賳丞 丕賱毓氐亘賷丞"貙 賵賴賵 賲氐胤賱丨 賷卮賷乇 廿賱賶 "賱賷賵賳丞 丕賱禺賱丕賷丕 丕賱毓氐亘賷丞 賮賷 兀丿賲睾鬲賳丕 賵兀噩賴夭鬲賳丕 丕賱毓氐亘賷丞 賵賯丕亘賱賷鬲賴丕 賱賱鬲睾賷賷乇".
賷噩丿 丕賱賯丕乇卅 賮賷 賴匕丕 丕賱賰鬲丕亘 賲噩賲賵毓丞 丕賱賱賯丕亍丕鬲 丕賱鬲賷 賯丕賲 亘賴丕 丕賱賲丐賱賮 賲毓 賴丐賱丕亍 丕賱毓賱賲丕亍 丕賱丕禺鬲氐丕氐賷賷賳 賮賷 賴匕丕 丕賱毓賱賲 丕賱噩丿賷丿貙 賱賷亘乇夭 兀賴賲賷丞 賲丕 鬲賵氐賱賵丕 廿賱賷賴 賳鬲賷噩丞 丕賱賲賲丕乇爻丞 賵丕賱鬲毓丕賲賱 賲毓 丨丕賱丕鬲 賲乇囟賷丞 賲毓賷賳丞貙 賵賱賷禺亘乇 鬲賮丕氐賷賱 鬲噩丕乇亘賴賲 賲毓 賲乇囟丕賴賲 "丕賱匕賷賳 丨賵賱賵丕 丨賷丕鬲賴賲".
賷乇賵賷 丕賱賲丐賱賮 賯氐氐丕賸 毓賳 丨丕賱丕鬲 賲乇囟賷丞 卮賮賷鬲 毓賳 胤乇賷賯 賴丐賱丕亍 丕賱丕禺鬲氐丕氐賷賷賳 丕賱噩丿丿貙 亘毓丿 兀賳 禺囟毓鬲 "賱鬲丨賵賱丕鬲 丕賱賱丿賵賳丞 丕賱毓氐亘賷丞": 丕賲乇兀丞 賰丕賳鬲 鬲賯毓 亘丕爻鬲賲乇丕乇 賱兀賳賴丕 賰丕賳鬲 鬲卮毓乇 兀賳賴丕 鬲賯毓貙 賵兀禺乇賶 丕爻鬲胤丕毓鬲 兀賳 鬲卮賮賷 賳賮爻賴丕 賲賳 氐賮丞 "賲鬲禺賱賮丞 毓賯賱賷丕賸"貙 賵 囟丨丕賷丕 爻賰鬲丕鬲 丿賲丕睾賷丞 爻賷鬲毓賱賲賵賳 兀賳 賷鬲丨乇賾賰賵丕 賵賷鬲賰賱賾賲賵丕 賲乇丞 兀禺乇賶貙 賵睾賷乇賴丕貙 賵爻賷亘乇賴賳 賰賷賮 兀賳 禺丕氐賷丞 賯丿乇丞 丕賱丿賲丕睾 毓賱賶 丕賱鬲睾賷賾乇 賷賲賰賳賴丕 夭賷丕丿丞 丨丿丞 丕賱廿丿乇丕賰 丕賱丨爻賷 賵丕賱匕丕賰乇丞 賵夭賷丕丿丞 爻乇毓丞 丕賱鬲賮賰賷乇 賵廿卮賮丕亍 賲卮丕賰賱 丕賱鬲毓賱賾賲貙 賰賲丕 兀賳 亘廿賲賰丕賳賴丕 廿賷賯丕賮 丕賱賯賱賯 賵丕賱賵爻賵丕爻 賵丕賱乇睾亘丕鬲 丕賱賯爻乇賷丞 賵丕賱毓丕丿丕鬲 丕賱爻賷卅丞貙 賰賲丕 爻賷乇亘胤 毓賱丕賯鬲賴丕 亘丕賱噩丕匕亘賷丞 丕賱噩賳爻賷丞 賵丕賱丨亘貙 廿賱賶 賲丕 賴賳丕賱賰貙 賱兀賳 賴匕賴 丕賱禺丕氐賷丞 丕賱賲賰鬲卮賮丞 爻鬲賲鬲丿 丌孬丕乇賴丕 賱鬲卮賲賱 噩賲賷毓 丕賱毓賱賵賲 丕賱廿賳爻丕賳賷丞 賵丕賱丕噩鬲賲丕毓賷丞 賵丕賱賮賷夭賷丕卅賷丞貙 賵"爻賷賰賵賳 毓賱賶 噩賲賷毓 賮乇賵毓 丕賱毓賱賲 賴匕賴 兀賳 鬲鬲賵丕賮賯 賲毓 丨賯賷賯丞 丕賱丿賲丕睾 丕賱賲鬲睾賷賾乇 匕丕鬲賷丕賸 賵賲毓 丨賯賷賯丞 兀賳 亘賳丕亍 丕賱丿賲丕睾 賷禺鬲賱賮 賲賳 卮禺氐 廿賱賶 丌禺乇 賵兀賳賴 賷鬲睾賷賾乇 賮賷 爻賷丕賯 丨賷丕鬲賳丕 丕賱賮乇丿賷丞".
359 pages, Paperback
First published March 15, 2007
5,328 people are currently reading
90.1k people want to read
About the author
Norman Doidge
31听books758听followersNorman Doidge, M.D., is a psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, researcher, author, essayist and poet.
He is on the Research Faculty at Columbia University鈥檚 Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research, in New York, and the University of Toronto鈥檚 Department of Psychiatry.
He is a native of Toronto.
He is on the Research Faculty at Columbia University鈥檚 Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research, in New York, and the University of Toronto鈥檚 Department of Psychiatry.
He is a native of Toronto.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 2,721 reviews
November 21, 2008
When I saw this book initially I thought that I would have nothing but unequivocally good things to say about it. I am very fond of 鈥榖rain鈥� books and prefer to believe that the mind is 鈥榩lastic鈥� 鈥� that it can change itself or re-wire itself. I haven鈥檛 got much to pin this hope on. But hope is a good thing. However, in the end my response to this book has been much less black-and-white than I thought it would be.
I鈥檝e also just finished Fooled By Randomness. This has made me hypersensitive to any possibility that I might be getting fooled by any statistical aberrations. And, potentially, I saw statistical aberrations everywhere in this book. So much so that I was going to stop reading it and move onto something else a few times. But then he quoted an Indian doctor about the importance of individual case studies and I could see what he was doing.
My concern with statistically valid results started when he was talking about internet pornography changing the structure of people鈥檚 brains to such an extent that they were existing on 2 鈥� 3 hours sleep a night. Now, admittedly, I can鈥檛 remember the last time I talked to one of my male friends about how long they spend looking at internet porn 鈥� but this seemed quite excessive. The message was that internet porn is addictive, degenerative and destroys relationships.
I worried that this sounded somewhat prudish. But prim or not, this wasn鈥檛 my main concern. I was more worried that these conclusions seemed to be based on the occasional bloke who strolled into this doctor鈥檚 waiting room. It seemed to me a bit of a jump to go from this group of self-selected 鈥榩ornography addicts鈥� to saying that internet pornography is fundamentally changing our brains and of necessity making us desire violence as our 鈥榥ormal鈥� erotic stimulant of choice.
The good bits of this book, though, were very good. There was a fascinating discussion on phantom hands and legs that amputees often have and how the often agonising pains in these phantom limbs are 鈥榗ured鈥�, quite literally, by magic. The discussion on how the centres in the brain that had once been devoted to the phantom limb and were then used by other parts of the body (sometimes with near catastrophic consequences) was truly fascinating. As was the discussion of the woman born with only the right side of her brain.
The story of the woman at the start who was 'constantly falling' - a bit like Alice getting to Wonderland - was also another of those horror stories, I initially worried this book might end up. But also a fascinating story, all the same.
There is a long and involved discussion of psychoanalysis that I again found rather hard to take. Case studies in psychoanalysis too often sound to me like remarkably simple-minded critiques of fairly badly written short stories written by a writer who has gone through the Women鈥檚 Weekly Dictionary of Literary Symbols to construct the storyline. Perhaps not ever cigar ends up being a penis, but every box seems to end up a coffin. I just find myself shaking my head reading this stuff and wishing it was all over.
One of the things that Fooled By Randomness said in passing that caught my attention was that there is a difference between behavioural psychology and evolutionary psychology 鈥� but for his purposes these differences weren鈥檛 very important. I鈥檓 not really much of one for psychology. It tends to be a subject people who have studied philosophy look down on rather unfairly. But this book stands quite opposed to 鈥� say 鈥� Steven Pinker鈥檚 various books on how our minds are made and work. Pinker is one of Noam Chomsky鈥檚 followers 鈥� at least in linguistics and in his oft repeated idea that we are not born with a mind that is a blank slate.
I鈥檝e said this before, and am going to say it again now; people often ask how Chomsky鈥檚 politics and linguistics fit together and to me they don鈥檛 fit at all. I would expect that someone with strong left-wing ideas would tend towards a belief that the oppressive structures that exist in society are able to be changed. This would seem to be undermined by ideas that 鈥� with Kant 鈥� say that many of our 鈥榝aculties鈥� are innate or (in more up-to-date language) are genetically pre-programmed. But this does seem to be what Chomsky鈥檚 Linguistics implies 鈥� that we have evolved linguistic structures in the brain that allow the rapid and 鈥榚ffortless鈥� learning of language.
This book quotes Edelman鈥檚 work 鈥� I once started his Bright Light, Brilliant Fire but found it remarkably hard going. Edelman had a Darwinian view of how the brain developed 鈥� a view I once heard Chomsky criticise. I didn鈥檛 understand why Chomsky was quite so worked up about it at the time, but after finishing this I鈥檝e a better idea. One of the key ideas for Edelman is that the brain must be very plastic 鈥� because very, very many neurons die and they do so quite at random. So, evolution can鈥檛 rely on precise circuits being laid down by our genes alone. Rather, brains are plastic enough so that they can learn from their environment and then respond to that. But this is the point that both Pinker and Chomsky seem determined to criticise if not refute.
There are many aspects of Pinker鈥檚 ideas that I particularly like. There are also many parts of this work that I find simple-minded and annoying. But, if you were to draw a line with Pinker on one end and this guy on the other, where would I put my cross? Closer to Pinker? I really couldn鈥檛 say.
All the same, even if this guy is completely wrong, and we really can鈥檛 change brain structures once they have been laid down, it is probably better to believe he is right. His near constant message is, if you don鈥檛 use it you will lose it. He repeatedly points to experiments in which well exercised brains prove to be heavier and their neurons prove to be richer in interconnections 鈥� you can literally think yourself smarter. He claims using your brain and continuously learning is one of the best ways to avoid Alzheimer鈥檚 Disease 鈥� and I do think that is probably one disease well worth avoiding.
So, would I recommend this book? It is hard to say. I wouldn鈥檛 say I learnt nothing from it 鈥� but there were things about it that annoyed me. As I said, when it was good, it was very, very good. It is just that there was this curl, right in the middle of its forehead and that was the problem.
I鈥檝e also just finished Fooled By Randomness. This has made me hypersensitive to any possibility that I might be getting fooled by any statistical aberrations. And, potentially, I saw statistical aberrations everywhere in this book. So much so that I was going to stop reading it and move onto something else a few times. But then he quoted an Indian doctor about the importance of individual case studies and I could see what he was doing.
My concern with statistically valid results started when he was talking about internet pornography changing the structure of people鈥檚 brains to such an extent that they were existing on 2 鈥� 3 hours sleep a night. Now, admittedly, I can鈥檛 remember the last time I talked to one of my male friends about how long they spend looking at internet porn 鈥� but this seemed quite excessive. The message was that internet porn is addictive, degenerative and destroys relationships.
I worried that this sounded somewhat prudish. But prim or not, this wasn鈥檛 my main concern. I was more worried that these conclusions seemed to be based on the occasional bloke who strolled into this doctor鈥檚 waiting room. It seemed to me a bit of a jump to go from this group of self-selected 鈥榩ornography addicts鈥� to saying that internet pornography is fundamentally changing our brains and of necessity making us desire violence as our 鈥榥ormal鈥� erotic stimulant of choice.
The good bits of this book, though, were very good. There was a fascinating discussion on phantom hands and legs that amputees often have and how the often agonising pains in these phantom limbs are 鈥榗ured鈥�, quite literally, by magic. The discussion on how the centres in the brain that had once been devoted to the phantom limb and were then used by other parts of the body (sometimes with near catastrophic consequences) was truly fascinating. As was the discussion of the woman born with only the right side of her brain.
