Your Daily Brain: 24 Hours in the Life of Your Brain

by Marbles: The Brain Store

Want to stop losing your car keys? Will a creative idea into existence? Have more productive arguments with your spouse?

In Your Daily Brain, the team behind The Brain Store, a chain devoted to building better brains, shows you all the weird and wonderful ways your brain works throughout the day—even when you think it's not working at all, like when you're on the treadmill or picking the kids up from school.

Consider this book a wake-up call, a chance to take a closer look at and jump start your brain. From the minute your alarm clock buzzes in the morning until your head hits the pillow at night, your daily activities—everything from doing a crossword puzzle to parallel parking—are part of a process for how you evaluate the world, make choices and decisions, and reach short-term goals while keeping your eyes on the bigger ones. In each, you have the opportunity to use your brain for better or worse, whether it's what to listen to you on your morning commute or avoiding mental traps at the grocery store.

Packed with information as well as useful tips and tricks, Your Daily Brain is the brain hack you've been looking for!

Genres: Psychology, Nonfiction

194 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 18, 2015

Reviews

[Natalía Papadopoúlou · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perfect light reading of not so light topics: how our brains work. The book is split into small sections that indicate what our brains do at a certain time every day plus some additional topics. Recommended for night reading even though it’s not recommended to read at night by the book ;)

[Carolyn Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book takes through the processes your brain goes through daily. It includes tips and tricks to improve the way your brain works. Insightful. I enjoyed this book.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

http://www.nerdophiles.com/2015/08/24...

If you’ve ever wanted to know why you do and think the things you do, Your Daily Brain will tell you. Snarky, sassy, and smart, this book takes you through an entire day of thoughts. From the morning, “How many times can I hit the alarm before I’m late?” to the afternoon’s, “How am I ever going to make it through work?” and on to the, “Why can’t I just fall asleep?!” This book covers it all.

This book is easy to read in short chapters that are outlined by times. They range from two to five pages, and answer the biggest questions on your mind in easy to understand science jargon for those of us without neuroscience degrees. Readers honestly starts to feel a little bit smarter while reading this book. With a tone that is a little snarky, and a little sassy at times, it doesn’t get boring or dry. One of the best parts of the book is how it manages to keep you entertained, while you learn stuff about your grey matter and why it matters.

At the end of most chapters there are helpful tips and hints where you can go and find places and ways to use your new found knowledge and expand your mind. Most of them are links to the internet, or helpful keyword phrases that will get you to the games to learn more. One of the best tips in this book for those afternoons at work where you’ve just hit a mind slump, is that just standing by an empty cardboard box it encourages your subconscious to think outside of the box. So next time you need a little creativity boost, you can just find an empty box (presumably any box will do) and let your mind do its thing while you gaze into it.

The book also answers those old questions like, “Are men better parallel parkers?” Spoiler Alert! They aren’t. It all goes back to society and the gender roles placed on us. And it turns out, playing Tetris can help you get better at spatial relations, but only if what you’re looking at happens to be shaped like a game piece. It does give some promising research though for first person video games and how those can help your ability to navagate through the world without Google Maps!

Final Thoughts:
Your Daily Brain is a good lunch break read. I enjoyed getting to learn more about why minds do what they do, and how to hack my brain’s performance to function just a little bit better and more efficiently. It’s one of those books that either you’re going to really be interested in, or will feel a little blase about. For myself, it was interesting and fun. The short chapters and neat little tricks were well worth the read in my book.

A FREE COPY OF YOUR DAILY BRAIN: 24 HOURS IN THE LIFE OF YOUR BRAIN WAS PROVIDED BY BLOGGING FOR BOOKS FOR A FAIR AND HONEST REVIEW.

[L.A. Kelley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I generally think of my brain as a blobby organ that causes me to spout random nonsense and chugs steadily along on regular doses of caffeine, but according to the authors of Your Daily Brain, there’s more to it than that. During the course of twenty-four hours, your brain will be called upon to prioritize, decide, categorize, and evaluate—sometimes all at once. That’s a lot of stress for a couple of pounds of gray cells. Your Daily Brain attempts to explain the why and where of the decision making process and how best to maximize your brain’s potential.

