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Make Your Brain Smarter : Increase Your Brain's Creativity, Energy, and Focus
One of the world’s most innovative and respected cognitive neuroscientists combines cutting-edge research with unique exercises to help you improve the most powerful, most staggeringly complex machine ever created: your brain.Your brain is dynamic. Adaptable. Flexible. Trainable. And just as we’ve come to realize that we can better our bodies through diet and exercise, so, too, can we improve our own brain’s performance. Recently, neuroscientists have made groundbreaking discoveries, including the ability to train our brains to perform better than ever before, proving that you are never too young or too old to strengthen, improve, and maximize your brainpower.
In Make Your Brain Smarter, renowned cognitive neuroscientist Dr. Sandra Bond Chapman utilizes the latest scientific findings to address some common misunderstandings about the brain, like why memory is not the most important measure of brain function and why IQ is an outdated, misleading index of brain potential. She shows you how to tailor a program to fit your own needs and take charge of your frontal lobe command center in order to become a higher brain performer.
Make Your Brain Smarter is the ultimate guide for keeping your brain fit at every age. Says Donovan Campbell, New York Times bestselling author of Joker One, “These strategies revolutionized my life and could change the lives of millions.” Now is the time to put your brain at the center of your health habits.
In Make Your Brain Smarter, renowned cognitive neuroscientist Dr. Sandra Bond Chapman utilizes the latest scientific findings to address some common misunderstandings about the brain, like why memory is not the most important measure of brain function and why IQ is an outdated, misleading index of brain potential. She shows you how to tailor a program to fit your own needs and take charge of your frontal lobe command center in order to become a higher brain performer.
Make Your Brain Smarter is the ultimate guide for keeping your brain fit at every age. Says Donovan Campbell, New York Times bestselling author of Joker One, “These strategies revolutionized my life and could change the lives of millions.” Now is the time to put your brain at the center of your health habits.
285 pages, Paperback
Published January 21, 2014
47 people are currently reading
385 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 45 reviews
April 13, 2013
I see a lot of comments on here that all list 'to-read.' Honestly, to all those people, I wouldn't bother. I'm only on page 50, but having real trouble getting through it. So far is reads like a quack trying to hawk their product. Lots of scare tactics, like 'you can't waste a day in trying to improve your brain' and 'if you don't do the right things, you are moving backwards.' Lots of logical fallacies, and case studies that are extrapolated to try and convince you that you are thinking in all the wrong ways. I am going to try and plow through it in the hopes that there is some good information in here, but I'm not holding my breath.
Edit: Didn't get much better. I admit to skipping parts of it, and only reading the section relevant to my age group. But I feel like it was very meta in that the more abstract it was, the smarter it was trying to be. Full of buzz words, calculated to make you think you were learning something. Whole passages could have been taken out because it was very repetitive. Bottom line: use your brain!
Edit: Didn't get much better. I admit to skipping parts of it, and only reading the section relevant to my age group. But I feel like it was very meta in that the more abstract it was, the smarter it was trying to be. Full of buzz words, calculated to make you think you were learning something. Whole passages could have been taken out because it was very repetitive. Bottom line: use your brain!
August 9, 2015
Reads like an infomercial with inconsistent editing, repetition, and abstract explanations of the habits that are supposed to help. Read the 7 pages of chapter 13 next time you are in a bookstore and you'll get the books' entire message.
May 3, 2016
I bought this book to see if it would be able to provide any assistance when it comes to helping my father who has been diagnosed with mild dementia. What I discovered in its pages were a few helpful tidbits, but those were bogged down by endless repetition and ideas that were counter-intuitive if not outright contradictory.
The main takeaway is to decrease the amount of rote thinking one does, while markedly increasing deeper, more complex and abstract thoughts. To illustrate what the author meant by that, she repeatedly gave the examples of extracting multiple different meanings from song lyrics or movies, and trying to figure out as many ways as possible to solve problems. The one other main point she made - and one that held true for every age group - was that time cannot be wasted; one must begin to work on his/her brain immediately.
The issue I found with those two bits of information is how obvious they are. They are ideas rooted in simple common sense. Of course, it would behoove everyone to routinely challenge the brain, and of course - especially if one is having issues with the brain/memory - time is of the essence. Neither piece of information was new, innovative, or something one couldn't find in myriad online articles about the brain. However, they were repeated innumerable times, as were the ideas that you're in control of your own brain, and that it can be changed at any age, regardless of almost any disorder or injury.