The story of the woman at the start who was 'constantly falling' - a bit like Alice getting to Wonderland - was also another of those horror stories, I initially worried this book might end up. But also a fascinating story, all the same.
There is a long and involved discussion of psychoanalysis that I again found rather hard to take. Case studies in psychoanalysis too often sound to me like remarkably simple-minded critiques of fairly badly written short stories written by a writer who has gone through the Women鈥檚 Weekly Dictionary of Literary Symbols to construct the storyline. Perhaps not ever cigar ends up being a penis, but every box seems to end up a coffin. I just find myself shaking my head reading this stuff and wishing it was all over.
One of the things that Fooled By Randomness said in passing that caught my attention was that there is a difference between behavioural psychology and evolutionary psychology 鈥� but for his purposes these differences weren鈥檛 very important. I鈥檓 not really much of one for psychology. It tends to be a subject people who have studied philosophy look down on rather unfairly. But this book stands quite opposed to 鈥� say 鈥� Steven Pinker鈥檚 various books on how our minds are made and work. Pinker is one of Noam Chomsky鈥檚 followers 鈥� at least in linguistics and in his oft repeated idea that we are not born with a mind that is a blank slate.
I鈥檝e said this before, and am going to say it again now; people often ask how Chomsky鈥檚 politics and linguistics fit together and to me they don鈥檛 fit at all. I would expect that someone with strong left-wing ideas would tend towards a belief that the oppressive structures that exist in society are able to be changed. This would seem to be undermined by ideas that 鈥� with Kant 鈥� say that many of our 鈥榝aculties鈥� are innate or (in more up-to-date language) are genetically pre-programmed. But this does seem to be what Chomsky鈥檚 Linguistics implies 鈥� that we have evolved linguistic structures in the brain that allow the rapid and 鈥榚ffortless鈥� learning of language.
This book quotes Edelman鈥檚 work 鈥� I once started his Bright Light, Brilliant Fire but found it remarkably hard going. Edelman had a Darwinian view of how the brain developed 鈥� a view I once heard Chomsky criticise. I didn鈥檛 understand why Chomsky was quite so worked up about it at the time, but after finishing this I鈥檝e a better idea. One of the key ideas for Edelman is that the brain must be very plastic 鈥� because very, very many neurons die and they do so quite at random. So, evolution can鈥檛 rely on precise circuits being laid down by our genes alone. Rather, brains are plastic enough so that they can learn from their environment and then respond to that. But this is the point that both Pinker and Chomsky seem determined to criticise if not refute.
There are many aspects of Pinker鈥檚 ideas that I particularly like. There are also many parts of this work that I find simple-minded and annoying. But, if you were to draw a line with Pinker on one end and this guy on the other, where would I put my cross? Closer to Pinker? I really couldn鈥檛 say.
All the same, even if this guy is completely wrong, and we really can鈥檛 change brain structures once they have been laid down, it is probably better to believe he is right. His near constant message is, if you don鈥檛 use it you will lose it. He repeatedly points to experiments in which well exercised brains prove to be heavier and their neurons prove to be richer in interconnections 鈥� you can literally think yourself smarter. He claims using your brain and continuously learning is one of the best ways to avoid Alzheimer鈥檚 Disease 鈥� and I do think that is probably one disease well worth avoiding.
So, would I recommend this book? It is hard to say. I wouldn鈥檛 say I learnt nothing from it 鈥� but there were things about it that annoyed me. As I said, when it was good, it was very, very good. It is just that there was this curl, right in the middle of its forehead and that was the problem.
July 1, 2014
Content note: discusses some examples you may interpret as animal cruelty.
I have pretty mixed feelings about this book. My main response, I guess, is "read with caution". There are some parts which are reasonable, well-founded, and which don't seem to be driven by any bias. Talking about the ways to help people recover from strokes would fall under this category; I was actually a bit surprised that all of the information about brain maps, and the brain's "use it or lose it" approach to neuronal real estate, was actually considered surprising or controversial. I thought that aspect of neurobiology was fairly clear to people in this day and age. Certainly, the idea that you can expand areas of your brain by using them, and lose abilities by not practicing them, seemed to me obvious. The book was written in 2007, so I expected an understanding brain plasticity to be the norm, not the underdog.
It's when Doidge got onto other topics that I started to feel uncomfortable. Googling around a bit showed that Fast ForWord isn't universally acclaimed, as I'm sure it would be if the results were as unequivocal as Doidge presents them. Just hitting Wikipedia shows some doubt about the experiments -- the ones with clear positive results were conducted by biased people and weren't subjected to double-blind methods.
Then I got to the chapter on "sexual perversions". Sexual perversion, to Doidge, basically seems to be anything he doesn't personally like. People with kinks or fetishes are not just different, but sick, in his analysis. And it's usually their parents' fault -- or porn. It's not just individual difference, but something which must be corrected. Homogeneity for all.
(I really wonder what he'd think about my total disinterest in a) sex and b) other people's taboos about sex. If you're not doing anything to anyone that they don't want and haven't asked for, go ahead. Enthusiastic consent obtained? None of my business anymore, if it ever was. Sure, a lot of it makes no sense to me and has no appeal, but nor does skateboarding or bungee jumping.)
He just seems to have a problem with difference in general. If your brain isn't wired the way other people's brains are wired, you've got to fix it.
This did make his chapter on OCD and related problems interesting to me (see also my mental health awareness post on ). I don't have any particular arguments with his way of describing OCD and the treatment thereof: I recognise those obsessive behaviours, the things that were unhelpful in trying to reverse them, and the things that actually did help. He criticises CBT in a way that entirely makes sense to me, pointing out that by focusing on the intrusive thought, you can get it more firmly entrenched in your mind. This was a very short chapter, though.
Then there's a lot of stuff about experiments on animals, which is where I gave up on this guy. I'm not automatically against animal experimentation, when limited, tightly controlled, and cleared or at least discussed with an ethics board. I find it hard, though, to see the value in cutting all the sensory nerves in both a monkey's arms and then sticking a probe into its brain to measure responses there. I find it especially hard to cope with a narrative where this is so matter of fact that there is no mention of ethical concerns at all -- except to complain that they got in the way of science. PETA are often crackpots, I think they might have had a point here, though.
So if you do read this, read it with caution, attention to the notes, reference to outside sources and studies. Be prepared for very dispassionate recountings of some pretty awful experiments. (Sure, let's sew a kitten's eye shut for the first weeks of its life, to prove that it can then never process sight with that eye again. It's not like we could do that experiment just by looking historically at children with cataracts. Oh, wait.) Be prepared for the fact that this guy is in no way neutral.
The sad thing is, I find the idea of brain plasticity utterly fascinating; some of this book is great. Some of it just... isn't, and I'm sure there must be a better book out there with a bit less of the author's personal feelings directing the text.
I have pretty mixed feelings about this book. My main response, I guess, is "read with caution". There are some parts which are reasonable, well-founded, and which don't seem to be driven by any bias. Talking about the ways to help people recover from strokes would fall under this category; I was actually a bit surprised that all of the information about brain maps, and the brain's "use it or lose it" approach to neuronal real estate, was actually considered surprising or controversial. I thought that aspect of neurobiology was fairly clear to people in this day and age. Certainly, the idea that you can expand areas of your brain by using them, and lose abilities by not practicing them, seemed to me obvious. The book was written in 2007, so I expected an understanding brain plasticity to be the norm, not the underdog.
It's when Doidge got onto other topics that I started to feel uncomfortable. Googling around a bit showed that Fast ForWord isn't universally acclaimed, as I'm sure it would be if the results were as unequivocal as Doidge presents them. Just hitting Wikipedia shows some doubt about the experiments -- the ones with clear positive results were conducted by biased people and weren't subjected to double-blind methods.
Then I got to the chapter on "sexual perversions". Sexual perversion, to Doidge, basically seems to be anything he doesn't personally like. People with kinks or fetishes are not just different, but sick, in his analysis. And it's usually their parents' fault -- or porn. It's not just individual difference, but something which must be corrected. Homogeneity for all.
(I really wonder what he'd think about my total disinterest in a) sex and b) other people's taboos about sex. If you're not doing anything to anyone that they don't want and haven't asked for, go ahead. Enthusiastic consent obtained? None of my business anymore, if it ever was. Sure, a lot of it makes no sense to me and has no appeal, but nor does skateboarding or bungee jumping.)
He just seems to have a problem with difference in general. If your brain isn't wired the way other people's brains are wired, you've got to fix it.
This did make his chapter on OCD and related problems interesting to me (see also my mental health awareness post on ). I don't have any particular arguments with his way of describing OCD and the treatment thereof: I recognise those obsessive behaviours, the things that were unhelpful in trying to reverse them, and the things that actually did help. He criticises CBT in a way that entirely makes sense to me, pointing out that by focusing on the intrusive thought, you can get it more firmly entrenched in your mind. This was a very short chapter, though.
Then there's a lot of stuff about experiments on animals, which is where I gave up on this guy. I'm not automatically against animal experimentation, when limited, tightly controlled, and cleared or at least discussed with an ethics board. I find it hard, though, to see the value in cutting all the sensory nerves in both a monkey's arms and then sticking a probe into its brain to measure responses there. I find it especially hard to cope with a narrative where this is so matter of fact that there is no mention of ethical concerns at all -- except to complain that they got in the way of science. PETA are often crackpots, I think they might have had a point here, though.
So if you do read this, read it with caution, attention to the notes, reference to outside sources and studies. Be prepared for very dispassionate recountings of some pretty awful experiments. (Sure, let's sew a kitten's eye shut for the first weeks of its life, to prove that it can then never process sight with that eye again. It's not like we could do that experiment just by looking historically at children with cataracts. Oh, wait.) Be prepared for the fact that this guy is in no way neutral.
The sad thing is, I find the idea of brain plasticity utterly fascinating; some of this book is great. Some of it just... isn't, and I'm sure there must be a better book out there with a bit less of the author's personal feelings directing the text.
September 8, 2007
So far this book has taught me two things.
1. That I am far more affected than I expected to be by the phrase "sew a kitten's eyelid closed for three weeks..after which the kitten remained permanently blind in one eye."
and
2. Using the word "till" instead of "until" is acceptable in scholarly writing.
For the rest of the information, stay tuned.
Okay, so I finished the book. It was a fulfilling emotional rollercoaster for the chronically impressionable and acutely anxious. Every chapter presented some new physical calamity that might any day befall me and then a lot of new work about state-of-the-art-medical-attention-aided recovery. Leaving me, at the end of each chapter, feeling a little more indestructible.
In other news, the books was quick and accessible to Humanity Heads and even Grammar Faces who have a little mental science sizzle every time the word polymerase is used in a sentence.
It had my full attention until I got to the chapter on Handsome Henry and "sexual preference" when I got too angry to continue. I skimmed and skipped and then read the rest of the book in full.
The parts where the author talked about reversing the deterioration of the brain caused by aging and the ability of psychotherapy to change the brain were especially interesting to me... even if they were second fiddle to all things more miraculous.
1. That I am far more affected than I expected to be by the phrase "sew a kitten's eyelid closed for three weeks..after which the kitten remained permanently blind in one eye."
and
2. Using the word "till" instead of "until" is acceptable in scholarly writing.
For the rest of the information, stay tuned.
Okay, so I finished the book. It was a fulfilling emotional rollercoaster for the chronically impressionable and acutely anxious. Every chapter presented some new physical calamity that might any day befall me and then a lot of new work about state-of-the-art-medical-attention-aided recovery. Leaving me, at the end of each chapter, feeling a little more indestructible.
In other news, the books was quick and accessible to Humanity Heads and even Grammar Faces who have a little mental science sizzle every time the word polymerase is used in a sentence.
It had my full attention until I got to the chapter on Handsome Henry and "sexual preference" when I got too angry to continue. I skimmed and skipped and then read the rest of the book in full.
The parts where the author talked about reversing the deterioration of the brain caused by aging and the ability of psychotherapy to change the brain were especially interesting to me... even if they were second fiddle to all things more miraculous.
March 25, 2008
This book is about the plasticity of the brain. That is versus "Localizationism" which holds that the brain is static and each part performs only one function. Modern science, thru the use of MRI, Catscan and observed recoveries of function loss have disproved the long-held notion of localizationism.
The book is really a set of stories about people who have regained or developed senses they either lost or never had. The stories are quite inspiring. For example, one man had a stroke and lost the use of his left side. He will himself, on the floor, around his house for a year and retrained another part of his brain to direct his left side and fully recovered. Other stroke victims can now receive plasticity therapy to regain lost motor functions.