The book is organized into sections according to ten or fifteen minute periods throughout the typical day. Each time period has snippets on what a brain may be doing, and advice on how to help it function better. It starts with waking up at 6:00 am (don’t use the snooze alarm) and ends at 9:00 pm (forgive yourself for a good night’s sleep). Want to jump-start your brain power at 7:15 in the morning? Leave the Sugar Frosted Flakes in the pantry and eat a breakfast with a low glycemic index like steel cut oatmeal. Shopping for groceries in the afternoon? Favor your amygdala over the prefrontal cortex. The amygdala wants the Snickers, the cortex screams you’re a lard butt and makes you put it back. The book deals with such far-flung topics as how best to use your brain to search the internet to why you should fine an exercise routine (the chemicals secreted are the same ones oozed out when you’re in love.) My favorite was the 6:15 pm, love in the evening, section. Apparently, the following three questions are all you need to determine a mate’s compatibility. Do you like horror movies? Have you ever traveled around the country alone? Wouldn’t it be fun to chuck it all and live on a sailboat?

I recommend this book for anyone who likes odd facts and interesting science tidbits. All the articles are short and easy to read for the non-sciency type. Since they are keyed to a particular time, you can finish this book in a day in short bursts, or you skip from one article to another. The latter is actually a better idea. According to Your Daily Brain, creativity comes from shaking things up.

I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the most appealing aspects of ‘Your Daily Brain’ is the way it is formatted to lead the reader through a typical working day, starting from 6.30am, examining the challenges most of us face from the moment of waking to going to bed at night. This approach means that instead of providing chapter after chapter of neurological bamboozlement, the book delivers chunks of wisdom on a timeline to which all of us can relate.

Tricky topics such as consciousness, willpower, creativity, memory and spatial awareness in the context of daily tasks are explained in language couched for the layman, making ‘Your Daily Brain’ very readable and easy to understand.

I particularly enjoyed the chapter about multi-tasking as I have always considered myself to be a multi-tasker whereas my husband is definitely not. He has actually said to me on more than one occasion: ‘which one of those three things do you want me to do first, because I can’t do them all at the same time.’ According to ‘Your Daily Brain’ there is a medical terms for those who can’t multitask; it is strategy application disorder, a frontal lobe dysfunction. Apparently the ability to multitask is all about being able to switch your attention between tasks.

Other particularly interesting sections examine the difference between positive thinking and optimism, the influence of music on your mood and decision-making, and the effect of colour on how you feel.

‘Your Daily Brain’ is not only an insightful exploration of the workings of the brain but also a practical guide about how to deal with recurring issues like how to get up in the morning if you are a ‘night owl’ or remembering where you’ve put the car keys when you’re in a rush to leave the house. Everyone who reads this book will learn something from it – it is a fascinating read.

I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.

Garth Sundem

[Debbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Your Daily Brain" is a collection of various studies about the brain which the authors summarize and explain in plain English in a casual, humorous tone. The authors also suggested things you can do to make use of these insights into your brain. It was more fun facts than life-changing insights, but I found it interesting from start to finish. Their suggestions were all do-able with minimal effort, so it's likely I'll apply what I learned in this book.

Each study was given a time-of-day heading though most also applied to other times of day. The "morning time" studies had more to do with getting your brain engaged and plans made for the day. Mid-day covered relating to people and tasks on the job. Evening times covered things like interacting with your family and how your brain knows it's time to sleep. We learn things like should you hit the snooze button? Eat breakfast and, if so, what types of foods? Aim for optimism or positive thinking? Multi-task? And what types of things help with creativity and problem solving? How does anger--or distraction--affect your judgment?