Nothing much was offered in the way of exercises, though there was a short list of things seniors can do to keep their brains sharp. That list included things like learning vocabulary from other languages, which was at odds with her insistence that memorization is a bad thing, as is multi-tasking. Indeed, she doubled- down on those things by going so far as to say that in daily lives, as well as in business settings, it's infinitely preferable to only focus on one or two things, instead of taking on numerous tasks, responsibilities, and problems simultaneously (which, regardless of the number of times it was stated, always seemed to fall under the header of easier said than done, if not downright impossible).
Again, all of these things were repeated countless times over the course of this book. Many of the passages read as though the author got bogged down trying to think of new ways to restate the same things. As such, it proved to be difficult to get through the book, with the tedium and repeated ideas making the reader increasingly impatient for new information and suggestions to be imparted, but to no avail. Ultimately, it seemed as though the author only had enough information to fill about ten pages, but did everything possible to drag out the main themes for as long as she could.
That said, some of the anecdotes shared re: the experiences of numerous individuals of different ages, from different walks of life, and with brains in various conditions were both interesting and inspiring, because they did serve to show that her overall points regarding taking control of your own brain, buckling down and making a concerted effort to challenge and expand it, etc., can yield noticeable, positive results.
However, there was not nearly as much helpful information in this book as one would expect, and it just dragged on and on. As such, this isn't a book that I can see myself recommending to anyone, especially since - as per a simple search on Amazon and the reviews of the books it yields - there are better, more helpful offerings out there.
The main takeaway is to decrease the amount of rote thinking one does, while markedly increasing deeper, more complex and abstract thoughts. To illustrate what the author meant by that, she repeatedly gave the examples of extracting multiple different meanings from song lyrics or movies, and trying to figure out as many ways as possible to solve problems. The one other main point she made - and one that held true for every age group - was that time cannot be wasted; one must begin to work on his/her brain immediately.
The issue I found with those two bits of information is how obvious they are. They are ideas rooted in simple common sense. Of course, it would behoove everyone to routinely challenge the brain, and of course - especially if one is having issues with the brain/memory - time is of the essence. Neither piece of information was new, innovative, or something one couldn't find in myriad online articles about the brain. However, they were repeated innumerable times, as were the ideas that you're in control of your own brain, and that it can be changed at any age, regardless of almost any disorder or injury.
Nothing much was offered in the way of exercises, though there was a short list of things seniors can do to keep their brains sharp. That list included things like learning vocabulary from other languages, which was at odds with her insistence that memorization is a bad thing, as is multi-tasking. Indeed, she doubled- down on those things by going so far as to say that in daily lives, as well as in business settings, it's infinitely preferable to only focus on one or two things, instead of taking on numerous tasks, responsibilities, and problems simultaneously (which, regardless of the number of times it was stated, always seemed to fall under the header of easier said than done, if not downright impossible).
Again, all of these things were repeated countless times over the course of this book. Many of the passages read as though the author got bogged down trying to think of new ways to restate the same things. As such, it proved to be difficult to get through the book, with the tedium and repeated ideas making the reader increasingly impatient for new information and suggestions to be imparted, but to no avail. Ultimately, it seemed as though the author only had enough information to fill about ten pages, but did everything possible to drag out the main themes for as long as she could.
That said, some of the anecdotes shared re: the experiences of numerous individuals of different ages, from different walks of life, and with brains in various conditions were both interesting and inspiring, because they did serve to show that her overall points regarding taking control of your own brain, buckling down and making a concerted effort to challenge and expand it, etc., can yield noticeable, positive results.
However, there was not nearly as much helpful information in this book as one would expect, and it just dragged on and on. As such, this isn't a book that I can see myself recommending to anyone, especially since - as per a simple search on Amazon and the reviews of the books it yields - there are better, more helpful offerings out there.
October 28, 2014
This book read somewhat like an infomercial, and in that it was successful, because I did go to the website, which I actually preferred. Obviously, Dr. Chapman is an intelligent woman, but I didn't like her writing style, which I found dry and repetitive. I expected that the book would have more concrete information, but there was nothing new or unexpected. It is a comprehensive, inspiring book title, but there wasn't enough in the book to support it, so it ended up falling flat. I would have given the book one star, but there were some topics that I found worthwhile.
Brain power of none...no distractions
Brain power of one...focus on one thing at a time
Brain power of two...on your to do list, make it a list of two and focus on those
Don't get distracted by chasing rabbits, when you are out to bag an elephant.