Phantom limb pain in amputees can be stopped with mirrors. There are many other stories of personal triumph.
I got the book when I purchased some software to excerise my brain. The excercises are based on plasticity. I have gotten to the point where the exercises are getting difficult. We'll see if it can help an old man.
P.S. there are some animal testing stories in the book that made me a little quesy.
The book is really a set of stories about people who have regained or developed senses they either lost or never had. The stories are quite inspiring. For example, one man had a stroke and lost the use of his left side. He will himself, on the floor, around his house for a year and retrained another part of his brain to direct his left side and fully recovered. Other stroke victims can now receive plasticity therapy to regain lost motor functions.
Phantom limb pain in amputees can be stopped with mirrors. There are many other stories of personal triumph.
I got the book when I purchased some software to excerise my brain. The excercises are based on plasticity. I have gotten to the point where the exercises are getting difficult. We'll see if it can help an old man.
P.S. there are some animal testing stories in the book that made me a little quesy.
November 13, 2012
賮賷 鬲氐賵乇賷 賲賳 兀賴賲 丕賱賰鬲亘 丕賱鬲賷 鬲毓丕賱噩 賳馗乇鬲賳丕 賱賱丿賲丕睾 亘毓賷丿丕賸 毓賳 丕賱鬲氐賵乇丕鬲 丕賱賯丿賷賲丞 丕賱鬲賷 鬲毓鬲賯丿 亘孬亘丕鬲 亘賳賷丞 丕賱丿賲丕睾 - 賰賲丕 賴賵 丕賱丨丕賱 賮賷 亘丕賯賷 兀毓囟丕亍 丕賱噩爻賲- 賲賳匕 賵賯鬲 賲亘賰乇 賲賳 丕賱毓賲乇 賵兀賳 禺賱丕賷丕 丕賱丿賲丕睾 毓賳丿賲丕 鬲氐丕亘 丕賵 鬲賲賵鬲 賱丕 賷賲賰賳 丕爻鬲亘丿丕賱賴丕 賵兀氐賱 賴匕賴 丕賱賳馗乇賷丞 兀賳 丕賱丿賲丕睾 毓亘丕乇丞 毓賳 丌賱丞 乇丕卅毓丞 賲孬賱 賲丕賰賷賳丞 丕賱丨賱丕賯丞 兀賵 丕賱賲丕賷賰乇賵賷賮 賷毓賲賱 亘卮賰賱 毓馗賷賲 賵賲鬲賯賳 賱賰賳賴 賱丕 賷爻鬲胤賷毓 賲毓丕賱噩丞 賳賮爻賴 賵賱丕 賷賳賲賵 兀賷 兀賳 丕賱噩夭亍 丕賱賲爻丐賵賱 賮賷 丕賱丿賲锟斤拷睾 毓賳 賲毓丕賱噩丞 賲丕賷氐賱賴 賲賳 丕賱亘氐乇 賲孬賱丕賸 賷亘賯賶 賲丿賶 丕賱丨賷丕丞 賲爻丐賵賱 毓賳 賲毓丕賱噩丞 賲丕賷氐賱賴 賲賳 禺賱丕賱 丕賱亘氐乇. 賷丨丕賵賱 丕賱丿賰鬲賵乇 賳賵乇賲丕賳 丿賵賷丿噩 賮賷 賴匕丕 丕賱賰鬲丕亘 丕孬亘丕鬲 兀賳 丕賱丿賲丕睾 丕賱亘卮乇賷 賷賲賰賳 兀賳 賷睾賷乇 賳賮爻賴 鬲睾賷賷乇丕購 噩夭卅賷 兀賵 賰丕賲賱 賵賷賲賰賳 兀賳 賷胤賵乇 賳賮爻賴 賮賷 噩夭卅賷丕鬲 賲毓賷賳賴貙 丨鬲賶 賮賷 爻賳 賲鬲兀禺乇丞 賲賳 毓賲乇 丕賱廿賳爻丕賳 賮丕賱孬亘丕鬲 賮賰乇丞 亘丕胤賱丞 亘丕賱賳爻亘丞 賱賱丿賲丕睾 丕賱亘卮乇賷貙 丨鬲賶 亘丕賱賳爻亘丞 賱賱賳丕爻 丕賱匕賷賳 賵賱丿賵丕 亘賯氐賵乇 丿賲丕睾賷 丕賵 丕毓鬲賱丕賱 賲毓賷賳 兀賵 丕賱匕賷賳 丕氐賷亘賵丕 亘卮賱賱 丿賲丕睾賷. 爻噩賱 丕賱丿賰鬲賵乇 丿賵賷丿噩 賵鬲丕亘毓 亘卮賰賱 卮禺氐賷 丕賱賰孬賷乇 賲賳 丕賱丨丕賱丕鬲 丕賱鬲賷 鬲卮丕賮鬲 賲賳 丕毓鬲賱丕賱丕鬲 丿賲丕睾賷丞 賵爻噩賱 丨丕賱丞 賮鬲丕丞 賱賲 賷賰賳 賷賵噩丿 賮賷 乇兀爻賴丕 廿賱丕 丕賱賮氐 丕賱兀賷爻乇 賲賳 丕賱丿賲丕睾 賵丕爻鬲胤丕毓鬲 兀賳 鬲鬲噩丕賵夭 賲賳 禺賱丕賱 賯丕亘賱賷丞 丕賱丿賲丕睾 毓賱賶 鬲睾賷賷乇 禺乇丕卅胤賴 賵丕鬲氐丕賱丕鬲賴 丕賱賰賴乇亘丕卅賷丞 賵鬲胤賵賷乇 賲賴丕賲 丕賯爻丕賲賴 賵賴賵 賲丕賷胤賱賯 毓賱賷賴 丕賱丿賰鬲賵乇 丿賵賷丿噩 賲氐胤賱丨 鈥樷€� 丕賱賱丿賵賳賴 鈥樷€� 賵賴匕賴 賱賷爻鬲 賲爻兀賱丞 賮爻賷賱賵噩賷丞 賮賯胤 賱賰賳 丕賷囟丕賸 丕賱鬲睾賷乇丕鬲 丕賱孬賯丕賮賷丞 鬲兀孬乇 毓賱賶 丕賱丿賲丕睾 兀賷囟丕賸 賮賲鬲賶 賲丕 鬲睾賷乇鬲 兀賮賰丕乇賰 鬲睾賷乇鬲 丕鬲氐丕賱丕鬲 禺賱丕賷丕賰 丕賱毓氐亘賷丞 鈥樷€� 丕賱毓氐亘賵賳丕鬲 鈥樷€� 丕賱賲賵噩賵丿丞 賮賷 丕賱丿賲丕睾 賵亘丕賱鬲丕賱賷 鬲鬲睾賷乇 賲賴丕賲 兀噩夭丕亍 丿賲丕睾賰. 亘廿丿乇丕賰 賲毓賳賶 賲賮賴賵賲 鈥樷€� 丕賱賱丿賵賳丞 鈥樷€� 爻賵賮 鬲鬲睾賷乇 丨賷丕鬲賳丕 賵賮賴賲賳丕 賱兀賳賮爻賴丕 賵賱賱廿賳爻丕賳 亘卮賰賱 毓丕賲 賵爻賵賮 鬲鬲賵氐賱 賱廿噩丕亘丕鬲 賱亘毓囟 丕賱兀爻卅賱丞 賲孬賱: 賰賷賮 賳賯毓 賮賷 丕賱廿丿賲丕賳 . 賱賲丕匕丕 賳乇鬲丕丨 賱賴匕賴 丕賱乇丕卅丨丞 鬲丨丿賷丿丕賸 責 賱賲丕匕丕 賱丕 賳丨丕賮馗 毓賱賶 毓丕丿丕鬲賳丕 丕賱噩賷丿丞 丕賱鬲賷 賰爻亘賳丕賴丕 賲丐禺乇丕賸 責
丕賱賰鬲丕亘 賲賯爻賲 賱賭 11 賮氐賱 賵 賲賱丨賯賷賳 賵賷賯毓 賮賷 305 氐賮丨丞 賲鬲賵爻胤丞
丕賱賳丕卮乇 丕賱丿丕乇 丕賱毓乇亘賷丞 賱賱毓賱賵賲 賳丕卮乇賵賳
賱丕 鬲賮賵鬲 賴匕丕 丕賱賰鬲丕亘 兀亘丿丕賸 廿賳 賰丕賳 賷賴賲賰 賲賵囟賵毓賴貙 爻賵賮 賷丿賴卮賰 亘丕賱鬲兀賰賷丿.
May 19, 2014
Oliver Sacks, he ain't. Despite the back cover blurb from Oliver Sacks, this is definitely a lesser book. There are some interesting things in here, and may be worth a read, even though there was one chapter that I thought was just terrible. But don't go looking here for Sacks' deep humanism and warmth. This is much more the distant case history, although the science he's talking about is fascinating.
Note: The rest of this review has been withdrawn due to the changes in 欧宝娱乐 policy and enforcement. You can read why I came to this decision here.
In the meantime, you can read the entire review at
Note: The rest of this review has been withdrawn due to the changes in 欧宝娱乐 policy and enforcement. You can read why I came to this decision here.
In the meantime, you can read the entire review at
March 2, 2015
The big idea of the book is the concept of plasticity and how the brain deals with learning and changing multiple skills. In a nutshell each brain function is "fighting" for limited resources, there's only so much mapping space available and what you work on the most gets developed. "Use it or lose it."
Whatever you don't cultivate, over time you will lose, including ability to: cultivate multiple skills, generate new ideas, stay focused, math/science skills, learning a new language, playing an instrument.
If you don't act now it just gets harder and harder to do more stuff. As we age the common brain functions get deeper mapping and it gets extremely hard to build new habits because the limited space is already taken by the old ones. What this means is that you need to start cultivating the right habits and skills RIGHT NOW!
To conclude we must realize that unlearning is a lot harder than learning because every repetition of that old habit made it stronger. So it's not just about adding, it's about pro-actively removing all the bad shit from your life. This is really a great book, I learned a lot from reading it and I would recommend you to check it out!
Whatever you don't cultivate, over time you will lose, including ability to: cultivate multiple skills, generate new ideas, stay focused, math/science skills, learning a new language, playing an instrument.
If you don't act now it just gets harder and harder to do more stuff. As we age the common brain functions get deeper mapping and it gets extremely hard to build new habits because the limited space is already taken by the old ones. What this means is that you need to start cultivating the right habits and skills RIGHT NOW!
To conclude we must realize that unlearning is a lot harder than learning because every repetition of that old habit made it stronger. So it's not just about adding, it's about pro-actively removing all the bad shit from your life. This is really a great book, I learned a lot from reading it and I would recommend you to check it out!
June 20, 2008
This book was a very interesting read. I found it to be a pretty "light" read, in that the science mumbo-jumbo had been effectively translated into English. But that doesn't mean Doidge's claims are unsupported--throughout the text, and in extensive notes, he cites published research results, giving the book plenty of credibility.
The Brain that Changes Itself discusses the (apparently controversial) subject of neuroplasticity. Although many of its claims seem perfectly intuitive (through mental and physical exercise, we can shape our brains being the main one), the results are often surprising. This book made me more motivated to get off my duff, try new things, and exercise my brain. I recommend it to anyone with some gray matter in their head.
I will admit, there was one chapter I didn't particularly care for. Towards the end, Doidge seems to rely more on case studies, and case studies only, than on theoretical experiments. But I found that he presented the information clearly enough, not masking the sources of his conclusions, that I could easily pick through the words and find what I believed to be true.
The Brain that Changes Itself discusses the (apparently controversial) subject of neuroplasticity. Although many of its claims seem perfectly intuitive (through mental and physical exercise, we can shape our brains being the main one), the results are often surprising. This book made me more motivated to get off my duff, try new things, and exercise my brain. I recommend it to anyone with some gray matter in their head.
I will admit, there was one chapter I didn't particularly care for. Towards the end, Doidge seems to rely more on case studies, and case studies only, than on theoretical experiments. But I found that he presented the information clearly enough, not masking the sources of his conclusions, that I could easily pick through the words and find what I believed to be true.
February 9, 2016
travelling mp3, new car and an open road...Description: An astonishing new science called neuroplasticity is overthrowing the centuries-old notion that the human brain is immutable. Psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, Norman Doidge, M.D., traveled the country to meet both the brilliant scientists championing neuroplasticity and the people whose lives they've transformed people whose mental limitations or brain damage were seen as unalterable. We see a woman born with half a brain that rewired itself to work as a whole, blind people who learn to see, learning disorders cured, IQs raised, aging brains rejuvenated, stroke patients learning to speak, children with cerebral palsy learning to move with more grace, depression and anxiety disorders successfully treated, and lifelong character traits changed. Using these marvelous stories to probe mysteries of the body, emotion, love, sex, culture, and education, Dr. Doidge has written an immensely moving, inspiring book that will permanently alter the way we look at our brains, human nature, and human potential.
