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The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science (James H. Silberman Books) by Norman Doidge
A valuable compilation of work that seeks to prove the unsung adaptability of our most mysterious organ. Mind-bending, miracle-working, reality-busting stuff, with implications, as Dr. Sharon Begley covers the same ground in her upcoming TRAIN YOUR MIND, CHANGE YOUR BRAIN but with stories of those whose lives have been saved or improved through training based on neuroplastic theories, Doidge's book is much more engaging for lay readers. -- Library Journal
The power of positive thinking finally gains scientific credibility. Doidge notes, not only for individual patients with neurologic disease but for all human beings, not to mention human culture, human learning and human history -- New York Times
[Doidge] links scientific experimentation with personal triumph in a way that inspires awe for the brain, and for these scientists' faith in its capacity. Readers will want to read entire sections aloud and pass the book on to someone who can benefit from it. -- Washington Post
. Doidge's book is a remarkable and hopeful portrait of the endless adaptability of the human brain. -- Oliver Sacks
The newest buzzword in brain science seems to be neuroplasticity-the idea that the adult brain is capable of positive change. Presents the ordeals of the patients about whom [he] writes...with grace and vividness. The case study is the psychiatric literary genre par excellence, and Doidge does not disappoint. In the best medical narratives -- and the works of Doidge... join that fraternity -- the narrow bridge between body and soul is traversed with courage and eloquence. -- Chicago Tribune
Only a few decades ago, scientists considered the brain to be fixed or "hardwired," and considered most forms of brain damage, therefore, to be incurable. Here he describes in fascinating personal narratives how the brain, far from being fixed, has remarkable powers of changing its own structure and compensating for even the most challenging neurological conditions. Buy this book. Doidge is the best possible guide. Doidge, an eminent psychiatrist and researcher, was struck by how his patients' own transformations belied this, and set out to explore the new science of neuroplasticity by interviewing both scientific pioneers in neuroscience, and patients who have benefited from neuro-rehabilitation. A terrific book. Buy this book. Dr. Your brain will thank you. -- Globe & Mail
Lucid and absolutely fascinating... engaging, educational and riveting. It satisfies, in equal measure, the mind and the heart. [Doidge is] able to explain current research in neuroscience with clarity and thoroughness. You don't have to be a brain surgeon to read it -- just a person with a curious mind. Oliver Sacks is a master at this. He has a fluent and unassuming style, and is able to explain difficult concepts without talking down to his readers. There is a woman who manages quite well on just half a brain, an eye surgeon who made a remarkable recovery from a severe stroke, a seven-year-old who had to be taught how to hear pitch, an eight-year-old girl whose autism was holding her back from learning how to speak. And now there is Norman Doidge. Oliver Sacks is a master at this. It may be hard to imagine that a book so rich in science can also be a page-turner, but this one is hard to set down. -- Jeff Zimman, Posit Science, e-newsletter
It takes a rare talent to explain science to the rest of us. The case study is the psychiatric literary genre par excellence, and Doidge does not disappoint. He has a fluent and unassuming style, and is able to explain difficult concepts without talking down to his readers. Each story is interwoven with the latest in brain science, told in a manner that is both simple and compelling. That need can arise when the brain is physically damaged, as it is by a stroke, or simply when it is allowed to go to seed, as it has in my case. People with severe afflictions -- strokes, cerebral palsy, schizophrenia, learning disabilities, obsessive compulsive disorders and the like -- are the most obvious candidates, but who among us would not like to tack on a few IQ points or improve our memories? To benefit from a concept, one must first grasp it, and that is what makes The Brain That Changes Itself such a terrific book. So was the late Stephen Jay Gould. But more and more evidence is turning up to show that the brain can rewire itself, even in the face of catastrophic trauma: essentially, the functions of the brain can be strengthened just like a weak muscle. Their stories are truly inspirational, and Doidge tells them with great compassion and sensitivity. So was the late Stephen Jay Gould. It is an insight from which all of us can benefit. Scientists have taught a woman with damaged inner ears, who for five years had had "a sense of perpetual falling," to regain her sense of balance with a sensor on her tongue, and a stroke victim to recover the ability to walk although 97% of the nerves from the cerebral cortex to the spine were destroyed. A case can be made for John Emsley, one-time science writer in residence at Cambridge, and author, most recently, of Better Looking, Better Living, Better Loving: How Chemistry Can Help You Achieve Life's Goals (2007). You don't have to be a brain surgeon to read it -- just a person with a curious mind. He is, perhaps, overenthusiastic about the possibilities, believing that this new science can fix every neurological problem, from learning disabilities to blindness. The brain, far from being a collection of specialized parts, each fixed in its location and function, is in fact a dynamic organ, one that can rewire and rearrange itself as the need arises. And now there is Norman Doidge, a psychiatrist who divides his time between Columbia University and the University of Toronto. Doidge is the best possible guide. But Doidge writes interestingly and engagingly about some of the least understood marvels of the brain. g All rights reserved.
It takes a rare talent to explain science to the rest of us. Four years ago, Doidge set himself the most cerebral of tasks: to understand a concept called neuroplasticity. For years the doctrine of neuroscientists has been that the brain is a machine: break a part and you lose that function permanently. With detailed case studies reminiscent of Oliver Sachs, combined with extensive interviews with lead researchers, Doidge, a research psychiatrist and psychoanalyst at Columbia and the University of Toronto, slowly turns everything we thought we knew about the brain upside down.

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