Brain of infinity...think of puzzle pieces but with endless possibilities
Brain of paradox...learn from mistakes
Brain of the unknown...the future, be open, curious
Zoom in...look at the details, facts
Zoom out...look at the big picture
Zoom far and wide...sweeping look at all the elements to see what is applicable, relevant
web site makingyourbrainsmarter.com
Brain power of none...no distractions
Brain power of one...focus on one thing at a time
Brain power of two...on your to do list, make it a list of two and focus on those
Don't get distracted by chasing rabbits, when you are out to bag an elephant.
Brain of infinity...think of puzzle pieces but with endless possibilities
Brain of paradox...learn from mistakes
Brain of the unknown...the future, be open, curious
Zoom in...look at the details, facts
Zoom out...look at the big picture
Zoom far and wide...sweeping look at all the elements to see what is applicable, relevant
web site makingyourbrainsmarter.com
November 1, 2022
No actual data. No science backed recommendations. Only anecdotes of people self assessing they've improved or are "smarter" than they were when they were younger.
Self-congratulatory boomer nonsense.
Self-congratulatory boomer nonsense.
February 12, 2020
OK: don't multitask.
I've heard enough of this!
I hope you can make more of her work than I did.
I've heard enough of this!
I hope you can make more of her work than I did.
December 29, 2015
This book started with great potential and I really enjoyed the beginning talks of brain development and how to increase cognitive development, but I ended up not even finishing the book once the author got to the part about millennials or her condescending term “immediates” due to our access to information immediately via the internet. She made some statements that are patently false in that section, and it destroyed her credibility in the rest of the book in my opinion. For example, one of her assertions to support her (unproven) assertion that younger people are experiencing lower cognitive function is that high school dropout rates are the highest ever in history. I checked and this book was published in 2012. Since dropout rates have been declining from 1990 until now, that is literally impossible. Was the assertion an outright lie or was she misinformed? I no longer care. I don’t find value in her work now that I realize she is not interested in being intellectually honest.
I was really disappointed and there are some principles in the book that I will be using to work on brain function, but I would recommend better fact checkers in the future. The book has some value, but read it with a grain of salt. I can tell you the most valuable part right now: your cognitive function can improve at any age. Google the rest. It will be more worthwhile.
I was really disappointed and there are some principles in the book that I will be using to work on brain function, but I would recommend better fact checkers in the future. The book has some value, but read it with a grain of salt. I can tell you the most valuable part right now: your cognitive function can improve at any age. Google the rest. It will be more worthwhile.
October 4, 2014
If you're interested in what research has been done about the various brain process then this book is awesome. Otherwise it has some decent, repetitive advice. She talked about talking about things too much, it was more like an intro to intro course.
October 23, 2017
Offers some very basic good ideas to contemplate in improving brain function, but is ultimately extremely repetitive, some paragraphs essentially saying the same thing in three or four slightly varied sentences, one after the other. The book could probably have been one-third the length it ended up as.
The author mentions how So-and-so went through her program and showed "remarkable improvements" after just one session or so, yet the book itself provides no insight into exactly what it is all these patients actually did in order to start "making their brains smarter". Nothing. There are a few suggestions throughout the book of what you can do to use your brain more critically instead of just rote memorization, like "how many themes can you list in this song/written passage" or "try to think of as many ways to tackle a problem as possible", but there is little concrete in the way of steps to help you to get your brain to start thinking like this. Most people aren't going to take an hour out of their day to sit down, listen to a song, and then write out a list of how many different ways each line of lyric can be interpreted.
The book talks of many people who've gone through the program and a little of their lives, and how using one's brain more critically can help them attain greater achievements, largely at work, versus to how things used to be more automatic, which is fine (even though the book in generally isn't helpful at all in telling you how to go about doing this), but it just bothered me that every single example she used, outside maybe a couple more historic examples of damage to the frontal lobe, were all essentially white collar workers with office jobs. I guess the book is mainly hoping to inspire every cubicle grunt to become more imaginative and work their way up toward CEO greatness. I suppose the average blue collar worker is probably too dumb to even consider that they have the potential to increase their brain capacity to begin with. Yes, that sounds overly bitter and I'm probably putting words in the author's mouth, but she doesn't seem to care all that much about anyone not in some form of office work.