Doidge is not a man you would want to invite for dinner as he has no humanity. MANY animals were harmed in the making of book, sickeningly so, and on many occasions seemed to me, unnecessary numbers. Overkill on overkill just for the sake of proving what we all intuitively know already 'Use it or Lose it'.There is an upside, I went into this book a chronically diseased woman and now am convinced I am indestructable -
Experiments aside, this book about brain plasticity is unputdownable, and whilst I would not recommend it on for fear of offending, The Brain That Changes Itself had me in its thrall: .
3.5*
November 27, 2010
A truly fascinating, accessible book about the plasticity of the brain. Most interesting to me were the clever approaches that some psychologists invented, for solving or mediating various mental/physical problems. Although this book is not of the "self-help" variety, it contains a number of approaches that have been used for improving brain functioning.
March 29, 2019
Wooow
賴賵 丕賱賰賱丕賲 丿賴 亘噩丿 賵賱丕丨賯賷賯賶 . 丕賳丕 賰丿丕賱賷丕 丕賳亘賴乇鬲 .
賰鬲丕亘 亘丿兀鬲賴 賵丕賳丕 賲毓賳丿賷卮 孬賯丞 丕賳賶 賴賰賲賱賴 賱丕賳 毓丕丿丞 丕賱賰鬲亘 丕賱毓賱賲賷丞 亘鬲賳賷賱 賱賰賵賳賴丕 賲毓賯丿 賵氐毓亘 賵賲賲賱 賵賰賱 賲丕亘賯乇兀 噩夭兀 亘卮賰 丕賳賶 賲賲賰賳 兀賰賲賱 亘爻 丕賱賰鬲丕亘 乇丕丕卅毓 賵賲賮賷丿 賵丕爻賱賵亘賴 噩賲賷賱 賵爻賴賱 賲卮 賲毓賯丿 . 丕賱賱賶 爻賷胤乇 毓賱賷丕 賴賵 丕賱賰賱丕賲 丿賴 亘噩丿 賵賱丕 丿賴 禺賷丕賱 毓賱賲賶 賵賱丕 丕賷賴 !! 賯氐氐 丕賱賲乇囟賶 丕賱賱賶 匕賰乇賴賲 丕賱賳丕爻 丕賱賱賶 丨氐賱鬲賱賴丕 噩賱胤丕鬲 賵丕賱賱賶 丕鬲賵賱丿鬲 亘賳氐賮 賲禺 賵丕賱爻賰鬲丕鬲 丕賱丿賲丕睾賷丞 . 賱丕丕毓乇賮 丕賱賰孬賷乇 毓賳 丕賱賵丕賯毓 賱賲丕 賷丨丿孬 賲毓 賲賳 丕氐丕亘 亘賳賮爻 丕賱丨丕賱丕鬲 賱賰賳 丕毓鬲賯丿 丕賳 丕賱毓賱丕噩丕鬲 賵丕爻鬲禺丿丕賲 丕賱丕爻丕賱賷亘 丕賱賲匕賰賵乇丞 賱賷爻 賲賳鬲卮乇丕 賰賲丕 賷賳亘睾賶 .
丕爻丕爻 丕賱賰鬲丕亘 賴賵 丕孬亘丕鬲 禺胤兀 丕賳 丕賱丿賲丕睾 睾賷乇 賯丕亘賱 賱賱鬲睾賷乇 賵丕賳 賲賳 賷氐丕亘 亘爻賰鬲丕鬲 丿賲丕睾賷丞 丕賵 噩賱胤丕鬲 丕賵 丕賶 賲卮賰賱丞 賮賶 丕賱賲禺 賱賳 賷爻鬲胤賷毓 丕賱毓賵丿丞 賱賷賰賵賳 亘禺賷乇 . 丕賱賰鬲丕亘 賷孬亘鬲 賲乇賵賳丞 丕賱丿賲丕睾 丕賵 賲丕賷爻賲賶 亘丕賱賱丿賵賳丞 丕賱毓氐亘賷丞 . 丕賱賰鬲丕亘 氐乇禺丞 丕賲賱 賱賲賳 亘鬲毓丕賮賶 賲賳 爻賰鬲丕鬲 丿賲丕睾賷丞. 賵賷噩亘 丕賳 賷鬲鬲卮乇 亘卮賰賱 兀賵爻毓
丕賱賰鬲丕亘 賲丿禺賱 賱賲毓乇賮丞 丕丿賲睾鬲賳丕 亘胤乇賷賯丞 丕賮囟賱 賵丕賲賱 賱賳丕 丕賳賳丕 賲賳 丕賱賲賲賰賳 丕賳 賳氐亘丨 丕賮囟賱 .
廿丨爻丕爻 賲卮 賯丕丿乇丞 丕賵氐賮賴 賰丕賳 賲賱丕夭賲賳賶 胤賵賱 賯乇丕賷鬲賶 賱賱賰鬲丕亘 丨丕賱丞 賲賳 丕賱賳卮賵丞 貙 睾賷乇 丕賱鬲氐丿賷賯 貙 丕賱丕毓噩丕亘 貙 亘丕禺鬲氐丕乇 丨丕賱丞 賲賳 丕賱丕賳亘賴丕乇 .
賵賱賳 鬲爻鬲胤賷毓 丕賳 鬲賯乇丕 賴匕丕 丕賱賰鬲丕亘 丿賵賳 丕賳 鬲賯賵賱 爻亘丨丕賳 丕賱賱賴 毓囟賵 賵丕丨丿 賮賷賴 丕賱丕賲賰丕賳賷丕鬲 丕賱毓馗賷賲丞 丿賶 . 丕賱丨賲丿 賱賱賴
賴賵 丕賱賰賱丕賲 丿賴 亘噩丿 賵賱丕丨賯賷賯賶 . 丕賳丕 賰丿丕賱賷丕 丕賳亘賴乇鬲 .
賰鬲丕亘 亘丿兀鬲賴 賵丕賳丕 賲毓賳丿賷卮 孬賯丞 丕賳賶 賴賰賲賱賴 賱丕賳 毓丕丿丞 丕賱賰鬲亘 丕賱毓賱賲賷丞 亘鬲賳賷賱 賱賰賵賳賴丕 賲毓賯丿 賵氐毓亘 賵賲賲賱 賵賰賱 賲丕亘賯乇兀 噩夭兀 亘卮賰 丕賳賶 賲賲賰賳 兀賰賲賱 亘爻 丕賱賰鬲丕亘 乇丕丕卅毓 賵賲賮賷丿 賵丕爻賱賵亘賴 噩賲賷賱 賵爻賴賱 賲卮 賲毓賯丿 . 丕賱賱賶 爻賷胤乇 毓賱賷丕 賴賵 丕賱賰賱丕賲 丿賴 亘噩丿 賵賱丕 丿賴 禺賷丕賱 毓賱賲賶 賵賱丕 丕賷賴 !! 賯氐氐 丕賱賲乇囟賶 丕賱賱賶 匕賰乇賴賲 丕賱賳丕爻 丕賱賱賶 丨氐賱鬲賱賴丕 噩賱胤丕鬲 賵丕賱賱賶 丕鬲賵賱丿鬲 亘賳氐賮 賲禺 賵丕賱爻賰鬲丕鬲 丕賱丿賲丕睾賷丞 . 賱丕丕毓乇賮 丕賱賰孬賷乇 毓賳 丕賱賵丕賯毓 賱賲丕 賷丨丿孬 賲毓 賲賳 丕氐丕亘 亘賳賮爻 丕賱丨丕賱丕鬲 賱賰賳 丕毓鬲賯丿 丕賳 丕賱毓賱丕噩丕鬲 賵丕爻鬲禺丿丕賲 丕賱丕爻丕賱賷亘 丕賱賲匕賰賵乇丞 賱賷爻 賲賳鬲卮乇丕 賰賲丕 賷賳亘睾賶 .
丕爻丕爻 丕賱賰鬲丕亘 賴賵 丕孬亘丕鬲 禺胤兀 丕賳 丕賱丿賲丕睾 睾賷乇 賯丕亘賱 賱賱鬲睾賷乇 賵丕賳 賲賳 賷氐丕亘 亘爻賰鬲丕鬲 丿賲丕睾賷丞 丕賵 噩賱胤丕鬲 丕賵 丕賶 賲卮賰賱丞 賮賶 丕賱賲禺 賱賳 賷爻鬲胤賷毓 丕賱毓賵丿丞 賱賷賰賵賳 亘禺賷乇 . 丕賱賰鬲丕亘 賷孬亘鬲 賲乇賵賳丞 丕賱丿賲丕睾 丕賵 賲丕賷爻賲賶 亘丕賱賱丿賵賳丞 丕賱毓氐亘賷丞 . 丕賱賰鬲丕亘 氐乇禺丞 丕賲賱 賱賲賳 亘鬲毓丕賮賶 賲賳 爻賰鬲丕鬲 丿賲丕睾賷丞. 賵賷噩亘 丕賳 賷鬲鬲卮乇 亘卮賰賱 兀賵爻毓
丕賱賰鬲丕亘 賲丿禺賱 賱賲毓乇賮丞 丕丿賲睾鬲賳丕 亘胤乇賷賯丞 丕賮囟賱 賵丕賲賱 賱賳丕 丕賳賳丕 賲賳 丕賱賲賲賰賳 丕賳 賳氐亘丨 丕賮囟賱 .
廿丨爻丕爻 賲卮 賯丕丿乇丞 丕賵氐賮賴 賰丕賳 賲賱丕夭賲賳賶 胤賵賱 賯乇丕賷鬲賶 賱賱賰鬲丕亘 丨丕賱丞 賲賳 丕賱賳卮賵丞 貙 睾賷乇 丕賱鬲氐丿賷賯 貙 丕賱丕毓噩丕亘 貙 亘丕禺鬲氐丕乇 丨丕賱丞 賲賳 丕賱丕賳亘賴丕乇 .
賵賱賳 鬲爻鬲胤賷毓 丕賳 鬲賯乇丕 賴匕丕 丕賱賰鬲丕亘 丿賵賳 丕賳 鬲賯賵賱 爻亘丨丕賳 丕賱賱賴 毓囟賵 賵丕丨丿 賮賷賴 丕賱丕賲賰丕賳賷丕鬲 丕賱毓馗賷賲丞 丿賶 . 丕賱丨賲丿 賱賱賴
February 22, 2009
This book was amazing. Not a real page-turner, but a fascinating look at the brain's ability to rewire itself and grow/change beyond our expectation.
Praise the Lord who made our brains so complex and adept at fulfilling their purpose!
I especially liked the chapters that dealt with autism, and overcoming disabilities. If you are interested in neuroplasticity, brain maps, or just want some ideas about keeping your brain in shape as you age - you may want to read this book.
(I didn't particularly like the chapter 4 - it dealt with the brain's role in adapting sexual attraction, and got a bit graphic for me. But that chapter could be skipped over and the message of the book would still be intact.)
Praise the Lord who made our brains so complex and adept at fulfilling their purpose!
I especially liked the chapters that dealt with autism, and overcoming disabilities. If you are interested in neuroplasticity, brain maps, or just want some ideas about keeping your brain in shape as you age - you may want to read this book.
(I didn't particularly like the chapter 4 - it dealt with the brain's role in adapting sexual attraction, and got a bit graphic for me. But that chapter could be skipped over and the message of the book would still be intact.)
December 1, 2016
The Brain that Slowly Changes Itself, If You Work Really Hard at It
It was once thought that the brain was a complex machine, with each part performing a single dedicated function. If a part broke you lost that function. This book is about 鈥渂rain plasticity鈥�, the concept that the brain can change the way it functions. For example, if one goes blind the part of the brain responsible for sight may be re-wired to improve the sense of hearing or touch. As Doidge puts it:
鈥淭here is an endless war of nerves going on inside each of our brains. If we stop exercising our mental skills, the brain map for those skills is turned over for something else. Brain maps are governed by competition for precious resources and the principle of use it or lose it.鈥�
Doidge鈥檚 books are known mainly for giving hope to those who have suffered brain injuries such as strokes. A typical case study is about a man who suffered a severe stroke that left him mostly paralyzed, with little hope for recovery. Observing that he seemed like a baby, his son spent the next year having his father follow the same process a baby uses to learn to walk. His father was eventually able to resume his hobby of walking in the mountains.
