March Book Review - The Brain that Changes Itself

The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain ScienceBy: Norman Doidge, M.D.

Each chapter in this book is divided into case histories where the discovery of neuroplasticity has helped cure or greatly improve the lives of stroke patients, those with learning disorders and mental disorders, raise IQ's and help even the aging brain to name a few.

In the preface Norman Doidge writes, "For four hundred years this venture would have been inconceivable because our mainstream medicine and science believed that brain anatomy was fixed. The common wisdom was that after childhood the brain changed only when it began the long process of decline; that when brain cells failed to develop properly, or were injured, or died, they could not be replaced. Nor could the brain ever alter its structure and find a new way to function if part of it was damaged."

After becoming more and more interested in the idea of a changing brain, Dr. Doidge began to travel around visiting scientists who had made unexpected discoveries. This discovery was neuroplasticity, where scientists were able to show that the "brain changed its very structure with each different activity it performed, perfecting its circuits so it was better suited to the task at hand."

Each story is amazing to read and gives hope us all. Dr. Doidge writes also that, " The neuroplastic revolution has implications for, among other things, our understanding of how love, sex, grief, relationships, learning, addictions, culture, technology, and psychotherapies charge our brains."

What I learned most from this book is that we need to keep our minds open to all ideas so that our brains stay malleable, like a soft plastic and not become rigid like a hard, brittle plastic.

Namaste.
Pamela Nelson
www.plnyoga.vpweb.com