A User's Guide to the Brain - Softcover

John J. Ratey

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0316854069 ISBN 13: 9780316854061

Publisher: Pantheon Books, 2001

Synopsis

from the back cover: "the brain is subject to the same kinds of influences and dysfunctions as other organs. Like a set of muscles, it responds to use and disuse by either growing and remaining vital or decaying, and thus, for the first time, we are learning to see mental weaknesses as physical systems in need of training and practice. The brain is a dynamic, highly sensitive yet robust system that may adapt, for better or worse, to almost any element of its environment. If we are going to set about training our brains to succeed in the world, we certainly need to learn about the various factors that can influence brain functions."

About this title

About the Author

John J Ratey is an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and Executive Director of Research at Medfield State Hospital.

Review

Determined to help us overcome our sense of helplessness in matters cranial, he has shown that we can understand ourselves better and can learn quite a bit from the nerds. * Rob Lightner, AMAZON.CO.UK REVIEW * Before consulting with customer service, it's always a good idea to read the manual. Psychiatrist John Ratey has condensed years of research on one of the most intimidating yet ubiquitous pieces of hardware in the world into the ever-handy User's Guide to the Brain. More intellectually stimulating than day-to-day practical, the Guide uses tales from Ratey's practice and other clinical venues, titbits from neuroscientific research, and plain common sense to suggest how the brain develops and manifests personality and behaviour. With section titles like "Free Will and the Anterior Cingulate Gyrus" many readers will feel intimidated, but Ratey is careful to direct his explanations to all--even those without PhD's in neuroanatomy. His four-theatre theory of mental function is interesting and the most directly practical section of the book, incorporating the author's years of experience with patients into a sensible framework that readers can use to better tune their own systems. Describing the changing of the guard from psychoanalysis to a more biological paradigm, Ratey writes: * Neuroscientists have, in a sense, simply taken over the elite, almost clerical office once held by analysts. The language used to describe the brain is, if any thing, more opaque than any of the old psychoanalytic terminology, which was itself so obscure * Make way for the thinking man's gym, where the brain is the new biceps and sculpting your grey matter rather than downsizing your backside is the ultimate aim of those who sign up for membership. * SUNDAY TIMES * Compelling ... If you're only going to buy one brain book ever, you could do worse than investing in this one * FOCUS *

Edition details

• Publisher: Pantheon Books
• Publication date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0316854069
• ISBN 13: 9780316854061
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 416