Before we talk about miracle cures, it is critical to note that the 鈥減lastic鈥� is very stiff and resistant to change, and it takes months or years to adapt a part of the brain to a different purpose. The patient must do a vast amount of work over a long time. Doidge claims the reason traditional physiotherapy often fails is because they give up if there is no progress after a few months, which is not long enough.
I think the most interesting parts of the book are related to Doidge鈥檚 perspective as a psychoanalyst. He suggests that all learning and experience is about wiring the brain. Consider the amount of time and repetition required to learn to speak, read, or play a musical instrument. Brain dis-function, or neurosis, is acquired the same way, by the repetition of negative experiences. The purpose of talk therapy is help the patient re-wire the brain to produce a better outcome. Given the amount of brain 鈥渟tiffness鈥�, no amount of therapy will be sufficient unless the patient takes on the responsibility to constantly challenge and correct the malfunctioning circuits.
Re-Wiring Education
This book directly challenges the modern educational practice of 鈥渃ompensation鈥�, which is to avoid any activity that is difficult for the student, and instead find a way to work around it. A learning disability can be seen as poorly functioning brain path. Doidge provides us with several case studies where intensive therapy was able to correct this kind of problem. Interestingly, this sometimes led to other learning problems also being resolved, as though a missing piece in the puzzle had been restored. The message is that it may be better to address the cause of learning problems rather than trying to avoid them. He reminds us,
鈥淭raditional education recognized that children鈥檚 brains had to be built up through exercises of increasing difficulty that strengthened brain functions. A classical education included rote memorization of long poems in foreign languages, which strengthened the auditory memory (hence thinking in language) and an almost fanatical attention to handwriting, which helped strengthened motor capacities and added speed and fluency to reading and speaking.鈥�
There is no single educational model that can work for everybody, but some the methods of the past that we have abandoned may have worked well for some students.
The Pornography Disaster
鈥淗uman beings exhibit an extraordinary degree of sexual plasticity compared with other creatures. No other instinct can so satisfy without accomplishing its biological purpose, and no other instinct is so disconnected from that purpose.鈥�
A now ubiquitous instructional program to disconnect sexuality from its purpose is called pornography. In his words,
鈥淗ard-core porn unmasks some of the early neural networks that formed in the critical periods of sexual development and brings all these early, forgotten, or repressed elements together to form a new network, in which all the features are wired together. He has created a kind of 'neosexuality', a rebuilt libido that has strong roots in his buried sexual tendencies.鈥�
Frequently repeated attempts to attain pleasure lead to addiction, which involves long-term neuroplastic changes in the brain. As he puts it, 鈥淭he men at their computers looking at porn are uncannily like experimental rats in cages, pressing the bar to get a shot of dopamine.鈥� He should know, as part of his practice is trying to rehabilitate these victims. They come to him because they are attracted to an impossible fantasy, and can no longer find their real life partner sexually attractive.
It is left unsaid that there are other victims of pornography, which depicts women in a perverted and degrading form. Why is there a wall of silence around this subject, especially from so-called feminists?
Well Worth Reading
I found this book well worth reading. It challenges some of the assumptions of both medicine and education. One concept never mentioned in the book is cost. Time is money, and changing our stiff-plastic brains is very time consuming. Reading his therapy case studies, with people working all day, every day for months and years, I could not help wondering who was going to get the bill? Can we as a society afford to do this for everybody who could potentially be helped?
I have good reason to be suspicious of any popular book that makes claims about healing. However, a search through critical expert reviews turned up nothing that specifically debunks what he is saying. A morally bankrupt objection came from a doctor who feared his patients would feel guilty if they learn their condition can be improved through hard work! The content is in line with what I am learning elsewhere about neurobiology. Therefore I consider the book to be credible.
Don鈥檛 skip the last two chapters, called appendices, which put his findings of individual brain plasticity into a social context. He reminds us, 鈥淐ivilization is a set of techniques to rewire the brain. But civilization is only one generation deep.鈥� Indeed.
It was once thought that the brain was a complex machine, with each part performing a single dedicated function. If a part broke you lost that function. This book is about 鈥渂rain plasticity鈥�, the concept that the brain can change the way it functions. For example, if one goes blind the part of the brain responsible for sight may be re-wired to improve the sense of hearing or touch. As Doidge puts it:
鈥淭here is an endless war of nerves going on inside each of our brains. If we stop exercising our mental skills, the brain map for those skills is turned over for something else. Brain maps are governed by competition for precious resources and the principle of use it or lose it.鈥�
Doidge鈥檚 books are known mainly for giving hope to those who have suffered brain injuries such as strokes. A typical case study is about a man who suffered a severe stroke that left him mostly paralyzed, with little hope for recovery. Observing that he seemed like a baby, his son spent the next year having his father follow the same process a baby uses to learn to walk. His father was eventually able to resume his hobby of walking in the mountains.
Before we talk about miracle cures, it is critical to note that the 鈥減lastic鈥� is very stiff and resistant to change, and it takes months or years to adapt a part of the brain to a different purpose. The patient must do a vast amount of work over a long time. Doidge claims the reason traditional physiotherapy often fails is because they give up if there is no progress after a few months, which is not long enough.
I think the most interesting parts of the book are related to Doidge鈥檚 perspective as a psychoanalyst. He suggests that all learning and experience is about wiring the brain. Consider the amount of time and repetition required to learn to speak, read, or play a musical instrument. Brain dis-function, or neurosis, is acquired the same way, by the repetition of negative experiences. The purpose of talk therapy is help the patient re-wire the brain to produce a better outcome. Given the amount of brain 鈥渟tiffness鈥�, no amount of therapy will be sufficient unless the patient takes on the responsibility to constantly challenge and correct the malfunctioning circuits.
Re-Wiring Education
This book directly challenges the modern educational practice of 鈥渃ompensation鈥�, which is to avoid any activity that is difficult for the student, and instead find a way to work around it. A learning disability can be seen as poorly functioning brain path. Doidge provides us with several case studies where intensive therapy was able to correct this kind of problem. Interestingly, this sometimes led to other learning problems also being resolved, as though a missing piece in the puzzle had been restored. The message is that it may be better to address the cause of learning problems rather than trying to avoid them. He reminds us,
鈥淭raditional education recognized that children鈥檚 brains had to be built up through exercises of increasing difficulty that strengthened brain functions. A classical education included rote memorization of long poems in foreign languages, which strengthened the auditory memory (hence thinking in language) and an almost fanatical attention to handwriting, which helped strengthened motor capacities and added speed and fluency to reading and speaking.鈥�
There is no single educational model that can work for everybody, but some the methods of the past that we have abandoned may have worked well for some students.
The Pornography Disaster
鈥淗uman beings exhibit an extraordinary degree of sexual plasticity compared with other creatures. No other instinct can so satisfy without accomplishing its biological purpose, and no other instinct is so disconnected from that purpose.鈥�
A now ubiquitous instructional program to disconnect sexuality from its purpose is called pornography. In his words,
鈥淗ard-core porn unmasks some of the early neural networks that formed in the critical periods of sexual development and brings all these early, forgotten, or repressed elements together to form a new network, in which all the features are wired together. He has created a kind of 'neosexuality', a rebuilt libido that has strong roots in his buried sexual tendencies.鈥�
Frequently repeated attempts to attain pleasure lead to addiction, which involves long-term neuroplastic changes in the brain. As he puts it, 鈥淭he men at their computers looking at porn are uncannily like experimental rats in cages, pressing the bar to get a shot of dopamine.鈥� He should know, as part of his practice is trying to rehabilitate these victims. They come to him because they are attracted to an impossible fantasy, and can no longer find their real life partner sexually attractive.
It is left unsaid that there are other victims of pornography, which depicts women in a perverted and degrading form. Why is there a wall of silence around this subject, especially from so-called feminists?
Well Worth Reading
I found this book well worth reading. It challenges some of the assumptions of both medicine and education. One concept never mentioned in the book is cost. Time is money, and changing our stiff-plastic brains is very time consuming. Reading his therapy case studies, with people working all day, every day for months and years, I could not help wondering who was going to get the bill? Can we as a society afford to do this for everybody who could potentially be helped?
I have good reason to be suspicious of any popular book that makes claims about healing. However, a search through critical expert reviews turned up nothing that specifically debunks what he is saying. A morally bankrupt objection came from a doctor who feared his patients would feel guilty if they learn their condition can be improved through hard work! The content is in line with what I am learning elsewhere about neurobiology. Therefore I consider the book to be credible.
Don鈥檛 skip the last two chapters, called appendices, which put his findings of individual brain plasticity into a social context. He reminds us, 鈥淐ivilization is a set of techniques to rewire the brain. But civilization is only one generation deep.鈥� Indeed.
November 28, 2016
Hmmm..... This book started out quite interesting but unfortunately I haven't been able to continue reading it. The description of testing on animals started in Chapter 3 and continued in Chapter 4. As an animal lover and animal rights campaigner, I just could not bear to read the detailed descriptions of the torture these poor animals were put through.
June 29, 2015
This is a must-read for anyone in healthcare. An interesting and important read for everyone else. Cleverly done - he takes real stories about people who have changed their brains, the way they move, communicate, think, act, etc., and discusses the science behind it. He does this in an easy, fascinating way. Another interesting aspect is his discussion on the history behind neuroplasticity. We have known for years that our brain can change.
When I became a nurse we were taught that your brain is the way it is. When you have a stroke, you are done. If you are born with a deformity or disability, you are incapable of improvements. I'M PROUD TO SAY THIS IS NOT TRUE! I never believed people couldn't change. It simply didn't make sense. I would watch people learn to walk again after a major stroke.
This is not a self-help how-to type book. However, if you need encouragement to change in ANY WAY, this will do just that. This is a book discussing plasticity, and how real it is.
A++
When I became a nurse we were taught that your brain is the way it is. When you have a stroke, you are done. If you are born with a deformity or disability, you are incapable of improvements. I'M PROUD TO SAY THIS IS NOT TRUE! I never believed people couldn't change. It simply didn't make sense. I would watch people learn to walk again after a major stroke.
This is not a self-help how-to type book. However, if you need encouragement to change in ANY WAY, this will do just that. This is a book discussing plasticity, and how real it is.
A++
July 8, 2020
Conservatives are an especially fear-prone group. In a 2008 paper in the journal Science, researchers subjected a group of adults with strong political beliefs to a set of startling noises and graphic images. Those with the strongest physical reactions were more likely to support capital punishment, defense spending and the war in Iraq.
A 2011 paper in the journal Cell found a correlation between conservative leanings and the size of the right amygdala, the portion of the brain that processes emotions in response to fearful stimuli. In her book Irony and Outrage, University of Delaware professor Dannagal Young points out that liberals and conservatives respond differently to entertainment rhetoric: Liberals have a higher tolerance for open-ended ambiguity, while conservatives look for closure and want problems to be solved.
A 2011 paper in the journal Cell found a correlation between conservative leanings and the size of the right amygdala, the portion of the brain that processes emotions in response to fearful stimuli. In her book Irony and Outrage, University of Delaware professor Dannagal Young points out that liberals and conservatives respond differently to entertainment rhetoric: Liberals have a higher tolerance for open-ended ambiguity, while conservatives look for closure and want problems to be solved.
December 20, 2008
The book is about neuroplasticity: the idea that our thoughts and experiences can rewire and change the structure of our brains. This may sound like a revolutionary idea in an age when too many people talk about a brain hardwired by our genes, and the author certainly dramatizes this point and wants to portray his book as representing a novel and ground-breaking idea, but somehow what the book says didn鈥檛 come across to me as revolutionary as it claims. Maybe because I鈥檝e already read Ramachandran and was familiar with some of these 鈥渘europlasticity鈥� ideas? I don鈥檛 know. Some ideas in this book are common sense and common knowledge, like avoiding Alzheimer鈥檚 disease in the old age by living a life of intense mental activity.
The author seems to have ignored the basic rule of science that you cannot make general claims based on some individual cases. I blame that on his being a psychoanalyst. His long chapter on neuroplasticity providing a scientific explanation for psychoanalysis (aren鈥檛 psychoanalysts sore about being snubbed by hard scientists!) left me scratching my head. Some inveterate and hardened middle-aged man named Mr. L. finally breaks down after long sessions of analysis and cries, I want my mommy. I wondered what that had to do with neuroplasticity. The chapter on love, sex, and pornography (what a trio) makes all sorts of over-generalized claims. There are parts of the book that sound like a sales pitch for the products of companies that are doing research in neuroplasticity. However, there are also a few fascinating stories in the book that show a radical restructuring of the brain when individuals are subjected to drastically different life experiences or stimulating brain exercise programs.