If you like brain studies, you may have heard some of this information before. Or you might have heard things that aren't actually backed up by studies (like different learning styles--using your preferred learning style won't necessarily help you learn better). But if you like learning about how your brain works and prefer the summary version of the studies, you'll likely to find something new and interesting in this book.

I received an ebook review copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.

[Eleanor · Rating 4 out of 5]

View the original review on my blog: https://bookmarkedreading.wordpress.c...

I don’t usually read non-fiction books, but I’m a science geek at heart and couldn’t resist requesting a copy of this in return for my honest review.

It was definitely an interesting read. I loved the humour within the writing, and the combination of complicated scientific terms along with more simplified ones. It was easy to understand for the most part, and I hope I can truthfully say that I’ve learned something over the past two days from reading this.

Due to my habit of reading books at the speed of light, I don’t think the information in this book has sunk in as much as it could have. I personally found it a little hard to follow sometimes, though it was definitely better than skimming a textbook.

This is aimed at an older audience in my opinion, but I was still fascinated by what I read. A lot of it was information that I’d never even considered learning. The effect having a child has on a man’s brain? I can honestly say that it has never crossed my mind.

I did enjoy this book, even though I sped through it and am probably a little too young to fully appreciate some of the references. I’d say Your Daily Brain deserves a strong 3.5 stars, maybe edging up near 4.

[Isi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full review on my blog

The book addresses the different brain functions stopping by certain hours in the day in which we have different needs, from the first chapter at 6:30 am, “Should you hit the snooze button?”, to the last at 9:00 pm, “Why you should stop reading and go to sleep”, passing by many daily tasks and routines and the way we approach every one of them.

The author talks about memory, multitasking, willpower, positivity, etc. To be honest, I knew a lot about some of these subjects thanks to the previous books I have read on these matters, some by authors mentioned in Your daily brain. Besides, the book talks briefly about every topic (about 5-6 kindle pages per chapter), so you won’t get a profound scientific knowledge by reading it, but the format (many subjects, summarized) is approachable because it is easy to follow, avoiding scientific nomenclature, and keeps your interest.

[Roy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Most of the ideas discussed in the book should be familiar to anyone who has been exposed to works in cognitive psychology or behavioral economics that are geared towards a mass audience, especially those by Dan Ariely, Charles Duhigg, and Richard Wiseman. The book's main strength lies in presenting interesting research findings in an applicable, bite-sized format that is easily digestible. That effort, however, is marred by a shoddy Traditional Chinese translation that is rather awkward and sometimes downright cringeworthy, as there wasn't a single page I could go through without re-reading at least several sentences to guess what the original texts actually mean.

[Izzybatz · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book presents snippets of information concerning the most amazing component of your body. The chapters present the operations of the brain in simple, concise wording. Just the style of book for someone not searching for in-depth study, but a breezy set of extraordinary brain performance. One chapter compelled me to check out Wikipedia for definitions concerning world cultures. One might get the impression we are controlling our brain, but if you read this book, you may just get a whole new view.

[R.l. · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really interesting read. I loved the way the author leads the reader through the typical day and all the brain is busy doing. The author has a light, often humorous approach, and I found the book easy to understand. Entertaining, engaging, and informative.

*FTC Disclosure: I received this book free from the publisher, and the opinions in this review are my own.

[Deborah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book. It was a quick read, keep tons of little bites of information, and had very helpful daily activities/ideas. The writing was enjoyable and humorous, and the only thing that kept it from five stars was that I wanted a little bit more source information or at times to going to a little more depth and each minichapter.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

Had many interesting findings from brain and personality research -- a few of them I had seen in the news but most were completely new to me and had applicability to my life situations, so I will try to use them.

[Ivy Cheng · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting to know certain ways to boost my brain, rather than frustrating it. HA!

[Wendy López · Rating 1 out of 5]

Solo lo terminé por dignidad. Muy básico y no me gusta el formato que manejó el que lo escribió.

[Debra Schoenberger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of interesting info about the way we live and the way the brain reacts.