Finally, I don't know what was going on with the narrator for the audiobook, but skip listening to this if you absolutely want to get through it (I don't think it has that much value either way). The narrator has some *really* weird inflections going on, making her sound like a robot or automated answer system or something. Maybe the files I got were just warped, but it was quite disorienting.
The author mentions how So-and-so went through her program and showed "remarkable improvements" after just one session or so, yet the book itself provides no insight into exactly what it is all these patients actually did in order to start "making their brains smarter". Nothing. There are a few suggestions throughout the book of what you can do to use your brain more critically instead of just rote memorization, like "how many themes can you list in this song/written passage" or "try to think of as many ways to tackle a problem as possible", but there is little concrete in the way of steps to help you to get your brain to start thinking like this. Most people aren't going to take an hour out of their day to sit down, listen to a song, and then write out a list of how many different ways each line of lyric can be interpreted.
The book talks of many people who've gone through the program and a little of their lives, and how using one's brain more critically can help them attain greater achievements, largely at work, versus to how things used to be more automatic, which is fine (even though the book in generally isn't helpful at all in telling you how to go about doing this), but it just bothered me that every single example she used, outside maybe a couple more historic examples of damage to the frontal lobe, were all essentially white collar workers with office jobs. I guess the book is mainly hoping to inspire every cubicle grunt to become more imaginative and work their way up toward CEO greatness. I suppose the average blue collar worker is probably too dumb to even consider that they have the potential to increase their brain capacity to begin with. Yes, that sounds overly bitter and I'm probably putting words in the author's mouth, but she doesn't seem to care all that much about anyone not in some form of office work.
Finally, I don't know what was going on with the narrator for the audiobook, but skip listening to this if you absolutely want to get through it (I don't think it has that much value either way). The narrator has some *really* weird inflections going on, making her sound like a robot or automated answer system or something. Maybe the files I got were just warped, but it was quite disorienting.
August 17, 2025
I think this book gives an important message that we can improve our brain function by how we exercise its capacities. However, I find the specific tricks not that cool ("remember the brainpower of One, the brainpower of two, the brainpower of none, the brainpower of zoom in, zoom out, zoom deep & wide, etc"). It's just too much. However, the specific information on why these tips work is important. It boils down to: let your brain rest, avoid multitasking, define important tasks and focus on them, etc. It's good stuff.
Much of it does read as an advertisement for their brain health assessment, stressing how important it is to get an analysis of your brain function, at every age. I assume the authors make money on this service, so it seems self serving. Full disclosure, I am part of a long term brain health study, which I believe the authors are involved in, so I have regular access to this assessment for free, which I do enjoy.
Unfortunately, the second half of the book gets worse, with the authors speaking to specific generations. Only, they don't refer to them by their common generational monikers. Rather, they come up with new ones (practicing creativity and keeping readers on their toes?) So we are now Seekers, Finders, etc, and, in an obvious bid for Boomer loyalty, Boomers are now Thinkers. It's dumb and unnecessary.
Much of it does read as an advertisement for their brain health assessment, stressing how important it is to get an analysis of your brain function, at every age. I assume the authors make money on this service, so it seems self serving. Full disclosure, I am part of a long term brain health study, which I believe the authors are involved in, so I have regular access to this assessment for free, which I do enjoy.
Unfortunately, the second half of the book gets worse, with the authors speaking to specific generations. Only, they don't refer to them by their common generational monikers. Rather, they come up with new ones (practicing creativity and keeping readers on their toes?) So we are now Seekers, Finders, etc, and, in an obvious bid for Boomer loyalty, Boomers are now Thinkers. It's dumb and unnecessary.
January 22, 2020
There may have been some good ideas in here but it’s just idea hidden in excess verbiage and unnecessary repetitions. Don’t expect to leave with a list of things to apply and use going forward. It’s basically all hot wind put to page for you to read and try to interpret and ...apply? Maybe? If you can decipher and figure it out how to actually grow your brain. I feel like it’s a lot of “don’t do this” “it won’t be easy” and “in this chapter we will learn...” but then it’s never spelled out how to actually grow your brain or apply the authors strategies because she never actually tells you how. I thought maybe the book was going over my head but after reading more reviews I can see it was definitely not just me. She tells you about many of the clients she has helped or performed brain/ memory evaluations on and how they have experience growth going forward but she never tells you the steps or strategies she used to get them growing forward. What a waste of my life and brain power this book was. As she states in the book, I’ve done an eval of this book and decided it’s not worth storing long term. Let’s just forget this one already to free up that brain space.