The author seems to have ignored the basic rule of science that you cannot make general claims based on some individual cases. I blame that on his being a psychoanalyst. His long chapter on neuroplasticity providing a scientific explanation for psychoanalysis (aren鈥檛 psychoanalysts sore about being snubbed by hard scientists!) left me scratching my head. Some inveterate and hardened middle-aged man named Mr. L. finally breaks down after long sessions of analysis and cries, I want my mommy. I wondered what that had to do with neuroplasticity. The chapter on love, sex, and pornography (what a trio) makes all sorts of over-generalized claims. There are parts of the book that sound like a sales pitch for the products of companies that are doing research in neuroplasticity. However, there are also a few fascinating stories in the book that show a radical restructuring of the brain when individuals are subjected to drastically different life experiences or stimulating brain exercise programs.
April 18, 2020
I read this book in three different positions and each position in a particular angle to the screen. The interesting thing I noticed is that when I changed the usual angle, I was having more struggle to track down the lines and the content and a following significant change in the pace. Over the course of reading, I could see an improvement in reading in different angles which was pretty much proportional to the content of this book, Plasticity. Brain plasticity is truly a gift, which allows us to adapt to a vast range of environments. How fundamentally training shapes and rewires brain is presented in several accounts and in different frames in this book. How neurons and different brain parts operating to shape certain plastic changes are very insightful and interesting facts about the underlying process of our brains.
Plasticity vs localizationism: Plasticity is an almost new field which revolutionized neuroscience and went directly against the localizationism and the notion of hardwired brains. Therefore plasticity is a science that proves not only brain is not like a hardwired structure of circuits, but also it can be rewired over time provided by numerous experimental cases by pioneers of the science of plasticity like Paul Bach-y-Rita, Merzenich, Ramachandran, Schwartz, Pascual-Leone, and etc. Neuroplastic research has shown us that every sustained activity ever mapped鈥攊ncluding physical activities, sensory activities, learning, thinking, and imagining鈥攃hanges the brain as well as the mind.
Plasticity and rewiring: Many tastes we think 鈥渘atural鈥� are acquired through learning and become 鈥渟econd nature鈥� to us. We are unable to distinguish our 鈥渟econd nature鈥� from our 鈥渙riginal nature鈥� because our neuroplastic brains, once rewired, develop a new nature, every bit as biological as our original.
Plasticity and Unlearning: The science of unlearning is a very new one. Because plasticity is competitive, when a person develops a neural network, it becomes efficient and self-sustaining and, like a habit, hard to unlearn.
Different chemistries are involved in learning than in unlearning. When we learn something new, neurons fire together and wire together, and a chemical process occurs at the neuronal level called 鈥渓ong-term potentiation,鈥� or LTP, which strengthens the connections between the neurons. When the brain unlearns associations and disconnects neurons, another chemical process occurs, called 鈥渓ong-term depression,鈥� or LTD (which has nothing to do with a depressed mood state). Unlearning and weakening connections between neurons is just as plastic a process, and just as important, as learning and strengthening them. If we only strengthened connections, our neuronal networks would get saturated. Evidence suggests that unlearning existing memories is necessary to make room for new memories in our networks.
Plasticity and OCD(Obsessive Compulsive Disorder): Schwartz set out to develop a treatment that would change the OCD circuit by unlocking the link between the orbital cortex and the cingulate and normalizing the functioning of the caudate. Schwartz wondered whether patients could shift the caudate 鈥渕anually鈥� by paying constant, effortful attention and actively focusing on something besides the worry, such as a new, pleasurable activity. This approach makes plastic sense because it 鈥済rows鈥� a new brain circuit that gives pleasure and triggers dopamine release which, as we have seen, rewards the new activity and consolidates and grows new neuronal connections. This new circuit can eventually compete with the older one, and according to use it or lose it, the pathological networks will weaken. With this treatment we don鈥檛 so much 鈥渂reak鈥� bad habits as replace bad behaviors with better ones.
Plasticity and Pain: Ramachandran developed the idea that pain is a complex system under the plastic brain鈥檚 control. He summed this up as follows: 鈥淧ain is an opinion on the organism鈥檚 state of health rather than a mere reflexive response to injury.鈥� The brain gathers evidence from many sources before triggering pain. He has also said that 鈥減ain is an illusion鈥� and that 鈥渙ur mind is a virtual reality machine,鈥� which experiences the world indirectly and processes it at one remove, constructing a model in our head. So pain, like the body image, is a construct of our brain.
Plasticity and Imagination: Whats several 鈥渋maginary鈥� experiments show is how truly integrated imagination and action are, despite the fact that we tend to think of imagination and action as completely different and subject to different rules. But consider this: in some cases, the faster you can imagine something, the faster you can do it. Jean Decety of Lyon, France, has done different versions of a simple experiment. When you time how long it takes to imagine writing your name with your 鈥済ood hand,鈥� and then actually write it, the times will be similar. When you imagine writing your name with your nondominant hand, it will take longer both to imagine it and to write it. Most people who are right-handed find that their 鈥渕ental left hand鈥� is slower than their 鈥渕ental right hand.鈥� In studies of patients with stroke or Parkinson鈥檚 disease (which causes people鈥檚 movements to slow), Decety observed that patients took longer to imagine moving the affected limb than the unaffected one. Both mental imagery and actions are thought to be slowed because they both are products of the same motor program in the brain. The speed with which we imagine is probably constrained by the neuronal firing rate of our motor programs.
Plasticity vs localizationism: Plasticity is an almost new field which revolutionized neuroscience and went directly against the localizationism and the notion of hardwired brains. Therefore plasticity is a science that proves not only brain is not like a hardwired structure of circuits, but also it can be rewired over time provided by numerous experimental cases by pioneers of the science of plasticity like Paul Bach-y-Rita, Merzenich, Ramachandran, Schwartz, Pascual-Leone, and etc. Neuroplastic research has shown us that every sustained activity ever mapped鈥攊ncluding physical activities, sensory activities, learning, thinking, and imagining鈥攃hanges the brain as well as the mind.
Plasticity and rewiring: Many tastes we think 鈥渘atural鈥� are acquired through learning and become 鈥渟econd nature鈥� to us. We are unable to distinguish our 鈥渟econd nature鈥� from our 鈥渙riginal nature鈥� because our neuroplastic brains, once rewired, develop a new nature, every bit as biological as our original.
Plasticity and Unlearning: The science of unlearning is a very new one. Because plasticity is competitive, when a person develops a neural network, it becomes efficient and self-sustaining and, like a habit, hard to unlearn.
Different chemistries are involved in learning than in unlearning. When we learn something new, neurons fire together and wire together, and a chemical process occurs at the neuronal level called 鈥渓ong-term potentiation,鈥� or LTP, which strengthens the connections between the neurons. When the brain unlearns associations and disconnects neurons, another chemical process occurs, called 鈥渓ong-term depression,鈥� or LTD (which has nothing to do with a depressed mood state). Unlearning and weakening connections between neurons is just as plastic a process, and just as important, as learning and strengthening them. If we only strengthened connections, our neuronal networks would get saturated. Evidence suggests that unlearning existing memories is necessary to make room for new memories in our networks.
Plasticity and OCD(Obsessive Compulsive Disorder): Schwartz set out to develop a treatment that would change the OCD circuit by unlocking the link between the orbital cortex and the cingulate and normalizing the functioning of the caudate. Schwartz wondered whether patients could shift the caudate 鈥渕anually鈥� by paying constant, effortful attention and actively focusing on something besides the worry, such as a new, pleasurable activity. This approach makes plastic sense because it 鈥済rows鈥� a new brain circuit that gives pleasure and triggers dopamine release which, as we have seen, rewards the new activity and consolidates and grows new neuronal connections. This new circuit can eventually compete with the older one, and according to use it or lose it, the pathological networks will weaken. With this treatment we don鈥檛 so much 鈥渂reak鈥� bad habits as replace bad behaviors with better ones.
Plasticity and Pain: Ramachandran developed the idea that pain is a complex system under the plastic brain鈥檚 control. He summed this up as follows: 鈥淧ain is an opinion on the organism鈥檚 state of health rather than a mere reflexive response to injury.鈥� The brain gathers evidence from many sources before triggering pain. He has also said that 鈥減ain is an illusion鈥� and that 鈥渙ur mind is a virtual reality machine,鈥� which experiences the world indirectly and processes it at one remove, constructing a model in our head. So pain, like the body image, is a construct of our brain.
Plasticity and Imagination: Whats several 鈥渋maginary鈥� experiments show is how truly integrated imagination and action are, despite the fact that we tend to think of imagination and action as completely different and subject to different rules. But consider this: in some cases, the faster you can imagine something, the faster you can do it. Jean Decety of Lyon, France, has done different versions of a simple experiment. When you time how long it takes to imagine writing your name with your 鈥済ood hand,鈥� and then actually write it, the times will be similar. When you imagine writing your name with your nondominant hand, it will take longer both to imagine it and to write it. Most people who are right-handed find that their 鈥渕ental left hand鈥� is slower than their 鈥渕ental right hand.鈥� In studies of patients with stroke or Parkinson鈥檚 disease (which causes people鈥檚 movements to slow), Decety observed that patients took longer to imagine moving the affected limb than the unaffected one. Both mental imagery and actions are thought to be slowed because they both are products of the same motor program in the brain. The speed with which we imagine is probably constrained by the neuronal firing rate of our motor programs.
April 7, 2020
I think I'm decided on 2.5 stars now, but this book is exceedingly difficult to rate.
On the one hand, the science of neuroplasticity, the idea that the brain can change and adapt throughout its lifetime, is fascinating stuff. I really can't put into words how much this scientific theory thrills me. It also, in many ways, makes so much sense; the discussions on adult language learning, in particular, felt much closer to reality, than the conventional belief that the brain is only capable of fully adapting to an unfamiliar language as a child:
Now time for the other hand. I began questioning early on if Doidge was himself a "scientist", because he was acting in way scientists never would; he was consistently over-generalising and relaying on such individual, specific cases to make grandiose claims about everyone. I'm not a scientist either, but this failed to convince and really left me confused about the reliability on the rest of the book. The chapter on "sexual perversions" was terrible, with descriptions of child sexual abuse for reasons that I failed to grasp and questionable conclusions on people's individual sexual preferences. Difference does not mean people's brains are necessarily "wrong". He also writes a long chapter claiming that neuroplasticity gives psychoanalysis a scientific basis and constantly quotes Freud. I also don't believe neuroplasticity is quite as controversial as Doidge was trying to make out, although that might be down to this book originally being published in 2007.
Finally, there is also in-depth discussion of animal cruelty in scientific experiments. Now, I fully accept that there are strong arguments on both sides on why animal testing is needed/not needed, right/not right, and I personally I am not completely against animal testing if it is properly regulated and there are limits, but some of the descriptions here were clearly excessive. And I don't mean the experiments themselves, I mean how Doidge chose to describe them in such excruciating detail. It was just not necessary. I found the tone (matter-of-fact, no big deal, shrug) really strange at these points, and I honestly had to skim sections here, because it was just too much. So I advise people to be careful going into this book, if you think that might affect you.
I would have loved this book if it was written by a neuroscientist. Looking it up quickly now, Dodige seems to be a psychologist and/or science journalist, and I can't help coming away feeling fairly dubious about a lot of the claims made. There's got to be a better book on this very topic out there somewhere.
On the one hand, the science of neuroplasticity, the idea that the brain can change and adapt throughout its lifetime, is fascinating stuff. I really can't put into words how much this scientific theory thrills me. It also, in many ways, makes so much sense; the discussions on adult language learning, in particular, felt much closer to reality, than the conventional belief that the brain is only capable of fully adapting to an unfamiliar language as a child:
Competitive plasticity in adults even explains some of our limitations. Think of the difficulty most adults have in learning a second language. The conventional view now is that the difficulty arises because the critical period for language learning has ended, leaving us with a brain too rigid to change its structure on a large scale. But the discovery of competitive plasticity suggests there is more to it. As we age, the more we use our native language, the more it comes to dominate our linguistic map space. Thus it is also because our brain is plastic鈥攁nd because plasticity is competitive鈥攖hat it is so hard to learn a new language and end the tyranny of the mother tongue. But why, if this is true, is it easier to learn a second language when we are young? Is there not competition then too? Not really. If two languages are learned at the same time, during the critical period, both get a foothold. Brain scans, says Merzenich, show that in a bilingual child all the sounds of its two languages share a single large map, a library of sounds from both languages.Neuoroplasticity also offers an answer to the question on pain in "phantom" limbs鈥攖hat is, the question on why some of owners of limbs that have been lost still suffer from pain "from" the lost limb. This also gives rise to an amazing theory about pain really being based in the brain:
But as phantoms show, we don鈥檛 need a body part or even pain receptors to feel pain. We need only a body image, produced by our brain maps. People with actual limbs don鈥檛 usually realize this, because the body images of our limbs are perfectly projected onto our actual limbs, making it impossible to distinguish our body image from our body. 鈥淵our own body is a phantom,鈥� says Ramachandran, 鈥渙ne that your brain has constructed purely for convenience.鈥�I could go on, but I'll limit myself to just these two examples, but the incredible stories on brains radically restructuring really made this worth a read.
