Top 25 growth books - XVIII

The Brain That Changes Itself

Norman Doidge, M.D.

A quote from the book:

“As we age and plasticity declines, it becomes increasingly difficult for us to change in response to the world, even if we want to. We find familiar types of stimulation pleasurable; we seek out like-minded individuals to associate with, and research shows we tend to ignore or forget, or attempt to discredit, information that does not match our beliefs, or perception of the world, because it is very distressing and difficult to think and perceive in unfamiliar ways. Increasingly the ageing individual acts to preserve the structures within, and when there is a mismatch between his internal neurocognitive structures and the world, he seek to change the world. In small ways he begins to micromanage his environment, to control it, and make it familiar. But this process, writ large, often leads whole cultural groups to try to impose their view of the world on other cultures, and they often become violent, especially in the modern world, where globalisation has brought different cultures closer together, exacerbating the problem. Wexler's point, then, is that much of the cross-cultural conflict we see is a product of the relative decrease in plasticity. 

One could add that totalitarian regimes seem to have an intuitive awareness that it becomes hard for people to change after a certain age, which is why so much effort is made to indoctrinate the young from an early age.” 

Norman Doidge, FRCP(C), is a Canadian-born psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, and author of The Brain That Changes Itself (2007) andThe Brain's Way of Healing (2015). The Brain That Changes Itself describes some of the latest developments in neuroscience, and became a New York Times and international bestseller. (Wikipedia)

The author describes the impact of thought on body. There are numerous stories where critically ill persons are able to rehabilitate themselves few exercises and a complimentary thought process.

In The Brain That Changes Itself Doidge introduces us to the fascinating stories at the cutting edge of the brain science and the emerging discipline of 'neuroplasticity' . We meet the stroke victim who unable to feed or dress himself learned to move and talk again, the woman with a rare brain condition that left her feeling as though she was perpetually falling but who through a series of exercises rewired her brain to overcome this and the maverick scientists over turning centuries of assumptions about the brain and it's capacity for renewal. Doidge shows how their incredible work is helping the blind to see, the deaf to hear and causing Nobel laureates to rethink our model of the brain.

This remarkable book will leave you with a sense of wonder at the capabilities of the human brain and the power to change which lies within all of us.

Namaste

Prabir