October 12, 2020
I'm going to criticize a few things, but don't get me wrong, this book is worth trying, and implementing her ideas. It may help a person heal from brain damage and stave off mental degeneration from age.
Though there's some good suggestions and points, this book feels like it could be condensed into a much shorter book of only 20 pages or even less. It was very repetitive and kept going over the same things over and over again. I don't know if the advice is common sense or not.
I wish she gave me more evidence that certain habits would truly make you more intelligent and also give more examples of how to implement the advice practically. Instead, the book just felt super repetitive.
Though there's some good suggestions and points, this book feels like it could be condensed into a much shorter book of only 20 pages or even less. It was very repetitive and kept going over the same things over and over again. I don't know if the advice is common sense or not.
I wish she gave me more evidence that certain habits would truly make you more intelligent and also give more examples of how to implement the advice practically. Instead, the book just felt super repetitive.
July 15, 2020
Great book to learn about the great power of the Brain
This Author has taught me so much, I love it. As a 30 year old I had suffered so much with my medical problem. Having what people say chemo brain at age 11, had also suffered a slight concession on a car accident. But yet I still have a great desire to keep learning and want to do my best to keep my brain active and strong, show the world to kot give up, we are much smarter then we think
This Author has taught me so much, I love it. As a 30 year old I had suffered so much with my medical problem. Having what people say chemo brain at age 11, had also suffered a slight concession on a car accident. But yet I still have a great desire to keep learning and want to do my best to keep my brain active and strong, show the world to kot give up, we are much smarter then we think
June 29, 2017
Another audio version of a book that I've reticently finished. The narrator spoke so slowly and concisely that I nearly fell asleep on the road.
The content itself is decent. I did not learn much about the subject that I had not already learned, but one lesson has stuck with me; "multi-tasking" is the enemy of optimal brain health. Wow. No wonder we're all so dumb!
The content itself is decent. I did not learn much about the subject that I had not already learned, but one lesson has stuck with me; "multi-tasking" is the enemy of optimal brain health. Wow. No wonder we're all so dumb!
December 25, 2019
3 estrellas.
La primer parte es sumamente repetitiva y densa, y podría resumirse en unas 20/30 páginas en lugar de 160.
La cosa mejora a partir del capítulo 7, dónde comienza a dividir la explicación por grupos de edades y da algunos tips para mejorar la capacidad cerebral.
Estuvo bien... Pero fue largo innecesariamente.
La primer parte es sumamente repetitiva y densa, y podría resumirse en unas 20/30 páginas en lugar de 160.
La cosa mejora a partir del capítulo 7, dónde comienza a dividir la explicación por grupos de edades y da algunos tips para mejorar la capacidad cerebral.
Estuvo bien... Pero fue largo innecesariamente.
February 12, 2023
3.5 stars. Pretty good nuggets from this on strategic reserve and focus. Took some information as to why my team and I are always so mentally exhausted. Would have liked to see what tools the author actually implemented for her patients. She kept mentioning getting them on a program and giving them resources but we didn't see any of that.
May 5, 2017
This book started out promising, but faded rather quickly into an "infomercial" type message - repeating the same ideas over and over, in different ways, without really giving any tangible tips to help you change. Basically, the premise is that memory and speed of recall are not the only (or perhaps the best) ways to measure brain health - a view that I could agree with. The author, who also happens to be a leading neuro-surgeon, suggests three other areas that are more critical to healthy minds: strategic attention, integrated reasoning, and innovation. She offers some helpful perspective on each of the three in the first few chapters, enough to make me curious about developing those areas of my brain. However, she doesn't deliver any real actionable steps for doing so! It's all rather vague and intangible. I wanted to like the book, but it just didn't live up to its promise.
May 1, 2018
Has some interesting points. However, I find it a bit lengthy and predictable toward the end.
March 18, 2019
Sounded more like a commercial than anything.
Want to read
April 4, 2019V nice
March 3, 2020
Repetitive, insipid, and lacking any real insight.
Read
October 12, 2020Kinda confusing, hard to read
July 19, 2024
Not really helpful. A couple of bullet points, that’s all.
October 9, 2025
Great book on Brain Health.
July 25, 2013
I'm fascinated by brain science, always wondering why we think and behave in the ways we do. This book blew me away. In the last 20 years, so many new discoveries have obliterated our common knowledge of how the brain works, but few people know it. Dr. Chapman explains such things as: the brain can recover from injury even long after the event, the brain will continue to learn long into old age if we keep it healthy, that multitasking actually makes us sick, and that Alzheimer's patients can be helped.