Now time for the other hand. I began questioning early on if Doidge was himself a "scientist", because he was acting in way scientists never would; he was consistently over-generalising and relaying on such individual, specific cases to make grandiose claims about everyone. I'm not a scientist either, but this failed to convince and really left me confused about the reliability on the rest of the book. The chapter on "sexual perversions" was terrible, with descriptions of child sexual abuse for reasons that I failed to grasp and questionable conclusions on people's individual sexual preferences. Difference does not mean people's brains are necessarily "wrong". He also writes a long chapter claiming that neuroplasticity gives psychoanalysis a scientific basis and constantly quotes Freud. I also don't believe neuroplasticity is quite as controversial as Doidge was trying to make out, although that might be down to this book originally being published in 2007.
Finally, there is also in-depth discussion of animal cruelty in scientific experiments. Now, I fully accept that there are strong arguments on both sides on why animal testing is needed/not needed, right/not right, and I personally I am not completely against animal testing if it is properly regulated and there are limits, but some of the descriptions here were clearly excessive. And I don't mean the experiments themselves, I mean how Doidge chose to describe them in such excruciating detail. It was just not necessary. I found the tone (matter-of-fact, no big deal, shrug) really strange at these points, and I honestly had to skim sections here, because it was just too much. So I advise people to be careful going into this book, if you think that might affect you.
I would have loved this book if it was written by a neuroscientist. Looking it up quickly now, Dodige seems to be a psychologist and/or science journalist, and I can't help coming away feeling fairly dubious about a lot of the claims made. There's got to be a better book on this very topic out there somewhere.
December 27, 2014
As scientists have learned more about the brain, they've come to reject the idea that it is a fixed hardwired machine as previously thought, but instead a malleable and flexible structure that can change throughout our lifespan in ways that we are only just beginning to appreciate.
Each chapter in The Brain That Changes Itself deals with a theme that explores the plastic nature of the brain and an individual story that highlights that particular theme. From treating stroke victims to those suffering from learning disabilities or struggling to recover from psychological trauma to those looking to protect themselves against or reverse mental decline and dementia, understanding the plastic and restorative nature of the brain offers new hope and options in achieving brain health and better quality of life for many who had little to no hope before.
Like any emerging science, the "research" has to be taken at face value. Yet I think this book does a good job of introducing the changing attitudes about the brain, how it works, and what those new attitudes mean from a clinical perspective.
At times, some chapters sounded like infomercials for a particular treatment/technique, though I think this was simply enthusiasm on the author's part, perhaps to honor the men and women who contributed to this book.
Obviously we haven't figured the brain out, but with each new discovery we find another small piece of the puzzle and Doidge did a good job of introducing the concept of neuroplasticity, how we got there scientifically, and its implications.
Some of the reviews I read found fault with the chapter on sex, which talked about the addictive side of pornography among other things. I personally didn't find it offensive or prudish, and it was consistent with other things I have read. At the very minimum, Doidge makes some valid points, although this particular chapter felt more biased than the others and seemed to be less cohesive in terms of its overall presentation.
I also enjoyed the Appendixes which delved into the social implications of brain plasticity. For example, genetics influences brain development which influences culture, but culture can also influence the structure of the brain. Furthermore, the malleable nature of the brain can have negative consequences and those are briefly explored.
Bottom line, a good read that I would recommend to those interested in brain science, specifically the plastic nature of the brain and the practical implications.
Each chapter in The Brain That Changes Itself deals with a theme that explores the plastic nature of the brain and an individual story that highlights that particular theme. From treating stroke victims to those suffering from learning disabilities or struggling to recover from psychological trauma to those looking to protect themselves against or reverse mental decline and dementia, understanding the plastic and restorative nature of the brain offers new hope and options in achieving brain health and better quality of life for many who had little to no hope before.
Like any emerging science, the "research" has to be taken at face value. Yet I think this book does a good job of introducing the changing attitudes about the brain, how it works, and what those new attitudes mean from a clinical perspective.
At times, some chapters sounded like infomercials for a particular treatment/technique, though I think this was simply enthusiasm on the author's part, perhaps to honor the men and women who contributed to this book.
Obviously we haven't figured the brain out, but with each new discovery we find another small piece of the puzzle and Doidge did a good job of introducing the concept of neuroplasticity, how we got there scientifically, and its implications.
Some of the reviews I read found fault with the chapter on sex, which talked about the addictive side of pornography among other things. I personally didn't find it offensive or prudish, and it was consistent with other things I have read. At the very minimum, Doidge makes some valid points, although this particular chapter felt more biased than the others and seemed to be less cohesive in terms of its overall presentation.
I also enjoyed the Appendixes which delved into the social implications of brain plasticity. For example, genetics influences brain development which influences culture, but culture can also influence the structure of the brain. Furthermore, the malleable nature of the brain can have negative consequences and those are briefly explored.
Bottom line, a good read that I would recommend to those interested in brain science, specifically the plastic nature of the brain and the practical implications.
February 26, 2020
We can alter the structure of our brains, at will, by the way we behave and think. This radical truth entered mainstream neuroscience about 30 years ago, finally shattering the earlier belief in fixed regions of the brain.
鈥淣eurons that fire together wire together.鈥� If repeated, the connections get stronger. Unused connections wither away 鈥� use it or lose it. Therein lies what Doidge calls the 鈥楶lastic Paradox鈥�. With commitment, we can expand our brains by learning new skills, at any age, and open up the quality of our lives. Without this, the brain will wire existing habits and thought patterns more tightly into ever deepening ruts producing rigid thinking and narrow lives that are hard to change.
Nothing is fixed. Everything is up for grabs. Cultural and religious beliefs, sexual predilections, the sources of depression and anxiety, and much more, are all post-natal wiring that can, in theory, be disentangled and rewired. And the brain鈥檚 ability to find neuronal rat-runs, or create new ones, in response to injury (including stroke) is staggering, admittedly with much effort.
The brain reshapes in response to sustained, focused attention on something new. Skills that have cognitive and physical elements - learning a musical instrument, dancing, drawing 鈥� are especially potent, as are skills that combine the senses such as learning a new language. GoodReaders will be gratified to learn that intense reading of new material also makes the grade. Novelty is indispensible.
Good general health is critical, especially sufficient sleep when new skills are wired and memories embedded. Regular exercise encourages the growth of new neurons from stem cells; alcohol does not. The brain鈥檚 blood supply is protected by a healthy diet and not smoking. No surprises here.
My attention was drawn to reducing the risks of dementia, though the book has a far wider reach than this. It is fascinating that we can alter the structure of our brains as we can alter the shape of our bodies through exercise, and glean such huge benefits as a result. It is no surprise that people who are educated (in the broadest sense) and who continue to explore new cognitive territory are less prone to dementia than those who sink into passive comfort zones.
This book was quite a challenging read and assumed some knowledge of neuro-anatomy in the reader. The content is so fascinating, however, that it more than compensates for the rather heavy writing.
鈥淣eurons that fire together wire together.鈥� If repeated, the connections get stronger. Unused connections wither away 鈥� use it or lose it. Therein lies what Doidge calls the 鈥楶lastic Paradox鈥�. With commitment, we can expand our brains by learning new skills, at any age, and open up the quality of our lives. Without this, the brain will wire existing habits and thought patterns more tightly into ever deepening ruts producing rigid thinking and narrow lives that are hard to change.
Nothing is fixed. Everything is up for grabs. Cultural and religious beliefs, sexual predilections, the sources of depression and anxiety, and much more, are all post-natal wiring that can, in theory, be disentangled and rewired. And the brain鈥檚 ability to find neuronal rat-runs, or create new ones, in response to injury (including stroke) is staggering, admittedly with much effort.
The brain reshapes in response to sustained, focused attention on something new. Skills that have cognitive and physical elements - learning a musical instrument, dancing, drawing 鈥� are especially potent, as are skills that combine the senses such as learning a new language. GoodReaders will be gratified to learn that intense reading of new material also makes the grade. Novelty is indispensible.
Good general health is critical, especially sufficient sleep when new skills are wired and memories embedded. Regular exercise encourages the growth of new neurons from stem cells; alcohol does not. The brain鈥檚 blood supply is protected by a healthy diet and not smoking. No surprises here.
My attention was drawn to reducing the risks of dementia, though the book has a far wider reach than this. It is fascinating that we can alter the structure of our brains as we can alter the shape of our bodies through exercise, and glean such huge benefits as a result. It is no surprise that people who are educated (in the broadest sense) and who continue to explore new cognitive territory are less prone to dementia than those who sink into passive comfort zones.
This book was quite a challenging read and assumed some knowledge of neuro-anatomy in the reader. The content is so fascinating, however, that it more than compensates for the rather heavy writing.
March 7, 2021
The Brain that Changes Itself is nominally about neuroplasticity and our growing understanding of it, but if you like your pop sci to have its emphasis on the sci rather than the pop, it's probably not the best book for you to be reading.
It's important to keep in mind that the subtitle is ``Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science''; the main purpose of it is not to inform, but to make you feel good about what the human body can do. And unsurprisingly, a lot of the time the thing that is triumphed over is not just a disability, but also the (as usual largely imaginary) derision and ossification of the Scientific Establishment, which gets incredibly old really quickly.
Doidge does hint at the downsides of neuroplasticity, mostly using the predictable example鈥攑orn addiction. He happily parrots Freud and pulls a whole lot of bullshit about the decline of modern society out of his ass, demonstrating once again why, exactly, only psychologists think psychologists are scientists. For all the sensitivity displayed about physical and mental disabilities, he certainly has no qualms about denouncing perfectly innocent fetishes as ``perversion''.
So it's science in much the same way that science journalism is, nowadays. While there are important insights to be had here, he spends too much time focussing on the human interest side of things, and grossly overstating how controversial neuroplasticity is. It's definitely one of those books that would have been great if it had been written by a scientist, but as it is, it's barely a few steps above day-time television.
(The appendices, incidentally, are even worse than the main body, and an important reason my rating is so low. The first, The Culturally Modified Brain, is guilty of the worst excesses of evolutionary psychology as she is practised, with a healthy dose of cultural condescension thrown in. The second, Plasticity and the Idea of Progress, tries to attribute the concept of neuroplasticity to everyone from Rousseau to Thomas Jefferson. This is the same impulse that credits Democritus with modern atomic theory and Jesus the Buddha with Marxism, and I will never understand it.)
It's important to keep in mind that the subtitle is ``Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science''; the main purpose of it is not to inform, but to make you feel good about what the human body can do. And unsurprisingly, a lot of the time the thing that is triumphed over is not just a disability, but also the (as usual largely imaginary) derision and ossification of the Scientific Establishment, which gets incredibly old really quickly.
Doidge does hint at the downsides of neuroplasticity, mostly using the predictable example鈥攑orn addiction. He happily parrots Freud and pulls a whole lot of bullshit about the decline of modern society out of his ass, demonstrating once again why, exactly, only psychologists think psychologists are scientists. For all the sensitivity displayed about physical and mental disabilities, he certainly has no qualms about denouncing perfectly innocent fetishes as ``perversion''.
So it's science in much the same way that science journalism is, nowadays. While there are important insights to be had here, he spends too much time focussing on the human interest side of things, and grossly overstating how controversial neuroplasticity is. It's definitely one of those books that would have been great if it had been written by a scientist, but as it is, it's barely a few steps above day-time television.
(The appendices, incidentally, are even worse than the main body, and an important reason my rating is so low. The first, The Culturally Modified Brain, is guilty of the worst excesses of evolutionary psychology as she is practised, with a healthy dose of cultural condescension thrown in. The second, Plasticity and the Idea of Progress, tries to attribute the concept of neuroplasticity to everyone from Rousseau to Thomas Jefferson. This is the same impulse that credits Democritus with modern atomic theory and Jesus the Buddha with Marxism, and I will never understand it.)
July 9, 2018
Neuroplasticity as a double-edged sword can cause flexibility or rigidity to the brain tissues.
