Brainhack: Tips and Tricks to Unleash Your Brain's Full Potential

by Neil Pavitt

Ever had those moments where you've been pondering a problem for ages, trying to make a decision or come up with a new idea and then the second you get up to make a cup of tea, call a friend to talk it through or simply decide 'sleep on it', you suddenly find the answers you're looking for, the solutions are obvious and the new ideas just won't stop coming?

From Edison's light bulb to Hemmingway's novels and even the camouflage used by the Navy in WW1, for many years the world's greatest innovators, creators and strategists have been harnessing the power of the subconscious mind to solve problems, generate new ideas and make life-changing decisions; and recent advances in neuroscience have further revealed the amazing plasticity of the brain and its huge power as a processing tool. Using this knowledge of how the mind works, "Brainhack "reveals the ways you can use this brain power to change-up your thinking and is packed with a series of 'brainhacking' tips and tricks that will help you achieve success in your every-day life.

The book will contain over 40 brainhacks and be split into the following sections: Thinking Smarter Getting Started Problem Solving Idea Generation Breaking through and innovating

So you can dip-in and out of brainhacks designed to help you with each of these areas.

Each 'brainhack' will explain: A description of the technique - what do you need to do to you streamline your brain The benefit - how this technique will help you and why you should do it A real-world example- to bring it all to life and show you how to implement it The science stuff- how this works and the brain-science behind it

Genres: Nonfiction, Self Help, Psychology, Personal Development, Brain

179 pages, Paperback

First published February 19, 2016

Reviews

[Brendan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book does work in a sense but it's depth isn't one of its strengths. The message is simple to process and the ideas are sound but closing the book left me a little empty. Maybe it was the overall structure and the fact not much ground is covered, I'm just not sure, maybe I'll sleep over it. The book does the basics right and lights the fire of interest and thought, certain books cover one section so I think as a starting point it works. I've just purchased another book that has more depth but without reading this book I probably wouldn't have discovered my lacking in this section. Like I said this book is like starting the fire, adding wood creates the strength.

[Faisal Nasser]

"‏‎في كتاب اختراق المخ، ذكر المؤلف أن كثرة الاختيارات تنهك العقل، لذلك يسعى كثير من الأشخاص لشراء مجموعة ملابس بنفس التصميم، حتى لا يهدر وقته وطاقته الفكرية في اللبس الذي عليه ارتداءه كل يوم، ومن أمثال هؤلاء " ستيف جوبز""

[Bev · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting and entertaining. Useful tips to make your brain work for you. Tips on dealing with stress, problem solving and making the most of your creativity.
This book, using studies and experiments done by various experts and scientists, tells you how to make the most of your grey cells. From the best time to work, to making the most of your down time. It looks at the things that make your brain tick and how to use them to coax out that extra effort upstairs with really simple and useable stuff from smiling to increase brain activity to the effect of sarcasm on efficiency. How being bored or just a little messy can make you more creative. The chemical changes caused by cortisol and how to counteract them with simple things like a walk or chocolate. (always a win) How to use napping and how to make the most of your unconscious to problem solve.
The book is arranged in short sections with helpful paragraphs and diagrams, making it an easy read without having to wade through lots of science and dullness. Some sections are a page or two at most but mostly it contains lots of headings and quotes tha take it easy to absorb and understand.
I read it in a few hours and made a lot of notes. Once upon a time there was a young, ahem, woman who wanted to make her brain more efficient and she got some help to hack her brain from a handy little book. It worked wonders! (it'll make sense once you read it)

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick listen. What I liked about this book is that it had some really cool studies that tie into things like the "Pomodoro Technique". Helps understand how tips/tricks like that can really help with study/work.

[Rakan Al Harthi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is very useful to unleash the power of the brain.

[Ieza · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book, as a starter for those who want to know about the brain and how it functions.

[Hulia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was sad when i reached the last page :(. I want more.

[Peggy McCoy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked how practical this book was. There were tons of ideas to put into immediate practice. I especially like the research basis behind each hack.

[Zun · Rating 1 out of 5]

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[Lucy Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book, great tips and interesting quotes

[Superstarsiro · Rating 4 out of 5]

I generally despise this kind of books, but I found this an interesting mix of food for thought, information and anecdotes. it's a fun read and I got a few valuable take aways from it

[Zubaa Abdulkhaliq · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quotes:
" You're not just affected by moaning, you're also affected by listening to someone moan."