The beginning several chapters explain how the brain functions. It's written in relatively easy language and goes through the basics. Then, it describes three areas of focus and several different strategies, with examples, to help us improve brain function and actually become smarter. No gimmicks, but you have to put in the time and effort, each day. It's followed up by discussions of the unique advantages and disadvantages of each generation living today and how the techniques in the book can help.
I knew that living on "auto-pilot" wasn't good, but I didn't realize how destructive it was to my brain. I have no wish to lose my ability to think clearly as I grow older. If a few simply changes can make a difference, you can bet I'm going to do this!
The beginning several chapters explain how the brain functions. It's written in relatively easy language and goes through the basics. Then, it describes three areas of focus and several different strategies, with examples, to help us improve brain function and actually become smarter. No gimmicks, but you have to put in the time and effort, each day. It's followed up by discussions of the unique advantages and disadvantages of each generation living today and how the techniques in the book can help.
I knew that living on "auto-pilot" wasn't good, but I didn't realize how destructive it was to my brain. I have no wish to lose my ability to think clearly as I grow older. If a few simply changes can make a difference, you can bet I'm going to do this!
February 2, 2016
Good exploration of the ideas of neuro plasticity and neurogenesis. The author makes a strong case for the benefits and potential of continuing to train the brain and learn at all ages. She goes into a good explanation about why multi tasking and information overload are detrimental to deep thinking.
Does a good job with the different needs and recommendations for different age groups.
Good general ideas- focus on one thing, prioritize two key items for the day, discover new topics to refresh your perspective, zoom in, out, deep and wide to gain insight.
Some of it is repetitive ( she repeats the 3 frontal lobe functions of strategic thinking, integrated reasoning and innovation at least 50 times) and tedious but overall the book is encouraging and reinforces the importance of life long learning.
Does a good job with the different needs and recommendations for different age groups.
Good general ideas- focus on one thing, prioritize two key items for the day, discover new topics to refresh your perspective, zoom in, out, deep and wide to gain insight.
Some of it is repetitive ( she repeats the 3 frontal lobe functions of strategic thinking, integrated reasoning and innovation at least 50 times) and tedious but overall the book is encouraging and reinforces the importance of life long learning.
April 16, 2016
The good, the bad, and the ugly. The author, Dr. Chapman makes a strong case for the benefits of training your brain and continues learning no matter the age. Dr. Chapman also gives a sound explanation why multi-tasking has the same effect as information overload; both detrimental to the ability to think a thought to its end.
But that was it. After chapter 3, I skimmed till chapter 9. Dr. Chapman has done great work and research however her writing style is almost infomercial like, dry, repetitive and to many references for the books website, www.makeyourbrainsmarter.com, which I did visit after chapter 9. There under Exercises and Tips everything is nicely outlined, hence I didn't finish the book.
But that was it. After chapter 3, I skimmed till chapter 9. Dr. Chapman has done great work and research however her writing style is almost infomercial like, dry, repetitive and to many references for the books website, www.makeyourbrainsmarter.com, which I did visit after chapter 9. There under Exercises and Tips everything is nicely outlined, hence I didn't finish the book.
August 16, 2013
Good book, lots of examples and tips. I especially enjoyed the breakdown by demographics. My generation 45-65 are the thinkers, we think better at our age. We think better in comparison to when we were 20 or 30. Some brain tips; use integrated reasoning and synthesis, dont just watch a movie, describe the message, its deeper meaning for you. Dont just attend meetings, synthesize the outcome and context, key decisions. Doing this daily increases cognitive capacity, helps the brain become healthier (through neuroplasticity) and staves off age related declines.
October 10, 2014
This book is revolutionary in presenting to the public that higher order brain function can be improved at any age. Highly encouraging for middle-agers and older and for anyone who has suffered some kind of brain injury. Also discusses way to strengthen brain function for all age groups. It does suffer from an unfortunate style, a bit stilted and condescending- likely the result of the academe environment which made the book possible. Highly recommend book for content. One of the paradigm changing books of the decade.
November 19, 2015
I did like it. I did skim a bit because it got a bit too much into the lives of people. Yes, I understand those are examples I just didn't want to read them. I was more curious on how to do things rather than read about other people's declining mental health. I like the last chapter best, it gave a good summary of the important things.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 45 reviews