Neurons in the brain connect themselves as you use them. Each brain function is competing for limited resources and there is limited mapping space. So, what you have worked on the most gets developed. It's similar to physical exercise, the more you practice it in a certain way, the more you will get flexible in certain body parts resulting in more automaticity and the reduction of resources necessary to complete a specific move/task. Conversely, if you don't exercise, you will get overwhelmed and trapped with the same cycle of procrastinating exercise. Furthermore, unlearning is a lot harder than learning in a similar way because every repetition of that old habit made it stronger to change further.
Now, the brain's ability to change depends on learning through experience( outside stimulants, turning on some genes in catalyst environments...).
So, the concept that the certain brain parts were "hardwired" to perform specific tasks were overthrown by its capacity to deny the death of those brain cells( it can simply rewire to accomplish tasks ).
The book was so lucid and well consuming but I don't want to have dinner with Norman Doidge for a personal reason( emotional ok? :P ). He described all those experiments on those poor animals such as rats, monkeys, kitten ... in a zombie mode :(. There is another reason, his attitude seems like " If your brain doesn't work like a so-called functional brain then there is something wrong with your brain, so you have to get better with outside stimulants " ( Pardon me, If I misunderstood him ... and I'm open to reread him again :) )
The concept of "change" itself is a fascinating, open path to be promoted/encouraged but when the ethic propaganda "change is for good/bad/better/worse"
is promoted to control diversity forcefully then it goes really sickening.
But, as a human, I'm full of cognitive dissonances ( :P), so I put 4/5 into my satisfaction level. Because in this case, my left hemisphere reasoning had won the battle against my emotional turndown reasons. :)
Neurons in the brain connect themselves as you use them. Each brain function is competing for limited resources and there is limited mapping space. So, what you have worked on the most gets developed. It's similar to physical exercise, the more you practice it in a certain way, the more you will get flexible in certain body parts resulting in more automaticity and the reduction of resources necessary to complete a specific move/task. Conversely, if you don't exercise, you will get overwhelmed and trapped with the same cycle of procrastinating exercise. Furthermore, unlearning is a lot harder than learning in a similar way because every repetition of that old habit made it stronger to change further.
Now, the brain's ability to change depends on learning through experience( outside stimulants, turning on some genes in catalyst environments...).
So, the concept that the certain brain parts were "hardwired" to perform specific tasks were overthrown by its capacity to deny the death of those brain cells( it can simply rewire to accomplish tasks ).
The book was so lucid and well consuming but I don't want to have dinner with Norman Doidge for a personal reason( emotional ok? :P ). He described all those experiments on those poor animals such as rats, monkeys, kitten ... in a zombie mode :(. There is another reason, his attitude seems like " If your brain doesn't work like a so-called functional brain then there is something wrong with your brain, so you have to get better with outside stimulants " ( Pardon me, If I misunderstood him ... and I'm open to reread him again :) )
The concept of "change" itself is a fascinating, open path to be promoted/encouraged but when the ethic propaganda "change is for good/bad/better/worse"
is promoted to control diversity forcefully then it goes really sickening.
But, as a human, I'm full of cognitive dissonances ( :P), so I put 4/5 into my satisfaction level. Because in this case, my left hemisphere reasoning had won the battle against my emotional turndown reasons. :)
February 1, 2012
I think I would have enjoyed this book had it not been for an off-putting experience early on.
I thought one of the computer programs Doidge describes (and praises highly) might have been valuable for one of my sons. I looked for a website where I could buy it, and found it was one of those sites that sings the product's praises, but reveals nothing about how to buy it, or what it costs. Just "give us your phone number and we'll call you". I distrust sites like that quite a lot. Feels like an invitation to be conned.
So I researched further, and found that they're charging THOUSANDS for access to the program, AND that current research has found it to be ineffective in any case.
So from that point on, the book read like advertising copy to me, not like scientific reporting. Doidge waxes lyrical over many, many, profit-making enterprises which offer hope to people with neurological issues. I'm sure some of the theory described will lead to useful treatments one day, but right now, this book feels to me both dishonest and mercenary. That may be unfair to Doidge, but throughout the rest of the book, he sounded to me like a schill for researchers focused on profit rather than cures. Put me in mind of that awful French obstetrician family who kept the secret of forceps deliveries to themselves for generations, at the cost of many thousands of lives, to ensure their continuing wealth.
Frankly, I doubt I'll finish this book before I have to return it to the library.
I thought one of the computer programs Doidge describes (and praises highly) might have been valuable for one of my sons. I looked for a website where I could buy it, and found it was one of those sites that sings the product's praises, but reveals nothing about how to buy it, or what it costs. Just "give us your phone number and we'll call you". I distrust sites like that quite a lot. Feels like an invitation to be conned.
So I researched further, and found that they're charging THOUSANDS for access to the program, AND that current research has found it to be ineffective in any case.
So from that point on, the book read like advertising copy to me, not like scientific reporting. Doidge waxes lyrical over many, many, profit-making enterprises which offer hope to people with neurological issues. I'm sure some of the theory described will lead to useful treatments one day, but right now, this book feels to me both dishonest and mercenary. That may be unfair to Doidge, but throughout the rest of the book, he sounded to me like a schill for researchers focused on profit rather than cures. Put me in mind of that awful French obstetrician family who kept the secret of forceps deliveries to themselves for generations, at the cost of many thousands of lives, to ensure their continuing wealth.
Frankly, I doubt I'll finish this book before I have to return it to the library.
January 20, 2015
I found this book so inspiring. As a psychiatrist, not much of the subject matter was new, but Doige has compiled decades of research into a readable book about how amazing and adaptable the brain is. I must say that it has really made me think not only about how neuroplasticity affects my clinical practice, but also how it influences myself, my children and my family.
May 15, 2024
O tema central do livro 茅 a neuroplasticidade, ou seja, a capacidade que o c茅rebro humano tem de se adaptar de acordo com a situa莽茫o ou contexto.
Tem uma linguagem muito acess铆vel, com v谩rios conceitos acad茅micos facilmente compreens铆veis. 脡 um livro muito interessante para quem quiser aprofundar a tem谩tica.
Tem uma linguagem muito acess铆vel, com v谩rios conceitos acad茅micos facilmente compreens铆veis. 脡 um livro muito interessante para quem quiser aprofundar a tem谩tica.
March 6, 2018
Des multiples projets de recherches scientifiques au cours du vingti猫me si猫cle ont d茅montr茅 que le cerveau humain est neuroplastique; c'est-脿-dire que le cerveau peut s'adapter, changer sa structure et r茅localiser des functions quand des blessures ou des accidents arrivent.
Dans "Les 茅tonnants pouvoirs de transormation de cerveau" le psychiatre Torontois Norman Doidge d茅crit tous les nouveaux traitements pour le crises c茅r茅brales, la scl茅rose en plaques, la sourdit茅, les d茅ficiences visuelles, la dyslexie, le TDA (trouble d茅ficitaire de l'attention), la douleur, et des blessures traumatiques au cerveau qui qui exploitent la nature plastique du cerveau.
Le ton euphorisant de Doidge rappelle celui des Actes des ap么tres. Doidge nie soulever des faux espoirs. Doidge pr茅tend qu'il lutte plut么t contre le faux desespoir. D'apr猫s Doidge la nouvelle m茅d茅cine neuroplastique donne des nouvelles espoirs 脿 des gens qui souffrent de tout une gamme de maladies
Dans "Les 茅tonnants pouvoirs de transormation de cerveau" le psychiatre Torontois Norman Doidge d茅crit tous les nouveaux traitements pour le crises c茅r茅brales, la scl茅rose en plaques, la sourdit茅, les d茅ficiences visuelles, la dyslexie, le TDA (trouble d茅ficitaire de l'attention), la douleur, et des blessures traumatiques au cerveau qui qui exploitent la nature plastique du cerveau.
Le ton euphorisant de Doidge rappelle celui des Actes des ap么tres. Doidge nie soulever des faux espoirs. Doidge pr茅tend qu'il lutte plut么t contre le faux desespoir. D'apr猫s Doidge la nouvelle m茅d茅cine neuroplastique donne des nouvelles espoirs 脿 des gens qui souffrent de tout une gamme de maladies
July 23, 2016
I'd already seen the TV series about it, but it was just as fascinating to read. Might have to get a copy to keep browsing through.
April 22, 2023
Giving this a full 5/5 because it was a very well-written non-fiction book that transformed my belief system. I surely had an incorrect view of how the brain works and this book slowly and steadily dismantled my existing opinions, replacing it with the modern view of neuroplasticity.
Before reading this book, I thought the brain was pretty rigid after a certain age and different locations of the brain did specific tasks universally. The author shatters this view with extremely interesting case studies, analyzed from neurological and psychological aspects. This book was a bit in the style of Oliver Sacks but I personally found it a much better read since it had a very coherent, complete story.
The author nicely alternates been the lives of individuals who serve as remarkable windows into the human brain and cutting edge scientific experiments, each of which moves your views from the traditional localizationist to the modern neuroplastic one. There is also a plethora of gadgets that seem like science fiction which allow blind people to see, people with balancing issues to stabilize and so on.
The author touches on various topics including dyslexia, autism, strokes, sexuality, dementia, phantom pain, depression and many other interesting topics. He even includes an appendix which discusses aspects of culture and politics. There are however some pretty opinionated portions of the book especially about PETA and Freudian psychoanalysis.
Overall the book is very inspiring. It taught me the power of the brain to overcome great hurdles. It certainly pushed my threshold for not giving up too soon and letting the brain heal. It also has great lessons for how to live life to keep your brain plastic till much later ages. Highly recommend this book!
Before reading this book, I thought the brain was pretty rigid after a certain age and different locations of the brain did specific tasks universally. The author shatters this view with extremely interesting case studies, analyzed from neurological and psychological aspects. This book was a bit in the style of Oliver Sacks but I personally found it a much better read since it had a very coherent, complete story.
The author nicely alternates been the lives of individuals who serve as remarkable windows into the human brain and cutting edge scientific experiments, each of which moves your views from the traditional localizationist to the modern neuroplastic one. There is also a plethora of gadgets that seem like science fiction which allow blind people to see, people with balancing issues to stabilize and so on.
The author touches on various topics including dyslexia, autism, strokes, sexuality, dementia, phantom pain, depression and many other interesting topics. He even includes an appendix which discusses aspects of culture and politics. There are however some pretty opinionated portions of the book especially about PETA and Freudian psychoanalysis.
Overall the book is very inspiring. It taught me the power of the brain to overcome great hurdles. It certainly pushed my threshold for not giving up too soon and letting the brain heal. It also has great lessons for how to live life to keep your brain plastic till much later ages. Highly recommend this book!
June 28, 2024
Labai 寞domi smegen懦 plasti拧kumo tema, knygoje gausyb臈 verting懦 ir intriguojan膷i懦 啪ini懦, daug moksklini懦 i拧vad懦, tik niekaip negaliu likti abejingas tai informacijai, kad tiek daug eksperiment懦 buvo atliekama su gyv奴nais ir dalis j懦 啪iaur奴s. 膶ia autorius gal ir niekuo d臈tas, bet pats apra拧ymas ir empatijos stoka tikrai ne kiekvienam skaitytojui. Mane sukr臈t臈 dalis eksperiment懦.
Taip man pasirod臈, kad autorius turi gana siauras nuostatas kas yra priimtina seksualumo temoje ir daugel寞 dalyk懦 pateikia kaip tam tikr膮 koreguotin膮 smegen懦 veikl膮. Skirstymas 寞 nukrypimus ir normalumus yra atgyven臋s konceptas, o normalumo suvokimas yra visuomen臈s kult奴ros, tradicij懦 ir susitarimo klausimas, kuris nulatos kinta. Kol elgsena n臈ra susijusi su savi啪ala ar pa啪eid啪iamomis kit懦 啪moni懦 teis臈mis - man viskas yra toleruotina, tod臈l u啪 tas didaktines 寞啪valgas ir moralistin寞 ton膮 nuimu dar vien膮 啪vaig啪dut臋.
Taip man pasirod臈, kad autorius turi gana siauras nuostatas kas yra priimtina seksualumo temoje ir daugel寞 dalyk懦 pateikia kaip tam tikr膮 koreguotin膮 smegen懦 veikl膮. Skirstymas 寞 nukrypimus ir normalumus yra atgyven臋s konceptas, o normalumo suvokimas yra visuomen臈s kult奴ros, tradicij懦 ir susitarimo klausimas, kuris nulatos kinta. Kol elgsena n臈ra susijusi su savi啪ala ar pa啪eid啪iamomis kit懦 啪moni懦 teis臈mis - man viskas yra toleruotina, tod臈l u啪 tas didaktines 寞啪valgas ir moralistin寞 ton膮 nuimu dar vien膮 啪vaig啪dut臋.
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