" According to most studies, public speaking is people's number one fear. Number two is death!"

" We are so scared of being bored that we rarely spend time alone with our own thoughts. Most of the time we're either interacting with someone, busy doing something, going somewhere or reading or watching something."

[Maya Panika · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not only is this very – surprisingly – informative and readable. It is packed with easily-remembered tips, a minimum of science, lots of pictures and pointers to help you remember – which makes it look less serious than other, similar books, but the information is there, the style simply makes it a much quicker read, the information more easily absorbed and so much more entertaining. I’ve been reading this as part of my bedtime reading – not something I would usually do with a self help book.
Split into five sections – thinking smarter, getting started, problem solving, idea generation, breaking though and innovating – each section is further split into short, illustrated, easily-digested chapters well-peppered with points and reminders - enjoy being blocked, think like goldilocks, take a walk have a shower (etc.) – each making a single point in an enjoyable, easily-remembered way, with a dash of the science thrown in (to prove it’s not just incense smoke and purple-auraed nonsense). It is so packed with useful ideas and information, to detail the contents would be simply to repeat the entire book, so, skipping through at random I find anecdotes about Isaac Newton to illustrate the benefits of a questioning mind; how to use colours and pictures to draw up a mind map because colour is a proven way to help the mind remember more; how to think like a child because children are not bound by mental borders, they naturally think outside the box and are naturally more creative; stop work in the middle of a sentence, not just because Hemingway did, but because it helps keep the mind on message.
The book is full of such things. It is easy to follow, fun to read, very informative and incredibly entertaining. I loved it and recommend it to anyone interested in understanding how their brain works so they can get more out of it and so enhance their work, their creativity and just get more out of life.

[Amjed Oudah · Rating 2 out of 5]

اختراق العقل
اعتقد ان معظم كتب التنمية البشرية تحوي كم هائل من النظريات وطرق عملية تدعي انها قادرة على تغيير حياتك نحو الأفضل البعض منها منطقي ومعقول ولكنها تحوي عيبا واحدا هذه الكتب تتحدث بلغة فائقة الثقة بالنفس على العكس من المنهج العلمي الرصين وتضرب لك الأمثلة من الحياة الواقعية وهي لأول وهلة تبدو ممتازة لكننا في عصرنا هذا (عصر تراكم وتعدد وسائل المعرفة) ابعد عن ان نكون واثقين بنظريات جاهزة لمجرد ذكرها في كتاب بطريقة جذابة وانيقة.
كتاب اختراق العقل لمؤلفه نيل بافيت هو تكرار لنموذج هذه الكتب ولا يضيف عليها شيئا ذا قيمة، يستطيع أحد محبي كتب التنمية البشرية بان يرشح لك عدة عناوين تتحدث عن نفس الموضوع بطرق أكثر ابداعا. لا بأس به كتغيير باعتباره كتابا خفيفا على القارئ اذ إنك تحتاج هكذا موضوع خصوصا بعد قراءة كتاب دسم يقلب عقلك ويستنزف مخيلتك مثل (تاريخ مختصر للزمان – لهوكينغ).

[Rik Schnabel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Neil Pavitt has done a great job of listing in a compact way, 45 ways to improve your thinking. It surprises me however that refers to 'brain plasticity' however fails to mention or list any 'neuro linguistic programming' techniques - it's a pity as it omits a useful dimension from this book.

Also, his publisher has not done him any favours with the small font used in this book.

[Fatma Al-Adsani · Rating 5 out of 5]

An easy-to-follow book on how to unleash your brain hidden power in solving problems and being creative in any field of your life.
In each step, the author mentioned powerful information and related studies.
It is a must have, i recommend it for everyone.

[Tim Muessle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Read

So many great “hacks.” Each presented with actionable recommendations. Perfectly gets to the point of each by providing research/proof, without going on and on. Really well done.

[Stefan Frank · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not readable for somebody who is i bit mature. Good for a 16 year old (i'm 35), but the hacks are honestly for children.

[Hayat Ãn]

Hayat

[Gaëlle Van Praet · Rating 4 out of 5]

A List of idea's to try diffent way to think.